Category Archives: Music

SHOW ALERT: Baby Shakes @ PA’s Lounge

Thirsty & Miserable brings us Baby Shakes of NYC/Atlanta. Featured in the WE FUN documentary, Baby Shakes (believe it or not) have never been to Boston. This will be their first time! Check out their girly garage/punk: http://www.myspace.com/babyshakes. Also playing will be Somerville surf-rockers Beware The Dangers Of A Ghost Scorpion (http://www.myspace.com/northtexascobrasquadron), The BFs of Gloucester (who sound especially awesome — http://thebfs.bandcamp.com/), and finally punk ROCK shizzles White Pages (http://whitepages.bandcamp.com/).

When is this thing happening? Well, March 25. In case, y’all don’t know, PA’s Lounge is in Somerville.

More info on the event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=203434119667193 !

CD Review: Belong [2011]


Band:
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Release: 3/2011
Label:
Slumberland

1. “Belong” – A+
2. “Heavens Gonna Happen Now” – A
3. “Heart In Your Heartbreak” – A
4. “The Body” –B+
5. “Anne With An E” – B-
6. “Even In Dreams” – A-
7. “My Terrible Friend” – A-
8. “Girls of 1000 Dreams” – A-
9. “Too Tough” – B+
10. “Strange” – B

Comments: The first thing that is very noticeable about Belong is that it is more expansive than really anything we heard from their S/T debut. The heavy choppin’/Dino JR sounding guitars on opener “Belong” are a welcome addition, as is simply the flow of the tune. The LOUD catchy chorus transitions into a brief boom before a buiLDING verse leads back to that LOUD chorus. “Heavens Gonna Happen Now” is more like old Pains material. Excellent. “The Body” ain’t the best thing to come out of their discography, pretty solid Pains, a dancey new-wavy number. “Anne” might be their first shoe-gazey slip-up, no problem as the synths in “Even” make up for that. Belong doesn’t have the coy top-to-bottom catchiness that their s/t debut did, but this noisier, longer record does have some fantastic moments (the first three songs).

Grade: B+ (89)

Jay Reatard: Live At Golden Plains [2008]

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Comments: Hundreds of videos have been taken of Jay Reatard’s live performance, but never until now has there been an official live release. This LP captures Reatard’s live assault near perfectly — one song after another, little pause, screamed song titles before each, the occasional extended jam. This is from March 2008, so the set is heavy on Blood Visions and singles material. After “My Shadow” we hear a receptive cheer from the audience, but that is quickly lost after Reatard, Pope, and Hayes reel into “Oh It’s Such A Shame.” I remember seeing Reatard for the first time in July 2009 and thinking damn his set was way faster than this one, but that might be because he made more of an effort in pacing/slower playing for this occasion than during a usual show. Still, though, Jay’s slow is a normal person’s lightning quick. The barebones aspect of the performance really comes through as well. Reatard’s vocals aren’t as perfect (obviously) as they were mixed on record and some singing parts are ommitted like “she creeps me out” on “See Saw” in favor of an instrumental jam. Billy’s drum playing is heavy on the snare, man he loved doing rolls (“Fading All Away”) on that instrument. One song that particularly stuck out to me on this Live LP that never really had much of an effect on me on record is “So Useless.” I never appreciated its beauty. I was missing out! “So useless, I must be, to waste time with you!” “Hammer I Miss You Let’s GO! Hammer I Miss You” shouts Jay. Showing off his vocal varieties — a precursor to the bullshit Nicki Minaj now pulls — he really plays the shit out of that tune. Owning it. Jay can barely keep up the chorus on “Death Is Forming” and by this point in the set he must be exhausted to no end. “Death is forming death is forming death is forming forming death forming death fucking death forming” The set closes on “Let It All Go” with its constant barrage of guitar noise, pop hooks, and unpredictable finish. This is something that I highly recommend sharing with others who maybe never got to see a Jay Reatard show. It’s the closest we’ll ever get to Jay.

Pains of Being Pure At Heart- “Belong”

Yeah, I know we’re like a month behind on this. In any case, I’m really digging this new Pains track and I am highly anticipating this upcoming LP. I love how different this sounds from their old material; glad to see that they are switching it up, as almost all great bands do. I second YouTube commenter, “polaroidgrey” in that “it’s like stone roses meets smashing pumpkins in a beautiful orgy.”

Band of the Week: Natural Child

This week we have none other than Natural Child, a fun filled, wild crew from Nashville, Tennessee. They keep up the spirit of KLYAM favorites like The Black Lips and Jay Reatard, without directly mimicking those artists and instead stretching for their own brand of sweaty, balls out, Rock and Roll- crazy and malevolent like it should be. “Crack Mountain” is a particular favorite of mine. Check them out!

http://www.myspace.com/naturalchildband

and

an awesome Needle Drop review:

CD Review: Angles [2011]


Band:
The Strokes
Release: 3/2011
Label: RCA

1. “Machu Picchu” –  B+
2. “Under Cover of Darkness” – A
3. “Two Kinds of Happiness” – A-
4. “You’re So Right” – C+
5. “Taken For A Fool” – B+
6. “Games” – C+
7. “Call Me Back” – C
8. “Gratisfaction” – B
9. “Metabolism” – C+
10. “Life Is Simple In The Moonlight” – A-

Comments: While this is no Is This It, I’m not sure anyone — band, fan, or critic — was expecting it to be something of that magnitude. Instead, it’s a pretty solid record that does a lot of soul searching in terms of sound, which is probably its primary downfall. We all heard “Under Cover of Darkness” first and from the way that sounded, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. It had a nice Phoenix vibe going on the verses and a pretty poppy chorus so overall I thought…nice, but not overly impressive. Upon a lot of listens, it grew on me and I actually throughly enjoy that tune. I can’t say that for too many more on here. The first and third tracks stand out — “Two Kinds” because it oddly sounds like “Two Tickets to Paradise,” though I’ve seen perhaps more apropos comparisons to The Cars. “You’re So Right” sounds Yorkian and quite average at that. “Games” and “Call Me Back” are draggy and have potential in some places…they really do…except…”Call Me Back” disappoints when it reports back to average Yorke. If this was Guts, do you HAVE IT? “Gratisfaction” is pretty borderline so we’d have to check with Mo to see. So yeah, the recording process was a horrible one for most of the dudes, though it’s pretty hard to tell that Julian sent mp3s of his voice and they were copy and pasted on the songs. Modern technology guys. This is it. Calm down on the Muse-y ambition on “Metabolism” guys, that shit is not where you wanna go! Aw too late. “Life” gives us hope. No pun intended, it’s a quality revival jam. Good thing Julian only got two seconds of average Yorkian at the end AGAIN ! damn that impersonation ! This isn’t KLYAM recommended, but check it probably. It’s on their website.

Grade: B (84)