I remember Supergrass releasing their first album "I Should Coco" and not being as into it as it felt like a weird version of The Monkees however I did enjoy it for it’s youthful fervor. I never did purchase it instead of opting to occasionally listen to a promo cassette in my car. It all changed when they released their second album "In It For The Money". Another gem of the 90s with clever and classic artwork by the Designer’s Republic (also responsible for the logo for the band Pulp amongst many other great designs). The album is chock-full o’ fuzz-pop gems with throwback to The Who, Beatles, and whomever else. I saw them open for Foo Fighters and they really stole the show in my opinion with originality, energy, and great tunes. I especially liked that they had police sirens on either side of the stage as well. After them good ole’ Grohl came out with his big grin and played their tunes with the saving grace of Pat Smear on second guitar at the time. But it weren’t no Supergrass! Supergrass has released a few albums since this one which are alright but none of them really catch the energy and have the raw sound of their sophmore effort. Fookin’ mint lads!

DOWNLOAD "IN IT FOR THE MONEY" MP3

DOWNLOAD "RICHARD III" MP3

DOWNLOAD "SUN HITS THE SKY" MP3

Now I really don’t know the back-story for this band but I remember seeing their record cover of a Brit with American flag boxing gloves and I was intrigued. Loud guitar glam from Brighton, UK influenced by The Jam and Sex Pistols with large feathered boas and unafraid to foppishly flaunt. I was taken aback at first listen but after a little while I "got it". To me they are somehow even more British than Oasis (if that’s even possible). Upon unearthing this I found a fansite with demos and tons of other cool shite that I indeed plan on investigating further. I never did get their last album though I do have the single for it which sounds more like post-Bernard Butler Suede. To quote their fansite "a cruelly overlooked band, victims of the medias New-Wave-of-oh-please-just-fuck-off fad building, but still remembered with wide-pupilled glee by many, many sharp kid".

DOWNLOAD "FALSE IDENTIFICATION" MP3

DOWNLOAD "EMPIRE BUILDING" MP3

DOWNLOAD "LIFE SUPPORT MACHINE" MP3

LINK TO FANSITE

In 1997 I stumbled upon a weird CD on creation records with a rabbit on the cover… I was intrigued and bought it for a mere $6. At first listen it really didn’t grab me but the more and more I listened to it the more I fell in love with this album and in particular the title track, "Hillside". Good songwriting in the vein of Crosby Stills Nash And Young and Big Star on their more rocking moments. The band never really struck it big but apparently they did tour the US once and did make some great music on their own terms. Apparently when Alan McGee gave them money to record demos they just squandered it off on food, goodies, and wine and recorded on a cassette 4-track in a barn in the beautiful british countryside, hence their "Barn Tapes" EP which appeared before their full-length. Here are some of my favorite songs from their full-length and The Barn Tapes. Also a little factoid is that the band named themselves after one of the members’ dog. If I named my band off of my gerbil I had when I was younger than I would be playing in Fuzzy or presently my parent’s dog Shogun.

[ DOWNLOAD "HILLSIDE" ]

[ DOWNLOAD "WINDSOR PARK" ]

[ DOWNLOAD "DOG ON THE STAIRS"
]

[ DOWNLOAD "SUN" ]

[ MEMBERS FROM ARNOLD CURRENT BAND: LITTLE MASSIVE ]

A couple days ago I posted a few tracks from the Roky Erickson tribute album called "Where The Pyramid Meets The Eye" and someone commented that they didn’t know who he was… Well these songs are for you sizzle-chest. The best place to start if you’re a "Roky-virgin" is with his band 13th Floor Elevators, get your greasy hands on their first two records ("The Psychedelic Sounds of Thirteenth Floor Elevators" & "Easter Everywhere"). I like his solo record, "Gremlins Have Pictures" because it’s got the jams "Night Of the Vampire" (listen to this one and tell me he doesn’t know what he’s talking about… homeboy means it when he sings like that) & "I Have Always Been Here Before" (which is one of my favorite lines he ever wrote… so mixed up, yet you know exactly what he means). You also get his cover of The Velvet Undergrounds "Heroin" which is… dare I say it? …"better" than the original. Ok, maybe not better, but he makes it his own for sure. Also check out the Roky interview I posted last year here to get an idea of just how bonkers this dude is.

P.S. Fuck, can it get any hotter? I’m melting over here… NO GOOD!

Double P.S. The new Tom Petty came out yesterday and it’s killer. Go buy it.

(DOWNLOAD - "Night Of the Vampire")

(DOWNLOAD - "Heroin")

(DOWNLOAD - "I Have Always Been Here Before")

I remember stumbling upon the Gay Dad "Leisure Noise" record in 1999 at the record store I used to frequent. During my musical travels in the 90s I got more sick of the hardcore scene as time went on with it’s musical close mindedness. I found myself scouring European record stores for new britpop and weird electronic music from Holland (…speaking of which, I still need to get my hands on The La’s demos LP that I saw somewhere in Germany, I think). Gay Dad stuck out to me not only becuase of their ridiculous name and great cover art by the legendary Peter Saville but also because of it’s more dreamy take of early Supergrass style power-pop. I remember them getting tons of press as if they would be the "next big thing" and with as much positive press they had they had an equal share of negative. Press aside, this was a good record. Not a perfect britpop masterpiece, even a tad shameless, but honest and a good time. Plus their name is genius… at least it would filter out close-minded fans. I also read on their fansite that Andy Bell from Ride/Oasis was in the band for a short while. My fave track: Black Ghost.

(DOWNLOAD = "BLACK GHOST")

(DOWNLOAD - "DIMSTAR")

(DOWNLOAD - "JOY!")

LINK TO GAY DAD FANSITE

I saw the Roky Erickson movie, "You’re Gonna Miss Me", at MOCA a few months back and I was going to write about it here to tell you all to go see it if you got the chance, but I guess I forgot. It’s seriously one of the best rock documentaries I’ve ever seen, way better than I expected… It’s depressing and inspiring at the same time. It’s not out on dvd yet that I know of so check their website and figure out how you can see it. What reminded me that I hadn’t plugged the film here yet was finding this "Where The Pyramid Meets The Eye: A Tribute to Roky Erickson" compilation again when I moved. It’s got various artists covering 13th Floor Elevator songs as well as solo Roky songs (both of which I’m gonna have to post up here soon including "The Night Of The Vampire"). Here are my favorite jams from this out of print (i think…) compilation, one being T-Bone Burtnett and another being The Jesus & Mary Chain (see I got a flow going here). Dig it.

(Download - "ZZ Top - Reverberation.mp3")

(Download - "Jesus & Mary Chain - Reverberation")

(Download - "T-Bone Burnett - Nothing In Return.mp3")

(Download - "REM - I Walked With A Zombie.mp3")

Last night my friend took me to the premiere for season two of one of the only tv shows I actually watch, Showtime’s "Weeds" (I’m not bragging, this is going somewhere… sort of). It was great, they played the first two new episodes in a row at the Egyptian theater (which were really really good, this season looks like it’s gonna be even better than the first… check the trailer) and afterward there was a party on the set of the show with free booze and food (not to mention huge massive fake joints hanging over the dance floor where they had a weird reggae band playing). I know this has zero point zero to do with music, but it does kinda relate to Rhino reissuing my favorite marijuana concept record ever… "A Child’s Garden Of Grass". This cult comedy classic from 1971 finally finds it’s way to the digital world (that means it’s now available as cds and on itunes dude). Here are two tracks ripped from the actual LP, which is "cooler" I guess cuz it sounds shitty and you can hear the snap, crackles and pops. DO IT!

(Download - "The History Of Marijuana")

(Download - "Acquiring Marijuana; General Effects")

T Bone Burnett’s done tons of cool shit in his lifetime… he played in Bob Dylan’s backing band during the Rolling Thunder Revue tour, produced records by Elvis Costello & Autolux, put together the soundtracks for "O Brother Where Are Thou?" and (one of my favorite movies of all time) "The Big Lebowski", contributed music to the "Cold Mountain" soundtrack, and composed the score to the Johnny Cash flick, "Walk the Line"… I’m sure he’s done tons of other cool shit, but that’s what I can remember off the top of my head… Oh yeah… AND he’s a solo artist. "The True False Identity" is his first record in 14 years (I’ve never heard any of the others but this one is ace) and it features a pretty impressive roster of players… Marc Ribot on guitar (he played on Tom Wait’s "Rain Dogs"), Jim Keltner on drums (he played on two of my favorite records ever… John Lennon’s "Plastic Ono Band" and "Imagine") as well as Carla Azar on drums (she’s in Autolux). I recently saw T-Bone play at The El Rey (with Keltner and Ribot) and not only was I the youngest person by a couple decades but it was a killer show. I’m starting to think I have a thing for old dudes that are into Dylan…

(Download - "Palestine, Texas")

(Download - "Seven Times Hotter Than Fire")

Also check out this video of T-Bone doing "Palestine, Texas" live on the Tonight Show. With Keltner & Carla both on drums and John Mayer killing it on Guitar. That’s something I never thought I’d write… something nice about John Mayer.

I’m psyched on Tom Petty. But then again I’m way into old people that smoke pot and wanna be Bob Dylan. Homeboy has a new record coming out on July 25th called "Highway Companion"! But instead of waiting for it to hit stores… you can buy two songs from it on itunes now and pre-order the record like I did. The two songs out, "Saving Grace" and "Big Weekend" are both pretty ace (there’s also a video for "Saving Grace" on youtube). Check out Petty’s ecard site where you can stream the two new singles as well as a few other songs from the album…

Question: Is it a sign that I’m officially old if the next three concerts I’m excited about are all musicians over 50? Tom Petty (Hollywood Bowl July 26th), CSNY & The James Gang reunion. Fuck… I think it does.

I don’t know much about the Pink Fairies aside from that they were a weird band from the late sixties that not too many people liked and their drummer was from a rad band called The Pretty Things. To be honest I don’t really care to know much about these guys, what I do know (and care) about is a little song they wrote called "Do It"! It’s quite possibly one of best tunes ever penned by man. You can find this simple but killer jam on their album entitled "Never Never Land". For shits and giggles I also included a live version of The Rollins Band doing "Do It" (there’s also a studio version too, but I do not have it). I’m by no means a fan of the buff fourth singer of Black Flag’s post-flag work, but "Do It" is so good I think I’d be into anyone playing it. Does anyone reading this know of other bands that covered this song? Download the Pink Fairies two versions of "Do It" as well as the live steakhead version, burn a cd of them all and put it on
repeat at the next party you’re at… shit is sure to get broken. Don’t
talk about it… DO IT! It’s rock n’ roll… and the message is… DO IT!

(Download - "Do It" single edit)

(Download - "Do It" LP version)

(Download - "Do It" The Rollins Band live)

I shouldn’t have to tell you how rad this record is… I mean come on, it’s Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s classic second record! In short, this baby is fuckin’ sick! If you aren’t already down with these cats, get into em now! DO IT! I haven’t posted anything in a while so I figured "Almost Cut My Hair" was the perfect jam to throw up here because I almost did cut my hair the other day. But thankfully I didn’t give in and I’m still lettin’ my freak flag fly! The other reason I pick this song is because I’m getting amped cuz we’re going to see CSNY at the Hollywood Bowl on July 31st. There’s nothing like pounding wine outside at the Bowl surrounded by a bunch of stoned 60-year-olds! Last year when we check out CSN at the Greek we were easily the youngest people there by a good 20 years. It was rad too cuz no one was trying to be cool, just weirdos letting their freak flags fly. This time around Neil’s gonna be there kickin’ ass too and I’m not gonna be scared to share a joint with the grandma or grandpa next to me… can’t fuckin’ wait! Summertime is the best!

Oh and if you missed one of Aaron’s only blog posts a while ago where he blew his load and wrote a fucking book on these guys, read up here… it’s epic.

(Download - "Almost Cut My Hair") 

Unlike anything out there today, Honeyhander is a puzzling band which pieces together noise, electro-pop, glitch, and post-punk with a goth rock edge. Think of a Violator-Psychocandy lovechild who went to some fancy Rhode Island art school and came out a perfectionist irate with the world. This is him bitchin’ for 16 minutes, but its actually enjoyable to listen to. Picking up where new wave left off, Woolly Mannerisms oddly make you wanna dance, bang your head, and wonder how the hell you’re gonna them out of your head.

(Download "Porcelian Veneers")

(Buy it from Insound)