Category Archives: Entertainment

CD Review, Entertainment, Music

CD Review: Shame, Shame [2010]

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Band: Dr. Dog
Release: 4/2010
Label: Anti-

1. “Stranger” – B
2. “Shadow People” – C+
3. “Station” – D+
4. “Unbearable Rock” – B
5. “Where’d All The Time Go? – C+
6. “Later” – B+
7. “I Only Wear Blue” – C
8. “Someday” – C-
9. “Mirror, Mirror” – C-
10. “Jackie Wants A Black Eye” – C-
11. “Shame, Shame” – D+

Comments: Dr. Dog sounds like one of the most pop-rock sensible independent rock bands that I’ve heard. Psychedelia is there too, but isn’t too obvious. The bad thing about this band and this record is that they/it are/is not really fun standing alone. It’s almost like “damn, this is probably really good, but I’m not feeling it.” So rather than criticize the band for what they aren’t (yes, I’m pointing to you Bitchfuck Media), I’ll give them props and critiques for what they are. Dr. Dog aren’t fun. Maybe for some people. Maybe live. I wouldn’t know. Apparently they wanted a more live feel for this album. What was sort of enjoyable in the beginning is downright sleep-inducing by the end.

Grade: C (75)

Entertainment, Music, News

Libertines To Re-Unite

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Guardian
The Libertines are set to reform for a slot at the Reading and Leeds festival in August. The band, which centred around the songwriting partnership of Pete Doherty and Carl Barât, have not played together as the Libertines since 2004. A source told the Guardian that the group would be receiving a huge sum for their performance, rumoured to be around £1.5m.

The Libertines formed in 1997, with bassist John Hassall and drummer Gary Powell making up the lineup. The band earned themselves a devoted fanbase following the release of their debut album Up the Bracket in 2002. However, drug problems caused the band to disintegrate around the time of their second, self-titled album. Barât kicked his best friend Doherty out of the band in attempt to make him wake up to his heroin addiction, although this only served to increase antagonism between the pair.

Doherty went on to form Babyshambles while Barât became the frontman of Dirty Pretty Things, who split up in 2008. Relations between the pair have thawed considerably in recent times, however, and they have played on stage together on several occasions since the split. According to reports in the Sun, the group will consider announcing further dates and writing new material if the reunion goes well.

Don’t expect the road to be too smooth, though. Doherty was arrested last week on suspicion of supplying drugs following the death of Robin Whitehead at a flat in east London earlier this year.

concert review, Entertainment, Music

Concert Review: Beach House

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Bands: Beach House, Bachelorette
Venue: Paradise Rock Club (Boston, MA)
Date: March 28, 2010

Act One – Bachelorette – Bachelorette was boring. It’s not really the music that’s boring, it’s more of the process as a whole. She plays guitar for thirty seconds, turns the loop on, records into one microphone, loops that, turns on a drum pad, and then does another round of singing. She reminded me (at her best) of High Places and at her worst like your average shitty electronically styled opening act (cough Many Mansions cough). Some dude was apparently loving it so much that he thought it was wise to shout “you boring fucks need to learn how to move your body” after her first song. Yeah, maybe if I was tripping on shrooms like you…idiot. llalallalaallalala bum allalalalalal bum. Relaxing stuff, but annoying.

Act Two – Beach House – A very kind band. Kicking off the set with “Walk in the Park,” my personal favorite, was a wise choice. I could tell the sold-out crowd was made up of a lot of Teen Dream era fans so this opener definitely resonated with all of us. Lead singer and keyboardist Victoria Legrand amazingly executed her parts and that’s not without saying guitarist and back-up singer Alex Scally wasn’t awesome. He was. Speaking of Teen Dream, somebody commented that they played every song off of that. And you know what? I think they did! They also played a few old songs that many people were able to appreciate. Legrand and Scally’s between song banter was charming as they said things like “you guys are very lovely. Thank you for having us.” They genuinely seemed happy to be playing. They ended the set with Teen Dream closer “Take Care,” but that was only a little tease. It’s a great closing track and would certainly lead one to believe that was all they had left. But no! They came back for a one song encore of “10 Mile Stereo,” another great ditty off of Teen Dream. This song is the band’s heaviest offering (at least live) and I actually can’t imagine a better choice. Overall, I really enjoyed listening to one of my favorite albums of the year (and the other songs) performed in such a relaxing and enjoyable setting. If you haven’t heard Beach House, I’d recommend giving them a try.

Grade: A-/B+

Art, Entertainment, Music, pictures

Strange Boys/Deerhunter/ Spoon H & E

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Hopes: For Strange Boys, I hope they play all of their classics from the first album, like “Woe” and “MLKs” and several others as well as some newbies from the second album, like “Laugh At Sex, Not Her” and “Be Brave.” I hope it’s a great performance from one of my new favorite bands. For Deerhunter, I hope they play mostly tracks from Microcastle and Rainwater Casette Exchange. I also hope they play the classic “Fluorescent Grey.” Idealy, it will be one of the best performances I’ve ever seen. For Spoon, I just hope I like it, having never actually listened to their music.

Expectations: I expect Strange Boys to play a good number of my favorites from both records and put on a damn good show. For Deerhunter, I anticipate they play some of my faves, but also many of the overly spacy, Cryptograms tracks, that isn’t exactly my cup of tea. I imagine it will still sound sick live though. Lastly, with Spoon, I don’t expect anything, but at least a decent (if not better) performance, considering all their acclaim.

Chris

7" Review, Entertainment, Music

7″ Review: Do As I Say, Not What I Do [2010]

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Band: St. Dad
Release: 3/2010
Label: None

1. “Jobs And Junk” – C
2. “The Unwanted Child” – C+
3. “Money Hungry” – B-
4. “It’s Not What I Like” – B

Comments: WTF is this? Sounds like a drunken Mickey Mouse rambling over some Big Black instrumentals. So punk. You can tell this is self-released. I guess if you are really fucked up this might sound pretty good and chaotic and all that stuff that makes noise special. The last song is re-listenable. Maybe.

Grade: C+ (79)

Entertainment, interviews, Music, News, Quotes

TODAY IS THAT DAY!

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I’m not going to post a link to the new gay that has Jared apologizing for using the word faggot and then making out with some hurt new gay bro-man.

Find that shit yourself.

I will offer up a link to The Daily Free Press, Boston University’s independent newspaper, who conducted an interview with Jared:

http://www.dailyfreepress.com/the-black-lips-loosens-its-tongue-1.2201114

Entertainment, Music, News

The No Age Threesome?

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My NA sneaks looked like this at one time. Then they got dirty.

LA PMA punk duo No Age played with an extra member at SXSW last weekend: Cundo Bermudez (Wrangler Brutes, Nazti Skinz), who worked as the recording engineer on some of the duo’s early 12-inches. Contrary to a report on the Los Angeles Times music blog, drummer Dean Spunt told Gossip Wolf that Bermudez is only a temporary touring member, but they are “hoping to find a permanent third.” May we suggest Craigslist’s “Casual Encounters” section?

Art, Entertainment, Music, pictures

Black Lips/Box Elders H & E

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As always, before a concert, I make two lists of hopes and expectations I have for said show. Having known that the Black Lips simply don’t play certain songs, my hopes are a bit more realistic than they would be for other performers.

Hopes:
The Black Lips play most of my favorite numbers, there’s far too many to mention. They play “Bad Kids,” my favorite BL song (I guess this is more of an expectation). A couple of new songs are performed, like “So, Long to Carolina.” A couple of cover songs that I am familiar with, chiefly “Too Much in Love” by King Khan/BBQ appears in the set. It would be fantastic if they didn’t get kicked out like last year and played a three song encore. Lastly, the concert is even better than last year’s (my favorite ever) and becomes the greatest concert I’ve ever experienced! For the Box Elders, I hope they play all my faves from Alice and Friends, including “Atlantis,” “Jackie Wood,” “Ronald Dean,” “Death of Me,” and “Hole In My Head,” amongst others. I hope funny man, Dave is just as funny with his aerobic antics as he was before.

Expectations:
The Black Lips play a set that closely resembles the one Glen posted the other day, playing mostly Let It Bloom songs, which is perfectly fine. I have a really, really, kickass time! The show is just as good if not close (either way) to the last one. If they are not given the boot, then they play a two song encore. For Box Elders, I expect them to crank out most of the above tunes. Knowing and loving the songs now, I will enjoy them more than when I saw them open for Jay Reatard (being the first time I ever heard of them); even then I found the ditties extremely catchy! They remain one of the finest opening acts I have ever seen.

Chris