Blurb from the Hardly Art website:
News headlines don’t lie! The titillating bubblegum pop outfit Hunx & His Punx have signed with Hardly Art, with a brand new full-length forthcoming in early 2011. The new lineup – featuring an all-girl all-star group in addition to Hunx – is currently in the studio in NY and will perform their last show of the year at the Hardly Art showcase at Shea Stadium in Brooklyn on 10/21. Find more details on their artist page, stream a handful of tracks over at the band’s MySpace, and stay tuned for more info on the band’s new LP!
Hardly Art is a sister label of Sub Pop Records. ——————–
1. “Song on the Paper Dolls” – A 2. “Shake Off Your Nerve” – A 3. “Over Your Shoulder” – A- 4. “That’s the Punchline” – A
5. “Blizzard of ’93” – A-
6. “Let’s Get Educated” – A 7. “Let You In” – A-
8. “Modern Art Museum” – A-
9. “Look Out Your Window” – A-
10. “Roy Orbison” – B
11. “Tribute: The Recoys” – A
Comments: As a big Walkmen fan, I’m impressed by the mere fact that Hamilton Leithauser was playing stuff this good when he was only 19 to 22 years old. You’ll be able to tell these guys had been playing in bands since middle school. Right off the bat, “Song of the Paper Dolls” is distinctively Hamilton. It’s clean garage/power pop — at least compared to most of the stuff I call that on this site. “Shake Off Your Nerve” has shakers and saxophones. It’s a dancer that’s more punk than most of anything that would end up coming out of The Walkmen catalog. Speaking of The Walkmen catalog, “Over Your Shoulder” starts a trend on this collection of tunes (The Recoys never released an LP) of “Walkmen” songs. “Over” has all the niceties that Leithauser and Bauer would wind up incorporating in their future band. Of course, “That’s the Punchline” and “Blizzard of ’93” (renamed “Blizzard of ’96) wound up on the Walkmen’s debut full-length Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone. This has nothing to do with anything, but when Ham says “that’s a change of style” on “Punchline,” I realized that these songs actually do represent a change of style. “Blizzard” is sloppier and heavier on Rekoys. “Let’s Get Educated” is perfect garage rock revivalist material. It’s like the Strokes, but before the Strokes. Dirtier than the Strokes. Nice and dirty. “Modern Art Museum” is a passionate rocker. You can really hear it in Ham’s voice. “No one understands The Recoys” is sung on the very last song. Don’t worry, though, when their “ship comes in” you will understand them. What that means I don’t know! Fans of The Walkmen, definitely try to get your hands on this. You’ll appreciate this as a reference point in Hamilton Leithauser’s (and Pete Bauer’s, if you’re really looking) career. The Recoys broke up in 1999 after a three year stint.
For me this is Greg Dulli at his best, when he was with The Afghan Whigs, who for many had two sides to them pre and post sell out the first video is from (in my opinion) one of the greatest albums ever made Congregation (although ‘Miles is Dead’ was a hidden track), the second song ’66’ is from the album they said Greg Dulli sold out for the fame he never achieved 1965. In any case the grunge and R&B infused Afghan Whigs were one of the most influential bands of the 90’s, even though they had two very different sound by the time they broke up, their influence will last for generations.
For any of you folks who haven’t seen Dave Goldberg’s exercise approach to the art of drumming, I think now is the time. This is going to sound like old news to long time followers of KLYAM, but Dave plays keyboard and drums simultaneously. How is that possible? It often involves placing a drumstick in the mouth.
Beyond The Afghan Whigs, The Twilight Singers and The Gutter Twins, fat Greg Dulli (I am a fan, but the nickname came from people who really, really don’t like his music) released a solo album in 2005 called ‘Amber Headlights’ (which was really more of a collection of b-sides, some of which already were released in other forms). The album was self released but didn’t reach the commercial or critical success of his previous work. Still it was an album die hard fans like myself really enjoyed, and while admittedly not his best work, still a solid effort.
After the break up of The Afghan Whigs Greg Dulli put all his attention into, what was his once side project, The Twilight Singers. While never reaching as much mainstream sucess of his previous band, The The Twilight Singers have been critically aclaimed on virtually every album, especially their last effort Powder Burns. Here is in my view the strongest track of the album and Greg Dulli at his best “My Time (Has Come)” (sorry I couldn’t find a music video or live perfomance)
Act I: Red Mass – Red Mass was a weird/bizarre act to watch. They definitely had the “rocking” quality to them. One of the first things that I noticed was a similarity to the K-Holes. They put us in a trance of sorts with their dark/psychedelic aesthetic. Choyce, the lead singer and guitarist, had a funny hodgepodge of clothing items on — a bandanna, a large medallion necklace, and a dress shirt with tie. He was into it and so were we.
Act II: Gentlemen Jesse and His Men – Oh, Gentleman, where shall I begin? (All I needed that night) was to hear this band. A very fine band from Atlanta, Georgia. They rocked just as hard as they did when they opened a month earlier at TT The Bears. They had their keyboardist present and his little melodies added a little bit to the sound. Jesse is just the man. Great front-man. He is a Jared Swilley-like character. They’re from the same hood, yo. They sound like a classic rock act that you take your girlfriend to see and then fuck when you get back home. You highland crawler, you. I felt like eating some candy during “Butterfingers.” Fuck, what a tune. It’s as invigorating as just about all of their songs. The backing vocals were mixed a little low, but no biggie we had Jesse.
Set List:
If I Can See you (written as “If I Can C U”)
Highland Crawler
slips right into
Black Hole
What Did I Do
Shivers
Rest of My Days
Only Lonely
Butterfingers
Careful
All I Need Tonight (Is You)
I Don’t Wanna Know
Act III: King Khan & the Shrines – Sensational, you bet. This what we’ve come to expect from King Khan and that right there is terrific. Started off with “Outta Harms Way” King, following the usual instrumental, screamed his lungs out and got everyone going. As always with Shrines shows the audience was more akin to a religious cult than a rock show- everyone going wild, being mesmerized by King Khan and His Mysterious (yay a new adjective to describe these boys and girl!). Which by the way, this time around Bamboorella was absent, however her replacement sufficed. She could move and groove and she was quite attractive, but I need my bamboorella fix haha. Back to the music, the Shrines unleashed their classic, Supreme Genius material, which is exactly what I adored and anticipated. Hits such as “I Wanna Be a Girl,” “Land of the Freak,” “No Regrets,” “Took My Lady Dinner,” and more. Alright, well before I start to sound like a fucking infomercial I am going to wrap things up here. There were a few new numbers performed including “Bite My Tongue,” which I definitely can see becoming a Klassic Khan ditty in time to come. This was a great and highly entertaining show, one of the best I have ever witnessed. If you need a quick pick me up, ok a relatively quick pick me up, King Khan and The Shrines are your saviors- leave you smiling for a month. Lastly, as much as I loved this show, it was not on par with my first Shrines experience for three reasons. 1) Khan was a bit restrained this evening and though he was still his energetic, charismatic self, he was much calmer. 2) I attribute my slight lack of devotion i.e. me not feeling the “this was the best show ever!!!” kinda deal to no longer being a Supreme Genius virgin, since this was my second time seeing them. 3) It was not as loud as last time. Don’t get me wrong, it sounded nice, but the PA definitely needed some raisin’ and that would have made it all the more effective. With those minor qualms aside, fantastic show as I expected. Can’t wait to see them again and again and again.
Hopes: The H&E this time around is basically the same as the past two times; after seeing them twice I’ve come to expect what their shtick is. I don’t expect any surprises, but I look forward to an amazing show and hopefully one of the best I’ve ever seen. I hope they play, as I’ve stated in previous H&Es, my favorite Deerhunter song: Twilight at Carbon Lake. I would also like to hear various favorites such as, but not limited to: “Basement Scene,” “Sailing,” “Agoraphobia,” and the entire Rainwater Cassette Exchange EP.
Expectations: I expect them to put on a “stellar production” as David Lee Roth would say. I plan on hearing the classics such as “Never Stops” and “Nothing Ever Happened” amongst others.
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 