Fuck yes! Finally, some new music I can sink my teeth into! This ain’t some fast food that’s gonna give you the runs either, this is the musical equivalent of a big juicy New York steak and a big bottle of red wine! Nick Cave and a few of his Bad Seed homeboys went into the studio and came out a new band called Grinderman that sounds a lot like Nicky-poo’s early band The Birthday Party if they were older, wiser and wrote way better songs. The guitars on this bad boy sound like chainsaws at times… I love them! Plus as usual Nick is singing about really cool shit. Who can’t relate to a song called "No Pussy Blues". Fuck, if Nicks got the No Pussy Blues with all the hot chicks he slays (can you say Kylie?)… then so the fuck do I! This bundle of love will hit your record stores April 10th, 2007 on Anti Records. The band will be putting out a single limited to 1,000 copies of the first song on the record, "Get It On", before that in February with cover art and b-side vinyl etching by Nick Cave… that is if you can find it. Until then I suggest hitting up their myspace page @ http://www.myspace.com/grinderman, downloading my two favorite Grinderman jams and watching two videos from the past for old times sake.
I hate Christmas. Our Godfather of Soul, James Brown, died today of "congestive heart failure" at the ripe age of 73. He will be missed. He was real, he looked good, he smelled good, he felt good, he sang good… and he made love good! We’re out on love too James! Hope it’s better where you are now.
Love,
Travis
Paul Westerberg is in a cast after putting a screwdriver through his hand and hurting himself pretty bad. Doctors are telling him he won’t be playing guitar for a year according to Jim Walsh’s blog. Jim’s a Minneapolis writer and close friend of the former Replacements singer. Here’s what he had to say:
"Speaking of prayers, at the end of Paul Westerberg’s liner notes on "The Shit Hits The Fans," he wrote "Pray for us, Paul." Well, brother Paul could use some prayers at the moment, because a week or so ago he put a screwdriver through his left hand trying to get some wax out of a candle and cut some nerves and ripped some cartilage and hurt himself pretty bad.
He’s in a cast. He’s seen a couple doctors who say he won’t be able to play guitar for a year."
You can read the full post by clicking here. There goes any slight chance we had at a Replacements reunion tour in 2007 I guess. I’ll be kicking back a few glasses in the name of Paul tonight, I’m pretty sure he’s a scotch man… here’s to Paul! And here’s a few of Paul’s songs I’ve been diggin’ on lately. If you’re not an owner of "Let It Be" & "Tim" by The Replacements, I recommend you treat yourself and go buy those today… you’ll thank me and The ‘Mats later. Below the songs here, you can watch The Replacements play two songs on Saturday Night Live… drunk, not giving a fuck & killing it! Take note of the clothes switch-er-roo!
Here are two new Dischord records which are pretty unrelated other than being on the same label and being comprised of a minimal lineup. First we have The Aquarium which features erstwhile DC personality Mr. Jason Hutto on keyboards and Laura Harris on drums. A whimsical ride through old tattered school filmstrips and scabbed knees with great melodies and clever lyrics. Hutto croons over his Wurlitzer and old synth bringing to mind Quasi and Sonic Youth in his vocal stylings. Here are my fave tracks: the insturmental "Credits" and "Can’t Afford To Live Here", the latter being an ode to gentrification and the rising cost of living in Washington, D.C.. A now a little story about "Credits". I saw Aquarium play a local haunt The Galaxy Hut years ago before releasing a record. They decided to have this ridiculous old fishing reel projected behind them with an old man and his friend (son?) happily fishing in the sea. The music fit the scene perfectly with bounding waves and a happy old guy helping a younger man fishing, spotting the rod, etc… This exact scene happened to be enacted off the cuff by none other than Jason Hamacher (ex-Frodus / G. Gordon Liddy prank call fame) and Stephen Guidry (of The Cassettes as the younger fisherman). Mr. Hamacher had his shirt off and they perfectly mimiced the ridiculous fishing scene that was being projected. It truly was a ridiculous moment and perfectly executed to the laughs and smiles of the whole crowd. Perhaps this is one of those "had to be there" moments, but just try and envision this. Please.
And the other Dischord release is Joe Lally’s solo album "There To Here". An album he has been writing for the past few years which takes the weaving bass lines that you heard in Fugazi and strips them down to a simple line and vocals with minimal instrumentation on top. A challenging record which leaves your mind filling in the gaps that gets better with each listen. In a live setting Joe is backed up an always changing cast of musicians. He even had some of the Melvins back him up whilst on tour with them. Joe is a must see if he comes to your town and this record is just a taste of the rhythms and interesting compositions that Joe seems to be writing these days post-Fugazi.
I just had to add "GOLDEN PYRAMID" because you can’t go wrong with the lyrics "trapped inside a golden pyramid / trapped inside a decadent monolith." Whoa.
Thanks to Vishal for this super-fast speedy server we’re using now. I don’t really have time to write much… it’s the fookin’ holidays mate! Anyhoo… here’s an mp3 of the Oasis song "Acquiesce". It was the b-side to "Some Might Say", was also on "The Masterplan" b side record and is now on the "Stop The Clocks" best of thingy. This version is "The White Room" bootleg. Shit slays. Get into it. Yes, I’m still on an Oasis kick. Eat shit and die.
Well a fine surprise came to me recently which restored some of my hope in music. Not that I was losing too much of it but it can get brutal if you get lost in the morasse of myspace and pop culture with a few ill placed clicks. Anyhow, the gem (at least for me and some other believers in the old guard of britpop) was the solo album by Jarvis Cocker. A fine orchestrated pop album with the crooning vocals of Pulp’s frontman which is more memorable then the last two Pulp albums in my opinion. Humourous and satirical lyrics from topics as quantum mechanics and even an inspirational song sung to a girl whose boyfriend plans on running off with some "skinny bitch". In my opinion, this album is truly "punk". Apparently in an interview in Sweden’s SONIC magazine he said he was listening to lots of Leonard Cohen "Death Of A Ladies Man" which I just purchased and will post later along with some great excerpts with Jarvis about music press and other topics. Enjoy Jarvis… and Jarvis, thank you.
A little earlier this year I joined forces with my buddy (and also bandmate in Frantic Mantis) in Sweden who does Carcrash Records to release some earlier material I amassed over the years. Before I even started working with Carcrash I was blogging about some of their releases on this very blog! Well now a bunch of those releases including an early Frodus live CD are on super sale from Carcrash!
Some of my favorite releases included in this sale such as ALARMA MAN and C.AARME… with many gems hidden on the other discs too. A nice gift I must say. Also download the friendly little tune by DIALOG CET ‘Like Animals". Kind of Sonic Youthy with some tastefully done weavy guitars and telephonic vocal stylings - a fine song to drink a warm beverage to.
So, not that I am any sort of self-promoter as Travis, Aaron, and Celeste are my personal promoters and sometimes my personal trainers I would like to share with everyone the 3rd Cassettes podcast. However, what makes this episode different than total band-oriented podcasts is that we play almost entirely music of bands that we played with on tour and/or have some connection with. You will hear some stuff I talked about on this blog such as Pines Of Nowhere and some other found gems whilst travelling these United States. Which reminds me, we should included These United States on the podcast as we ran into that band while travelling and the singer’s parents housed us outside of Chicago and made us some great food! Great DC comrades, check them out at on their MySpace Page!
Some of the other artists on this podcast: Keith John Adams (UK), Perhapsy, The Private Sea, Mod Wheel Mood, Baby Dee (ex-Current 93), Benjy Feree and more! ENJOY!
Fuck yes! Finally, some new music I can sink my teeth into! This ain’t some fast food that’s gonna give you the runs either, this is the musical equivalent of a big juicy New York steak and a big bottle of red wine! Nick Cave and a few of his Bad Seed homeboys went into the studio and came out a new band called Grinderman that sounds a lot like Nicky-poo’s early band The Birthday Party if they were older, wiser and wrote way better songs. The guitars on this bad boy sound like chainsaws at times… I love them! Plus as usual Nick is singing about really cool shit. Who can’t relate to a song called "No Pussy Blues". Fuck, if Nicks got the No Pussy Blues with all the hot chicks he slays (can you say Kylie?)… then so the fuck do I! This bundle of love will hit your record stores April 10th, 2007 on Anti Records. The band will be putting out a single limited to 1,000 copies of the first song on the record, "Get It On", before that in February with cover art and b-side vinyl etching by Nick Cave… that is if you can find it. Until then I suggest hitting up their myspace page @ http://www.myspace.com/grinderman, downloading my two favorite Grinderman jams and watching two videos from the past for old times sake.
