Art, business, Culture Jamming, Entertainment, Femmes, Lists, Music

My Favorite Record Labels

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1) Sub Pop– No Age, Nirvana, Beat Happening, Mudhoney, Soundgarden, The Shins, Handsome Furs, Wolf Parade, The Vaselines, Iron and Wine, Modest Mouse, Rogue Wave, Sebadoh, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Postal Service

2) SST– Black Flag, Meat Puppets, Dinosaur Jr, Sonic Youth, Bad Brains, Minutmen, Husker Du, Descendents, Soundgarden

3) Matador– Jay Reatard, Sonic Youth, Fucked Up, Cat Power, Mission of Burma, Yo La Tengo, Pavement, Interpol, Lou Reed

4) In the Red– Black Lips, Jay Reatard, King Khan & BBQ Show, Mark Sultan, Dirtbombs, Vivian Girls, Deadly Snakes- Nice, little label!

5) Vice– Black Lips, King Khan & The Shrines, Death From Above 1979, Fucked Up, The Raveonettes

6) Domino– Animal Collective, Arctic Monkeys, Lou Barlow, The Fall, Stephen Malkmus, Will Oldham aka Bonnie Prince Billy, Pavement, Elliott Smith,

7) Rough Trade– The Smiths, Arcade Fire, Galaxie 500, Beat Happening, Vaselines, Libertines, Babyshambles, Mabuses, Butthole surfers, The Moldy Peaches, The Raincoats, Sufjan Stevens, Stiff Little Fingers, The Strokes, The Veils,

8) Bomp!– Black Lips, The Stooges, The Germs, Dead Boys, Devo, Mark Sultan, The Modern Lovers, The Warlocks

9) K Records– Calvin Johnson, Beat Happening, Beck, Bikini Kill, Built to Spill, Kimya Dawson, Modest Mouse, Vaselines

10) Alternative Tentacles– Jello Biafra, Dead Kennedys, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, D.O.A, Half Japanese, Butthole Surfers, The Crucifucks, Lard, Melvins, Wesley Willis

11) Touch and Go– Big Black, Rapeman, Shellac, Jesus Lizard, Scratch Acid, Butthole Surfers, Naked Raygun, The Rollins Band, TV On the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Urge Overkill

12) Dischord– Fugazi, Minor Threat, The Evens, The Teen Idles, The Nation of Ulysses, Scream

13) Fat Wreck Chords– Descendents, NOFX, Anti-Flag, Against Me!, Propagandhi, Rise Against

14) Epitaph– Bad Religion, Social Distortion, NOFX, Descendents, Green Day, Circle Jerks, Vandals, Converge, The Sounds of Animals Fighting,

15) Saddle Creek– Bright Eyes, Two Gallants, Tokyo Police Club, Cursive

16) Merge– Arcade Fire, Dinosaur Jr, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Vallye Band, … And You Will Know Us By the Trail of the Dead, Lou Barlow, Buzzcocks

I’m probably forgeting some. Oh well. Feel free to post suggestions.

Chris

economics, News, Politics

HR 1207 – 290 Co-Sponsors

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Description:
“To amend title 31, United States Code, to reform the manner in which the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is audited by the Comptroller General of the United States and the manner in which such audits are reported, and for other purposes.”

Current Status: Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.

John Tierney (6th District Massachusetts): July 20, 2009 became a co-sponsor.

News

ACORN

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WHDH
WASHINGTON — The community activist group ACORN has selected a former Massachusetts attorney general to investigate its housing program after employees were caught on video giving advice to a couple posing as a prostitute and pimp.

ACORN announced Tuesday that Democrat Scott Harshbarger will conduct its internal investigation.

ACORN said last week that it was suspending the admission of new clients into its housing program pending the outcome of its investigation.

ACORN has NRA in it!!!

economics, News, Politics, religion

Comparing Reporting On Sudan: Sept. 21

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“The New York Times” began their report on the latest in the Sudan with this: “More than 100 people were killed when tribesmen raided a village in the south, burning buildings and attacking churchgoers, officials said Monday.” The beginning of the article does not, however, specifically mention the Sudan. This is only mentioned in the “Times” headline: “Sudan: 100 Dead in Raid on Village.” Their version of the story is brief and buried in the world news section.

“Arab News” gets more specific and detailed in its report. Their lead is “JUBA, Sudan: More than 100 people were killed when tribesmen raided a south Sudan village, burning buildings and attacking churchgoers, officials said on Monday, in a further escalation of violence in the oil-producing region.” Their version is one of the top world news stories. The Sudan story means more to this paper’s audience, given the role of Muslims in the conflict. Their longer version of the story even mentions this: “Around two million people died in the 1983-2005 war between Sudan’s Muslim north and mostly Christian south.”

Art, Entertainment, Music

The Return of the Fuzz!

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The Return of the Fuzz

Anyone out there tired of listening to the same mainstream songs on the radio over and over again? Does Coldplay sound too clean for you? Well, no need to worry, a musical elixir has arrived and it is here to stay. Within the past few years, fans and critics alike have witnessed a tornado in the revival of Garage Rock.
Garage Rock is a genre of music that emerged in the early 1960’s primarily in The United States and Canada, but certainly not limited to those two countries. Simply stated, the music was pure, raw, noisy, and often self-produced. The title of the genre literally refers to bands beginning in their garages creating the aforementioned sound and it later being reflected in their recordings. Most groups of the Garage variety have become obscure names or one hit wonders. On the other hand, British Invasion artists, like The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, and the early Beatles share elements of the no holds barred style in their work. For instance, in The Beatles’ 1963 hit, “Twist and Shout,” the vocals are rather loud and raspy. For readers who are unfamiliar with Garage Rock, listen to the tune again and you will hear it!
Despite the fact that these bands never became as commercially successful as The Beatles, The Kinks, or The Rolling Stones, this did not diminish their clear influence on future generations, particularly the first wave of American and British Punk Rock bands. In fact, Garage icons, The Sonics and The Seeds have been noted for shaping the music of several Punk pioneers, such as The Ramones and The Dead Boys, respectively.
Today, we are fortunate enough to have a myriad of young musicians, who have heard and studied the music of their parents and are injecting the latter’s style with Punk Rock attitude and Pop hooks. This is where we arrive at the revival of Garage Rock. So, what makes this style so unique? Why should consumers of music pay any attention to it? Well, for starters it deviates from the normal, almost formula-driven music listeners hear in the mainstream. Much of today’s stars record radio friendly, overly produced songs. Even artists that may not fall under the banner of “mainstream,” but have garnered commercial success maintain absolutely disparate production values than their earsplitting counterparts. Popular metal bands, Rage Against the Machine and Tool profess to dedicating years recording their LPs. Garage Revival artists, chiefly, The Black Lips, King Khan & The BBQ Show, Jay Reatard, and The Dirtbombs stand in direct contrast to these aesthetics. They release material that is unpolished and often recorded in a brief amount of time. For example, The Black Lips and the King Khan & BBQ Show joined forces and formed the super group, The Almighty Defenders and recorded a self-titled, twelve song, Gospel album in just a few days. But, this isn’t foreign in the Garage world. Jay Reatard claims to have written one of his latest songs, “It Aint Gonna Save Me,” in just one hour and recorded the number in a mere day and a half!
Fans of Rock and Roll will appreciate the fact that these modern bands are resuscitating the fun, rebellion, and simplicity of the devil’s music. So, if you miss the element of shock or dare I say danger in Rock, and then give these wild hipsters some ear time.

Chris

As seen in the UMass Lowell Connector

Root Beer

Root Beer Review: Week One

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Gale’s Root Beer: “Cinnamon Ginger Vanilla Flavored”
Thoughts: The initial taste is pretty good. There’s no down side, or after taste. Flavorful, but not sweet. Slightly better than flat diet coke. Not really overly anything.
Grade: 7.3

AJ Stephans: “New England’s Best Tonic”
Thoughts: Traditional. A bit sweet, but nothing like Polar. A very solid root beer.
Grade: 8.2

Sprecher: “Fire-Brewed Gourmet Soda”
Thoughts: Fairly noticeable honey aroma. Upon taste, it has a pleasant tinge of honey. Smooth and has potential. Some of the sweetness is negated. Not overpowering. Weak at the end. Mellow.
Grade: 8.1

Music

Concert Review: The Walkmen, Here We Go Magic, The Dig @ Mid East Downstairs (9/19/09)

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Ham!

Bands: The Walkmen, Here We Go Magic, The Dig
Venue: Middle East Downstairs, Cambridge, MA
Date: Saturday, September 19, 2009

The Dig
Ben: The Dig was really good. They have great bass work. The bassist/singer looks like John Mayer but dresses and sings like the guy from Vampire Weekend [Ezra Koenig]. The guitarist/singer’s songs kind of remind me of early Radiohead. The Dig does unconventional rhythm very well. I’m getting technical here but they use weird time signatures and timing changes, and sometimes it’s hard to tell where the “center of gravity” is. But it’s a really nice change from your standard timing in music. It’s also a technique that’s *very* hard to pull off. With their stuff it’s often much harder to locate the center of gravity. That’s what really stood out about them for me.  Really great, inventive rhythms.

Glen: The Dig were just as awesome Night Two as Night One and in the end probably slightly better. They changed up their set-list trivially. Both nights the song I loved most was “Penitentiary.” It has all the makings of a mainstream power pop number, yet it still maintains a very distinctive alt-country sound. The bassist/singer’s voice is very distinctive. I think the guitarist/singer’s songs were more experimental, less hard rock. An example of the heavier stuff was the song “Just Wanna Talk To You,” bringing back memories of live Louis XIV but more explosive and…better! The first night they ended with that…the second night it was second-to-last.

Chris: Pretty damn loud and noisy, so of course I liked it. They rocked out and were really passionate about their music.

Here We Go Magic
Ben: Here We Go Magic was great especially considering the drummer situation. It was the first time I heard “Tunnelvision” with electric instruments and I liked the noisy turn it took towards the end. Luke’s vocals were great.

Glen: Go Chad! Once again, I want to recognize him for truly being instrumental to HWGM’s Night Two set. Night One was ambient…Night Two still maintained ambiance, but all songs especially “Tunnelvision” and “Fangela” sounded far greater with Chad. It takes a lot for an experimental folk band like HWGM to perform a well-executed set; each band member was up to task and enthusiastic.

Chris: I liked it, but not as much as the first band. I commend Chad, the fill-in drummer for having the chops to play on par with the band. Also the bass guitarist and the pianist were sexy!

The Walkmen
Ben: The Walkmen are a tight group with a good mix of songs. Good mix of alt-country, folk, and noisier rock. Really great singer.

Glen: Showcasing quite a bit of new material (according to the band, some old songs they refuse to play), The Walkmen proved that they didn’t need to delve too deep into their repertoire to be awesome. Both nights were astonishing (mind-blowing), but Night Two took the cake! Night Two was quite similar to Night One in a lot of ways; a brass section was featured notably on “Canadian Girl,” “Louisiana,” and “Red Moon,” Ham’s veins were popping out of his neck, etc, etc. Both nights featured the best of the Walkmen (at least according to your average fan): “In the New Year” and “The Rat.” BUT only on Night Two did The Walkmen play “Thinking Of A Dream” (incredible audience reception), “Donde Esta La Playa,” and Bows and Arrows classic “138th Street.” The Walkmen are a class act and no less than one of the best active bands in today’s post-punk revival era.

Chris: They put on a fantastic show! I loved “Louisiana,” especially the horn section. My favorite song was “In the New Year.” Hamilton clearly has a distinctive voice.

Boston based shows/fests – DIY, punk, noise