Monday, September 6, Mr. Albini and crew will hit up the Mid East. Fuck, most likley I won’t be able to make this one, but I really want to! I hear they are awesome live, so if you have a chance, go.
Category Archives: Punk
Deerhunter H & E
Hopes: Well, I certainly hope it doesn’t transform into a mad game of Russian Roulette! But, since we are seeing the group Deerhunter, I don’t think I have to worry. I hope they play a fairly lengthy set (60-75 minutes if not more, but I doubt it because of time constraints) of various tunes from all over their discography with some from earlier works like Cryptograms (2007) and Fluorescent Grey (2007) and a few cuts from their upcoming LP Halcyon Digest, but mostly tracks from my favorite recordings, Microcastle (2008) and Rainwater Cassette Exchange (2009). If they play “Twilight At Carbon Lake” I just might shit myself. Y’all have been warned! I also wish that the K-Holes and Kurt Vile are ass kicking openers.
Expectations: Deer plays a a good amount of old, mid, and new, but perhaps more of the atmospheric material than I prefer, albeit still mesmerizing. They play for about 45-60 minutes and blow me away, even more than the first time I saw them. Vile’s sound is better, but sill he doesn’t send me flying off my rocker and the K-Holes are decent, but not as kick ass as I hoped.
Classic Album Review: Dreamy
Artist: Beat Happening
Full Title: Dreamy
Label: K/Sub Pop
Year: 1991
Track List:
1) Me Untamed- 8
2) Left Behind- 8
3) Hot Chocolate Boy– 10!
4) I’ve Lost You- 8
5) Cry For a Shadow– 9
6) Collide- 6
7) Nancy Sin- 8
8) Fortune Cookie Prize- 8
9) Revolution Come and Gone- 8
10) Red Head Walking– 9
Comments:
Beat Happening strikes again with their fourth album, Dreamy, their most polished sounding record yet. But, don’t worry it’s still the same minimalist, amatuer sounding Beat Happening you know and love. With this release, it seems like BH matured a bit in their subject matter, especially with tunes like “Me Untamed,” (a far cry from Johnson’s usual coy, lovey dovey lyrics) “Cry For a Shadow,” and “Revolution Come and Gone” (as Michael Azzerad cites, a clear reference to the sudden, apparent, demise of the underground movement). With that being said, there’s plenty of fun, adventerous (at least lyrically), creative, and ultimately joyful numbers. Chiefly, “Hot Chocolate Boy” fits this category; it is by far my favorite in their catalog and one of my all time beloved songs! Just, simple, but enthusiastic playing. If I had to choose one BH number to show to newbies, it would absolutely be HCB; it has nearly everything that made BH excellent. I really dig the line “He’s a sensation, Hot Chocolate Nation.” Overall, I like this album, but I do not favor every track. “Collide” is too repetitive and I often like repetitive songs, even for BH, but this time it’s just annoying. This album is filled with good songs, but only a few great ones. The higher quality production ameliorates the recording, but clearly isn’t the most important ingrediant in audio magic. As I said before, this is a good album, it just lacks an album feel to it, but all in all it is certainly KLYAM Recommended.
Grade B/ B+
P.S. if you go bonkers for Calvin Johnson’s deep, baritone voice, then you will most likely love his vocals here, as they are baritone as fuck…. or you will think he has a stomach ache like my mother says.
Classic Album Review: Beat Happening
Artist: Beat Happening
Full Title: Beat Happening
Year: 1985
Label: K
Track List
1) Our Secret– 8/9
2) What’s Important– 9
3) Down At the Sea– 9
4) I Love You- 8
5) Fourteen- 8
6) Run Down the Stairs– 9
7) Bad Seeds (Live)- 5
8) In My Memory-8/9
9) Honey Pot- 8
10) The Fall- 7/8
11) Youth- 8
12) Don’t Mix the Colors- 8
13) Foggy Eyes- 8
14) Bad Seeds– 9
15) I Let Him Get to Me- 8
16) I Spy– 9
17) Run Down the Stairs– 9
18) Christmas- 7/8
19) Fourteen- 8
20) Let’s Kiss– 9
21) 1, 2, 3- 7
22) In Love With You Thing- 7/8
23) Look Around- 8
24) Untitled- Ungraded
Comments: This is the unflinching, incredible debut from the seminal “twee pop” group Beat Happening. You can call it twee, lo-fi, noise, etc. but ultimately it is Punk Rock- at its finest. In this record, BH, known for their amateur quality/attitude, are at their most primitive; the production is about as lo-fi as it gets before it becomes simply rubbish. On this LP, most songs are astonishingly decent pop tunes, with passion taking the front seat over musicianship. One can hear a lot of 60s surf rock influence as well as the outsider feel of The Shaggs and Half Japanese. Lyrically, most numbers are innocent in nature- “Down at the Sea,” ” Run Down the Stairs,” etc. There are also more than a fair share of love ballads- “Our Secret,” “I Love You,” “Honey Pot,” and the classic “Let’s Kiss.” Admittedly, not every track is good and some do suffer from the lack of “quality” recording and perhaps would have sounded better with a finer studio. My two favorite tracks are definitely “Bad Seeds” ( the guitar riff reminds me of the music in the James Bond Films; a very bad ass song!) and “I Spy.” All in all, this is a pretty nice debut from Beat Happening and it certainly is amongst the annals of “YOU CAN DO IT TOO!” records.
Grade: B+
“Bad Seeds” with clips from Over the Edge (1979)
My Top 10 of 2010 So Far…
1) Box Elders- Tiny Sioux
2) Hunx and His Punx- Cruising (officially released!)
3) Wavves- Post-Acid
4) Harlem- Friendly Ghost
5) Mark Sultan- Misery’s Upon Us
6) Hunx and the Punkettes- Lovers’ Lane
7) Happy Birthday- Girls FM
8) Strange Boys- A Walk On the Beach
9) Silhouette Rising- Flight
10) Scouflaws- Stupid and Catchy
Albini on Ramones
Haha, I wonder what Albini would have turned into if he heard the Partridge Family; an ardent pundit on mainstream teeny bopper music!
Brief History of Sub Pop
Ahh Sub Pop in its old days.
Band Spotlight: The Scouflaws
Artist: The Scouflaws
Label: Dakota Dog Records (aka Self-Released)
Hometown: Wakefield, MA
Year Formed: 2007
Members:
Andrew Tobey- lifting (according to Facebook page)/ Keyboards/Vocals
Frank Price- making banana sandwiches (FB)/ Vocals/ Lead Guitar
Alex Carney- professional Mathematician/Chauffeur (FB)/ Bass/Vocals
Evan Healey- attracting the ladies (FB)/ Drums
Matt Sandorse- existing (FB)/ Guitar
Sounds Like: Pop Punk (good Pop Punk, not whiny, pussy bullshit Pop Punk) a la Descendants, early Green Day meets Garage Rock and eats Andrew W.K. guitar riffs (at least on “Stupid and Catchy,” at least to me)
Top Songs: Crazy Desert Island Cats, Stupid and Catchy, Punch
Top Recording: Demolicious (2010)
Live Shows: HIGH ENERGY, jumping around, leaping off drum kits, sometimes shirtless, and of course FREE CAKE!!!
Website: http://www.myspace.com/thescouflaws
Songs About Walking
One Year Ago Today
One year ago today I was rocking out to the newly purchased Matador Singles ’08, just after seeing Jay Reatard at Harpers Ferry for the very first time. Since, then I have been a devout fan. Like we don’t say it enough, RIP Jay. Happy Fourth in Heaven.
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 