Something I Learned Today

At this point your probably sick to death of another “Best of 2005″ list. I know I am, but I’m not letting that stop me. Actually, this isn’t so much a “best of” list. Rather, this is pretty much a listing of all of the new releases I picked up over the past 12 months. Not much here, and most of what I actually I do buy these days is a known commodity. Kids, house payments, etc. really cut into my ability to speculate. So this is it, in no particular order

Easy Action - I’m Waiting.mp3
I finally picked up Friends of Rock’n'Roll a couple of weeks ago, and I wasn’t disappointed. 10 tracks of Easy Action’s noisy Detroit rawk and John Brannon’s raw, ravaged vocals. This is the lead track and sets the tone nicely.

A-Frames - Negative.mp3
After repeated listens I still can’t put Black Forest above their previous LP, 2. Somehow this latest batch from the A-Frames is more abrasive sounding than previous releases. There’s some excellent tracks, but there is some definite fat that could have been trimmed.

Miss Alex White and the Red Orchestra - Out of Style.mp3
Everyone recommended this In The Red LP which is why I picked it up. I’m not crazy about it, but it has moments when White’s vocals push it over the top. I think I prefer White’s other band the Hot Machines a bit more, but that’s splitting hairs.

Bassholes - Daughter.mp3
7 years between albums almost guarantees some level disappointment for fans, which was my first reaction when hearing the album. It’s not as sonically pleasing as When My Blue Moon Turns Red, but after repeated listens I could appreciate the songs and overall tone for what is - a solid roots rock album from Don Howland and Bim Thomas. This pairs nicely with Long Way Blues.

John Schooley And His One Man Band - Drive You Faster.mp3
Absolutely the best work John Schooley has done since the Revelators first LP. This album is chock fulla greasy guitar, dirty wailing harp, and a hellish drum racket. Fucking awesome. This is one of the four originals (7 covers) on the CD

Blowtops - Insected Mind.mp3
There are times on Insected Mind where the Blowtops sound like a cartoonish circus band, but overall the new album and lineup is a sonic improvement over the past couple of releases. A weird blend of garage, punk and even some industrial that manages to effectively put the creep on.

Vaz - Tri-Panic Express.mp3
The Lie That Matches The Furniture is much less immediately engaging than 2003’s Dying to Meet You, which is what Vaz promised/warned their fans. I’m still digesting this one in all of its densely structured glory. It’s good, but lacking in the spaced out goodness that made their previous albums so enjoyable

Unsane - Make Them Prey.mp3
Blood Run is the first Unsane record in 7 years, but you wouldn’t know it - it sounds and looks like it could fit in between the bands Scattered, Smothered, and Covered and Occupational Hazard. Punishing, like all Unsane material. Listening to this straight through is an exhausting undertaking.

Lightning Bolt - Captain Caveman.mp3
Lightning Bolt makes my head spin - and hurt. Hypermagic Mountain is riff heavy distorto bass and drum overload at its finest. ‘Nuff said.

Bob Mould - Surveyors and Cranes.mp3
There was much ado made about Body of Song being Mould’s return to form, and there is a great deal of truth in those statements. A solid album, not his best but not his worst. This falls somewhere between Last Dog and Pony Show and Workbook. “Surveyors and Cranes”
is from the deluxe boxed version of BOS. I would personally have replaced “Missing You” with this one on the main disc, but nobody asked me

Queens of the Stoneage - Someone’s In the Wolf.mp3
What can I say, I’m a sucker for Josh Homme’s voice and guitar. Lullabies To Paralyze took awhile to grow on me, being sludgier and more low-key sounding than previous efforts. It’s decent, but I’ll still take their debut over this one any day. The track here, “Something’s in the Wolf” clocks in at 7+ minutes, about 2 minutes too long, but the trippy riff is what first sold me on the album.

So, what were your top albums for 2005?

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Happy New Year everyone, thanks for reading, commenting, emailing, etc. It’s been a blast! 

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Four more mystery tracks that need identification. Today’s tracks come from Robbie (via Brian GTA) and Dave. Please take a listen and see if anything rings a bell. Correct identification will result in a crisp $100 bill*

“Vertigo”
British or Australian, based upon the singer’s accent. Melodic mid-tempo punk

“Society”
Canadian, perhaps? Mid-tempo stuff with a nice thick guitar sound

“Front Page”
The vocals almost remind me of the Victims or the Fun Things.

“Forever’s Never Here”
new wave synths, no guitar, British sounding vocals. I’m clueless on this one

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Update:
It appears the first track is “Vertigo” by British band Open Sore from the Farewell to The Roxy compilation

*not really

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I think we’ve all come across a song or two from the past that has captured our attention but about which we know nothing. The dreaded “mystery track”, artist and title unknown. I’ve had a couple of people ask me about such tracks and usually I’m pretty fucking useless when it comes to helping. So here’s your chance to identify a couple of songs and bask in the accolades that will surely follow. The person who sent these to me indicated they were taped from a WFMU show circa 1986. The first track is aggro punk rock, kinda Brit sounding, with lyrics involving a “Rock and Roll Nurse”. I’m stumped. As for track number 2, I’ve convinced myself that it is a Volcano Suns song, but I can’t place it anywhere. Take a listen and help us figure this out.

Track #1
“Rock and Roll Nurse”

Track #2
“So Civilized”

If anyone else has any tracks they need help identifying please send them on. If there is interest this type of post can become a regular (semi) feature here. Thanks to Curt for the songs and the suggestion.

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Update: Tracks have been identified - #1 is “Emergency Room” by The Worst. #2 is “Animals” by the Volcano Suns

If you have any additional unidentified tracks then please submit them using the contact info on the right. Thanks!

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My father is a Vietnam veteran who lost his leg in the war. When I was kid my mom and I would accompany him to the local VA hospital whenever he needed to have his artificial leg examined or replaced. I was always struck by the message that graced the entrance of the hospital:

It’s stuck with me ever since. Every Veterans Day I can’t help but think of my father, my grandfathers (WWII vets), my uncles (Korea) and friends (Desert Storm). Regardless of my opinions on the current state of affairs I have nothing but the utmost respect for the men and women who serve their country. Some of these songs may may not reflect this, but take them with a grain of salt.

from 1987’s Jettison LP
Naked Raygun - Soldiers Requiem.mp3

from 1988’s Don’t Tread On Me LP
Anti-Heros - National Debt.mp3

From their 1980 first 7″ and Bloodstains Across The Midwest
Toxic Reasons - War Hero.mp3

from 1988’s Fizzjob LP
Didjits - Plate In My Head.mp3

from 1982’s World Full of Hate 12″
Fartz - Viet-Vet.mp3

from their split LP with Faith
Void - War Hero.mp3

from their 1982 Fall In 12″
RF7 - Viet Vets.mp3

Any other “soldier” songs out there?

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AKA I Don’t Need This Fucking Shit. Oh man, what a fucking lousy week this has been, fraught with work problems, family problems, frustration, anger, and stress. To top it all Blogger ate my first draft of this post. Fuck. Given all that this is going to be brief. Do these really need any explanation?

Black Flag - Nervous Breakdown.mp3
Dead Silence - Stress.mp3
N.O.T.A. - Frustration.mp3
Ramones- Go Mental.mp3
Hunches - Got Some Hate.mp3
Queens of The Stone Age - Everybody Knows You’re Insane.mp3
Child Molestors - I’m Gonna Punch You in the Face.mp3

I’m hoping to get back on my regular posting schedule next. Also, I’m way behind when it comes to answering mail. So if you’ve sent me something and I haven’t written back, well now you know. I hope to clear the backlog soon.

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I think it’s been 8 straight days of rain now, but to be honest I’ve kind of lost track. My area ain’t as bad as other parts of the Northeast US, but it’s been bad enough to flood the basement and generally make life miserable. Doesn’t appear to be any end in sight, either. What the fuck? Anyhow, here’s a playlist for a rainy day. Sorry, “It’s Raining Men” wasn’t available.

from 1994’s Palomino Pizza 12″
Cosmic Psychos - Rain Gauge.mp3

from 2003’s excellent Complete Recordings 1976-1979
Testors - Rainy Night.mp3

from 1988’s landmark Daydream Nation double LP
Sonic Youth - Rain King.mp3

an aural bludgeoning from 1998’s Occupational Hazard
Unsane - Smells Like Rain.mp3

Vic Bondi’s ’90’s group. From their second album
Alloy - Hard Rain.mp3

one of my favorites from 1987’s Huevos LP
Meat Puppets - Look At The Rain.mp3

Lead track From 2002’s Time Bomb High School
Reigning Sound - Stormy Weather.mp3

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This is a part two of sorts to the Heroin Hates You post from July, this one involving bands who’ve had members take their own lives. Sadly, there is a recent addition to the list: Stevo Jensen, original vocalist and songwriter from the Vandals. Below is a list of some of people who’ve succumbed to their personal demons

Nirvana - Been A Son.mp3
While not a huge Nirvana fan I’ll remember the moment I heard about Kurt Cobain’s death - I was in a record store and happened to be checking out the only copy of Big Black’s Headache 12″ (with the limited edition cover) that I had ever seen. The clerk joked that the cover model was Cobain, and then explained what he had just heard. Creepy

Joy Division - Shadowplay.mp3
a brief writeup on the life and death of Ian Curtis.

Plasmatics - Monkey Suit.mp3
vocalist Wendy O. Williams, in the woods, with a shotgun.

Reagan Youth - (Are You Really) Happy.mp3
The story behind Dave Insurgent’s suicide - truth or urban legend?

Battalion of Saints - Second Coming.mp3
I know someone in this band has offed himself, but I don’t know who. I could probably fit Battalion of Saints into any death related post.

Christian Death - Figurative Theatre.mp3
original vocalist Rozz Williams hung himself in 1998

Vandals - Legend of Pat Brown.mp3
Original singer Stevo Jensen overdosed in late August 2005 .

Dead Milkmen - Tiny Town.mp3
Most “joke” bands songs don’t stand the test of time, and that is sadly true for most of the material by the Dead Milkmen. Still, I met them a couple of times after shows and they simply were some of the nicest people I’d ever met, funny as hell and completely down to Earth. I was saddened to learn that bassist Dave Blood took his life in 2004.

An incomplete list, of course. Please, share any that I’ve overlooked.

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Thanks to all of your suggestions from the earlier name dropping post I was able to cobble together a part 2. Enjoy…

The Hate:
Accident - Kill The Bee Gees.mp3
Maggots - Let’s Get Tammy Wynette.mp3
Rotters - Sit On My Face Stevie Nicks.mp3
Anti-Heros - Jerry Was A Piece of Shit.mp3
Nine Pound Hammer - Bye Bye, Glen Frey.mp3

The Love:
Dirtbombs - I’m Saving Myself for Nichelle Nichols.mp3
Mr T. Experience - End of The Ramones.mp3
Posies - Grant Hart.mp3

The Snide:
Replacements - Something To Du.mp3

The Weird:
Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper - Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant With My Two-Headed Love Child.mp3

Is there anything left for a part 3?

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AKA Too Much Junkie Business. I originally had planned a post featuring bands who’ve had members go on to receive their great reward. Once I got started it soon became apparent that there wasn’t enough time or space to fit all of that into one post. The plan now is to break it up into pieces, focusing first on the late, great junkies of the underground. Why not take a listen to some of the current residents of skag heaven? (apologies to Iggy Pop, Thundersm & Squirrel Bait for copping your titles)

GG Allin & The Jabbers - Dead or Alive.mp3
Anyone not familiar with the GG Allin story?

Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers - One Track Mind.mp3
from the remixed L.A.M.F. “Chinese Rocks” was the obvious choice, but I chose one of my favorites instead. Thunders would OD in 1991 and Heartbreaker co-founder Jerry Nolan would die of a stroke in 1992

Germs - Lion’s Share.mp3
Read the Darby Crash story. From the (MIA) Complete Anthology

Dee Dee Ramone & The Chinese Dragons - Chatterbox.mp3
from 1993, a cover of the New York Dolls. At some point I’m going to watch Hey Hey Is Dee Dee Home?

Ruts - Dope For Guns.mp3
from 1980’s The Crack. Singer Malcolm Owen overdosed in 1980

Janitor Joe - Limited Edition.mp3
bassist Kristen Pfaff left soon after the release of Big Metal Birds to join Hole. She died of an OD in 1994.

Flipper - Life.mp3
Life is the only thing worth living for. Bassist/Vocalist Will Shatter OD’d in 1987.

So, who have I left off the list? (Sid Vicious excepted)

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Title courtesy of the always cool Lazy Cowgirls, todays mix is dedicated to the songs named after the icons of music. Pretty simple, so I won’t waste time with blather.

Butthole Surfers - Gary Floyd.mp3
the Surfers tribute to Dicks frontman and fellow Texan Gary Floyd. This is the live version from the expanded Butthole Surfers/Live PCPPEP

Immortal Lee County Killers - Robert Johnson.mp3
not sure what this has to do with the legendary blues guitarist, but it’s a right powerful track from Love is a Charm of Powerful Trouble

Didjits - Lou Reed.mp3
“saw Lou Reed giving head down in Soho” hmmm…. also name drops Mark E. Smith. From 1991’s Full Nelson Reilly LP

Freedom Fighters - Bob Dylan’s 119th Dream.mp3
another Freedom Fighters cut, if you want some more info see previous post.

Tar - Barry White.mp3
Jeez, Tar had 3 tracks in this vein - “Barry White”, “Dean Martin”, and “Les Paul Worries”. I chose “Barry” from the Toast LP

Sleater-Kinney - I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone.mp3
the Queens of Rock and Roll. From 1996’s Call the Doctor

Minutemen - Political Song For Michael Jackson To Sing.mp3
from the opus Double Nickels on the Dime. Some of my favorite d. boon stream of consciousness…

Conspicuously absent - “Sinatra” by Helmet and the Quadrajets “John Lee Hooker is my Heavy Metal”. Play along at home, what else did I miss?

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