I’ve always agreed with many of his views and maybe not musically, but he has inspired me lol in various ways. I think it’s reasonable to say a band is no longer “Punk” if they sign to a major label, but for me that doesn’t mean they instantly become nothing. That Rage record is quality whether there’s a little Epic sign or a little Dischord sign on it.
Chris
I really really like this one and hope you do too.
It actually reminds me of a cross between a Lost Sounds lost track and that awesome Disco song “Born To Be Alive” featured in Vegas Vacation.
Band: Box Elders
Year Formed: 2005
Label(s): Goner, Shattered, Hozac, Grotto
Members: Clayton McIntyre, Jeremiah McIntyre, Dave Goldberg
Hometown: Omaha, NE
Genre: Cave Pop (according to Facebook page), Garage Pop, Garage Rock, Rock and Roll, etc.
Influences: Redd Kross, Jeff Barry, The Clean, Science Fiction (all according to FB page)
Influenced: Time will tell
Top Songs: Jackie Wood, Alice and Friends, Atlantis, Hole In My Head, Ronald Dean, Isabella, Death of Me
Top Album: Alice and Friends (2009, Goner)
Note: If you like BE, you will probably also dig Nobunny, Black Lips, Thee Oh Sees, The Okmoniks, Hunx and The Punx, Jay Reatard, King Khan & BBQ Show, Mark Sultan, Bobby Ubangi, Gaye Blades, and others of similar styles/genres
Note II: Box Elders are opening for the Black Lips at the Middle East on March 25!
Comments: These guys create some of the catchiest, funnest, Rock and Roll around! Their live show is incredibly entertaining, especially due to drummer/keyboardist (yep, he plays both simultaneously!), Dave Goldberg’s exqusite dance moves/antics.
I’d rather post live versions, but they just don’t do justice to the studio versions. The videos themselves, that is, not the actual performances.
P.S. Glen and other Klyamers, why haven’t we done more BS on here like WE?!
Chris
I’d like to do more than dance with those femmes!
Of course, I mean hold their hands….
Chris
These days it’s just annoying when a person is referred to as an “intellectual.” Most are pseudo-smarties with predictable and usually still-born thoughts regurgitated from some other pseudo-smarty. But if we had to name just one guy worthy of the honorific, it would be Noam Chomsky. Ever since he re-invented linguistics and moved onto bigger social-justice concerns, he’s been a political agitator nonpareil—an itchy thorn in the hoof of all things imperial. Chomsky’s the kind of guy who blows your mind when you’re in high school, and then does it all over again when you’re in your mid-forties—and looking back you wonder what else you’d been reading all that time and who else you’d been listening to. VBS’s Kate Albright-Hannah tracked him down in Belfast, Ireland, and this is what came of it.
Artist: Sebadoh
Full Title: III
Year: 1991
Label: Homestead
Grade: A-
Tracks:
1) The Freed Pig- 9
2) Sickles and Hammers (Minutemen)- 7
3) Total Peace- 8/9
4) Violet Execution- 9
5) Scars, Four Eyes- 9
6) Truly Great Thing- 10, Best Sebadoh Track, Hands Down!
7) Kath- 8
8) Perverted World- 8/9
9) Wonderful, Wonderful- 8
10) Limb By Limb- 8
11) Smoke A Bowl- 7/8
12) Black-Haired Gurl- 9
13) Hoppin Up and Down- 8
14) Supernatural Force- 8
15) Rockstar- 9
16) Downmind- 7
17) Renaissance Man- 8
18) God Told Me- 8
19) Holy Picture- 8
20) Hassle- 8
21) No Different- 8
22) Spoiled- 10
23) As the World Dies, the Eyes of God Grow Bigger- 9
Comments: This album is the definition of Lo-Fi! This is just about as low as it gets. We hear very raw recordings of what some slick shit would masacre into a clean, traditional pop song. Not Sebadoh! This enormously influential group/album unleash a lengthy LP of noisy, loud, quiet, and everything in between sounding numbers. Singer/Guitarist, Lou Barlow (formerly, at the time, now presently, of Dinosaur Jr) and crew utilized a Portastudio cassette tape recorder to achieve this distinct, lo-fi sound and it absolutely gives the album a certain feel/vibe. I’ll admit, this is the kind of record, you don’t listen to track by track over an over again, but there is much to be appreciated here. With that being said, there are many notable tracks. From the get go, “The Freed Pig,” is rather catchy and serves as a memorable opener. “Violet Execution,” “Scars, Four Eye,” and others continue in this fashion. Then, you have your bizzarre, quiet, incredibly lo-fi tunes in “Total Peace,” “Kath,” “Smoke A Bowl,” and several others. Lastly, there’s the “low pop” songs, as I have dubbed them lol. Two strongly stand out and thefore I have granted them the highest of scores, with a 10. First, we have “Truly Great Thing.” One of the most passionate, yet simple songs I have ever heard. First thing that came to my noggin, THIS IS A FUCKING ELLIOT SMITH SONG! Seriously, this sounds just like ES. Being a fan of him, this works very well. You could say, it is a truly great thing ;) Secondly, we have the classic, “Spoiled,” as seen/heard in Larry Clark’s disturbing film, Kids. If I was asked to point to the best example of Sebadoh’s lo-fi style, I would have to place the Burger King hat on “Spoiled”‘s little dome. The final track, “As the World Dies, the Eyes of God Grow Bigger,” showcases Barlow’s wide vocal range: from line to line he SCREAMS and then softly sings, back and forth. It’s also a very humorous ditty, my favorite line is, “EVEN MY GRANDMOTHER LOVES TO GET HIGH!” He shouts this with all his might. Overall, some songs are better than others, but it is worthy of at least one listen and has become a respectable addition to my record collection.
Chris
Author: Jerry Rubin
Full Title: We Are Everywhere
Year: 1971
Grade: A-
Why Subversive?/Comments:
The Yippie Master takes us on another visceral journey into the everyday life of a 1960s, Amerikan Revolutionary. Written, while serving a setence in Cook County Jail, WAE reveals the highs and lows of said lifestyle: Riots, conspiracy trials, police brutality, being spied/wiretapped, stoned, LSD, Molotov Cocktails. In fact, the book is dedicated to the Weather Undeground and Rubin discusses them quite a bit, amongst other Revolutionary heroes and heroines, including the Black Panthers, Dave Dellinger, the Women’s Liberation Movement, John Sinclair, Timothy Leary and more. Though this work of incendiary material is quite subversive and colorful (figuratively and literally; filled with pictures and most pages are green, purple, etc) it lacks the zaniness and “shit in the middle of a bank” attitude of it’s predescessor, Do iT!, to an extent. Sure, compared to most books, it’s far more out there, but placed side by side with other Yippie works, it’s far more serious and not as humorous or wacky. I speculate this is for two reasons. For one, Rubin, by his own words, matured… a little bit. He abandoned his machoism and homophobia. In Do iT!, he made cracks about gays and ignored women’s role in the movement/revolution. In WAE, this is not the case, hence there are no photos of naked Revolutionary hunnies, he even condemns the phrase, “getting a piece of ass.” Secondly, the times got worse, with more governmental repression, that called for more militance. People were going to jail for longer sentences (Bobby Seale, John Sinclair, etc) good folks were being assasinated (Fred Hampton), and many were forced underground or into exile (Timothy Leary, Eldridge Cleaver, The Weathermen, etc). The FBI was cracking down on dissidents, like no other time before, they even had many spies, whom posed as activists for years, thus causing distrust amongst eveyone. The government attempted to use psychological warfare to destroy the movement from within. They failed, but it still left many devastated and often fucked up their lives. Therefore, Rubin’s book is not as happy as one would expect. Though, don’t misconstrue me, it’s still quite amusing and inspirational, if incredily outdated (it’s actually outta print!) At one point, Jerry and folk singer, Phil Ochs visit Charlie Manson in prison and “rap”- Revolutionary chat- with him for hours. Go figure. All in all, this serves as a fantastic statement against corrupt and boring Amerika and instead for the creation of a better, more humane society.
Chris
March 17, 1997
There was a leprechaun named Patrick he was a cheerful man. Every day in Ireland he saw a rainbow with pot of gold. People said where is the pot of gold. Patrick always thought there was a pot of gold. People said there is no pot of gold but there is a rainbow. One day he ment a little girl Melanie she was crying. Patrick said what’s wrong. Melanie said I ran away from my home and I miss my parnets thats why I am crying. And I have no food. Patrick gave Melanie some bread that was in his pocket. Than Melanie said there are my parnets and she stoped crying. Her parnets said thank you very much. Patrick said no plombe I love kids. Melanie’s mom said is that a pot of gold I see. They said wow! Patrick said I was right there is a pot of gold. Patrick walked back to his house and everybody said you were right there is a pot of gold. Patrick got the gold and share it with everbody in his town. Everybody loved Patrick. People called him St. Patrick because he said there was gold. From that day on because of Patrick we have a St. Patrick’s day.
The end.
Band: Happy Birthday
Release: 3/2010
Label: Sub Pop
1. “Girls FM” – A
2. “2 Shy” – B+
3. “Cracked” – C+
4. “Perverted Girl” – B+
5. “Subliminal Message” – B-
6. “Eyes Music” – C+
7. “Maxine The Teenage Eskimo” – B+
8. “I Want to Stay (Run Away)” – B
9. “Pink Strawberry Shake” – B
10. “Zit” – C
11. “Fun” – B
Comment: Right off the bat, Happy Birthday sounds like Islands. That comparison pretty much dies, though, after “Girls FM.” Considering the band is still obscure as fuck (they were signed out of the blue by Sub Pop after forming in late 2008), it’s necessary to give them a decent amount of credit just for releasing something polished relatively quickly out of nowhere. I can’t really describe the sound too well on this record. It’s merely an eclectic pop record…what the “independent” big shots like to call “indie-pop.” That really doesn’t tell anyone much, unfortunately. On “Maxine,” you’ll definitely hear some surf-pop Beach Boy influence. Like you’re deaf or something if you can’t hear that. I guess I could namedrop Girls as well, but Happy Birthday is much more spastic. They do a pretty bad attempt at garage/punk on “Zit.” I don’t know, I thought I was going to like this record more than it turns out in the end. It’s good, don’t get me wrong, but nothing special.
Grade: 83 (B-)
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 