Music, rant

September Was Awesome!

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September sure was a great month to be a rock and roll fan living in the Boston area. On September 5, fellow KLYAM correspondents Ben, Chris, John and I journeyed to the Middle East Downstairs to catch The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. A couple of weeks of rest followed before two nights of Walkmen gigs at M.E Downstairs. Night One (September 18) was superb, but Night Two (September 19), which Ben and Chris attended, will go down in the books as amongst the best shows I’ve seen. A few nights later on September 23, the Rifles were in Allston at Great Scott. Their 1+ hour set, which John was present for, was memorable. And just a few nights after that on September 27, John and I went back to Great Scott to see California noise aficionados Wavves for a moshing experience. That was 4 concerts in 9 days for me and I can’t say I regret doing it.

October’s looking pretty good with Jay Reatard on the 2nd, the Lovely Feathers on the 8th, King Khan and BBQ Show on the 29th, and many other shows that may or may not be attended by yours truly. But will it top September?

Music

Jay Reatard Don’t Give A Shit

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Jay Reatard’s Tour Stories:

Some jerk wanted to fight us for playing a “30 minute set” Which he claims is a rip off… I got news for him our set was 15 minutes.. Hey thats still 12 songs..I still owe him a punch to the head..

Hahahaha oh Jay.

If you go to http://www.jayreatard.com you can hear some sample songs from the bands that are on Jay’s Shattered Records Tour with him.

Box Elders: Vintage garage-pop!
Hunx and His Punx: Also very vintage sounding; sounds like a hi-fi Reatard!
Boneyard: Noise-punk of the Mika Miko variety!
Useless Eaters: Lo-fi in the extreme; good bass lines!

So the verdict is that I really like what I’m hearing from all these bands that will be performing before Jay. Seems like this’ll be my first pure garage/punk rock show.

Music

CD Review: Logos

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A little Grizzly Bear mixed with a little Deerhunter
Deerhunter + Grizzly Bear = Logos; oh and Marfan Syndrome (Above, Center)

Band: Atlas Sound
Label: 4AD
Release: October 20, 2009

1. “The Light That Failed” – 9.6
2. “An Orchid” – 9.4
3. “Walkabout” – 9.9
4. “Criminals” – 9.6
5. “Attic Lights” – 8.7
6. “Shelia” – 9.1
7. “Quick Canal” – 9.0
8. “My Halo” – 8.7
9. “Kid Klimax” – 9.2
10. “Washington School” – 8.8
11. “Logo” – 9.0

Grade: 9.2

Art, Entertainment, Lists, Music

Tops of the Decade Part II

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This time I am covering my favorite albums of the 00s, but I am including all of my favorites from the artist. Yay!

Against Me!- The Acousic EP (2001), Reinventing Axl Rose (2002), As the Eternal Cowboy (2003)

The Almighty Defeneders- The Almighty Defenders (2009)

Animal Collective- Here Comes the Indian (2003), Feels (2005), Strawberry Jam (2007), Merriweather Post Pavillion (2009)

Arcade Fire- Neon Bible (2007)

Arctic Monkeys- Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not (2006)

At the Drive-In- This Station Is Non-Operational (2005)

Black Lips- Black Lips (2003), We Did Not Know the Forest Spirits Made the Flowers Grow (2004), Let It Bloom (2005), Los Valientes Del Mondo Nuevo (2007), Good, Bad, Not Evil (2007), 200 Million Thousand (2009)

Bright Eyes- I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning (2005)

Deerhunter- Rainwater Cassette Exchange (2009)

Deftones- White Pony (2000)

The Editors- The Back Room (2005)

Fugazi- The Argument (2001)

GlassJaw- Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Silence (2000), Worship and Tribute (2002)

Head Automatica- Decadence (2004)

Jay Reatard- Blood Visions (2006), Matador Singles ’08 (2008)

King Khan & BBQ Show- What’s For Dinner? (2006)

King Khan & The Shrines- The Supreme Genius of King Khan & The Shrines (2008)

The Mabuses- Mabused (2007)

MewithoutYou- Brother, Sister (2006)

The Nightwatchman- One Man Revolution (2007)

No Age- Weirdo Rippers (2007), Nouns (2008), Losing Feeling (2009)

Page France- Hello, Dear Wind (2005)

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart- The Pains of Being Pure At Heart (2009)

Sonic Youth- The Eternal (2009)

System Of A Down- Toxicity (2001), Mezmorize/Hypnotize (2005)

Tool- Lateralus (2001), 10,000 Days (2006)

The Used- The Used (2002)

More albums may be added….

Chris

Art, Entertainment, Lists, Music

Tops of the Decade Part I

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Yes, I know there is still three months left of the decade, but I do not feel like waiting said time to do this post. So, basically here are my favorite songs for each year of the 00s. I cannot believe the decade is coming to an end! It was ok…. but musically fantastic. Enjoy.

1) Fatlip- What’s Up Fatlip?- 2000
2) The Shins- New Slang- 2001
3) Against Me!- Baby, I’m An Anarchist!- 2002
4) Johnny Cash- Hurt- 2003
5) Head Automatica- Beating Heart Baby- 2004
6) Page France- Chariot- 2005
7) King Khan & BBQ Show- Too Much In Love- 2006
8) Black Lips- Bad Kids- 2007
9) Jay Reatard- See/Saw- 2008
10) Deerhunter- Disappearing Ink- 2009

Clearly independent record labels dominate. 7/10 songs were on independent labels. Fuck Yeah! Top Albums are coming next….

Chris

business, News

AOL Hires New Advertising VP Today

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NEW YORK — AOL LLC said Tuesday it has hired Shashi Seth from software maker Cooliris Inc. for the position of senior vice president of global advertising.

AOL could certainly use a new advertising strategy. Does anyone actually USE AOL’s services anymore…besides AIM? Ten years ago sure but now my browser is Firefox, my service comes from Verizon, and I search with Google.

Great idea buying AOL, Time Warner. What’s that? Ten years later AOL is a worthless asset?

News, Politics, religion

Obama Pushes Against Sudan Envoy Story

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The White House is pushing back against a profile in the Washington Post of the Obama Administration’s Special Envoy for Sudan, Air Force Major General Scott Gration

Why would that be?

The story states that Gration wants the US to normalize relations with the Sudan, “the only country in the world led by a president indicted for war crimes,” a reference to President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

“We would not take a step like that absent significant changes in conditions on the ground,” says a senior administration official.

No kidding. Did you hear that the violence in Darfur is going down but in south Sudan it’s going up? I imagine the mainstream media would rather tell you about Roman Polanski.

Uncategorized

CD Review: In This Light and On This Evening

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Band: Editors
Label: Kitchenware Records
Release: October 12, 2009

1. “In This Light and On This Evening” – 9.4
2. “Bricks and Mortar” – 9.5
3. “Papillon” – 10
4. “You Don’t Know Love” – 9.6
5. “The Big Exit” – 9.5
6. “The Boxer” – 9.8
7. “Like Treasure” – 9.7
8. “Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool” – 9.8
9. “Walk The Fleet Road” – 9.6

Comments: I’ve been anticipating this album in what seems like forever. Editors aren’t my 8th favorite band for shits and giggles! Their brand of post-punk/dark-wave has always struck a chord with me. Things get 20X darker on this album, though. Goodbye sweet melodies and accessible pop guitar riffs, and hello destructive drum patterns and rave-esque forces. Goodbye to the electric guitar (synthesizer/drum only). Immediately, I realize a lyrical theme: Tom seems to question the role of God. In the opening track and then on “Papillon,” Tom says “Darlin…if there really was a God here he would have raised a hand by now.” Is he talking about God being here on earth or God’s presence in general? I guess that’s up to us to decide. The first five tracks are purely robotic, almost dance numbers. “The Boxer” sounds more compatible with Editor’s past work, but fittingly there is a new raw layer of synths. Editors do the same thing that Animal Collective did with Merriweather Post Pavillion and that’s revolutionize a genre. Animal Collective changed the way we look at psychedelic pop. Editors have changed the way we should look at atmospheric modern day post-punk. Only top albums have this quality and that’s what this is…a top album. HOLD ON A SECOND GLEN. I must have been feeling good when I wrote this. It’s awesome, but not that awesome damnit.

Grade: 9.7

Boston based shows/fests – DIY, punk, noise