Music News

With a sound recalling early English new wave, like The Jam, as well as later day power pop heroes, The Exploding Hearts, The Biters hit the same power pop sweet spot that made the debut record by fellow ATL residents, Gentlemen Jesse and His Men, such a pleasurable listen a couple years back. It’s all there on “Hang Around,” the band’s debut single, a track which combines blazing guitar lines and a Friday night is fun night attitude with just the right amount of gutter-punk dirt to create an instant air guitar anthem. You gotta turn this one up and jam it.

MP3: The Biters – Hang Around
VIDEO: The Biters – Hang Around

You can catch The Biters live in Cleveland on August 18th at Now That’s Class.

The Biters

It’s been quite a couple of weeks here. Changes, folks, changes.

I’ve been pulled out the proverbial rabbit hole by a night in the excellent company of The Handsome Family at the Hyde Park Picture House, an art deco gem in most unexpected surroudings.

Happily, it’s had new seats from when I took Howard there about a million years ago when I was first in Leeds. It was a double bill, starting at midnight, designed to test stamina of both arse and mind. Sorry about that, mate.

Listen: The Handsome Family – The Bottomless Hole

Listen: Smog – The Well.

Buy the Smog record or The Handsome Family one.

Azbest said…
Miłość “Miłość”
Older Stuff: One Million Bulgarians, Atomico Patibulo, Sepultura, Dirtmusic
http://proskynesis.blogspot.com

JPR said…
Gillian Welch
& David Rawlings
Calvin College
Fine Arts Center
Grand Rapids, MI
Sept 17, 2003
AUD
http://spontaneouswednesday.blogspot.com

Blue Suede Shoes said…
Blue Suede Shoes 955
July 31, 2010
1. Jerry WILLIAMS And ROADWORK – “Shake, Rattle And Roll”
2. Gene VINCENT And His BLUE CAPS – “Bluejean Bop”
3. Larry WILLIAMS – “Slow Down”
4. LITTLE RICHARD – “She’s Got It”
5. Johnny ACE & BIG MAMA THORNTON – “Yes Baby”
6. The CRICKETS – “I’m Lookin’ For Someone To Love”
7. Chuck BERRY – “One Sixty Nine AM”
8. Chuck BERRY – “Aimlessly Driftin’”
9. WILD ANGELS – “Little Queenie”
10. Chuck BERRY – “Reelin’ And Rockin’” (takes 7/8)
11. TINY BRADSHAW – “The Train Kept-A-Rollin’”
12. Wanda JACKSON – “Silver Threads And Golden Needles”
13. “LITTLE” JIMMY DICKENS – “Hey Worm!”
14. Carl PERKINS – “Honky Tonk Gal”
15. Brenda LEE – “Dum Dum”
16. Eddie COCHRAN – “Jelly Bean” (take 5)
17. The EVERLY BROTHERS – “Rip It Up”
18. Hubert SUMLIN – “I Love”
19. Rod STEWART – “So Much To Say”
20. BO DIDDLEY – “Bo Diddley 1969″
21. The SHADOWS – “The Savage”
22. SMOOTH And The BULLY BOYS – “Train Kept A-Rollin’”
23. Jack SCOTT With Orchestral Accompaniment And The CHANTONES Vocal Group “Geraldine”
24. Roy ORBISON And TEEN KINGS – “Go! Go! Go!”
25. Lloyd PRICE – “Personality”
26. FATS DOMINO – “When My Dreamboat Comes Home”
27. Vince TAYLOR – “Dixieland Rock”
28. Elvis PRESLEY With The JORDANAIRES – “I Don’t Want To Be Tied”
29. Elvis PRESLEY With The JORDANAIRES – “We’re Coming In Loaded”
30. Elvis PRESLEY With The JORDANAIRES – “Because Of Love”
31. Elvis PRESLEY With The JORDANAIRES – “Girls! Girls! Girls!”
32. Elvis PRESLEY With The JORDANAIRES – “Return To Sender”
33. SHAKIN’ STEVENS And The SUNSETS – “The Train Kept A Rollin’”
34. Cliff RICHARD & The SHADOWS – Tony Marsh Intro (live at The ABC, Kingston (UK), 1962)
35. Cliff RICHARD & The SHADOWS – “Do You Wanna Dance” (live at The ABC, Kingston (UK), 1962)
36. Cliff RICHARD & The SHADOWS – “Dim Dim The Lights” (live at The ABC, Kingston (UK), 1962)
37. Cliff RICHARD & The SHADOWS – “My Blue Heaven” (live at The ABC, Kingston (UK), 1962)
38. Cliff RICHARD & The SHADOWS – “Razzle Dazzle” (live at The ABC, Kingston (UK), 1962)
39. Bill HALEY And His COMETS – “Mambo Rock”
40. Arsen ROULETTE – “Chasing Rainbows”
41. The JOHNNY BURNETTE TRIO (JOHNNY, DORSEY AND PAUL) – “The Train’ Kept A-Rollin’”
42. Ray HARRIS – “Come On Little Mama”
43. Elvis PRESLEY – “Don’t Be Cruel”
http://bluesuedeshoes-libellule.blogspot.com

gregor said…
prince live in nagoya, japan
superchunk live in germany, 1993
pavement live at mississippi nights, 1999

new music from strand of oaks, sarah harmer, gord downie and the country of miracles (tragically hip front man), the gilded splinters

non new music from codeine, palace music, dianogah, june of ‘44, unwound, the crust brothers, us maple, and more…
http://captainsdead.com

Katie Melua doesn’t. She thinks she’s actually an alien or something or other or something:

She said: “I don’t even know if I’m human sometimes. I know that sounds mental, but I do believe we are all a bit like aliens.”

But if we’re all a bit like aliens, then aren’t all humans a bit like alien, and so feeling like that is human?

The United Nations have issued a statement in the last ten minutes, stressing that if it can be proven that Katie Melua has been sent to this planet by an alien intelligence, that will be viewed as a declaration of galactic war. “Unless they take her back, and James Blunt and Duffy as well as reparations” concluded the UN.

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Visit No Rock & Roll Fun to comment, complain and kvetch

With Kristin Hersh just having released her book-album combo Crooked, what better time for a look back at the genuinely-manic-driven Throwing Muses?

Probably the greatest band ever to come from Rhode Island, they were the first Americans to sign to 4AD and – for those of us to whom these things matter – much more of a Melody Maker band than an NME one. And they were awesome.

Look, this is how awesome they were: Red Shoes, live on stage at Glastonbury:

Buy
The Real Ramona
In A Doghouse

More Throwing Muses online
Throwing Muses on 4AD
Throwing Muses on Spotify

More Muses across the weekend
Dizzy live on Big World Cafe

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Visit No Rock & Roll Fun to comment, complain and kvetch

Of course, little Liam, now you’re head of the gang, you’re going to be very excited about things. But are you sure about this?

“I’m doing the next record you’ll hear for the next 50 years,” Gallagher said.

“It’s not gonna be out until next year. We’ll probably get a single out October or November, and there’s no point in doing gigs if people haven’t heard the music.”

Actually, sweetheart, you might want to think about doing the gigs before people hear the music. Just to maximise the chances of people turning up.

Still, there you have it: after Beady Eye release their debut, there won’t be a better record made until 2061.

I know we’re all trying to stifle giggles, but it could happen. Say, for example, the record becomes available at 9am on Monday 5th May 2011, and five seconds later North Korea launch a full-out nuclear assault on Western nations, sending commerce and industry into a fifty year spiral of disaster which sees the next half-century entirely free of records being put out. Under those circumstances, Gallagher’s prediction would be true. And nobody would be laughing.

On the other hand, everyone else’s predictions – that the record will sound like a three-legged horse attempting to play through Band On The Run – are much sounder, I suspect.

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Visit No Rock & Roll Fun to comment, complain and kvetch

Disability Discrimination Act grief for HMV in Portsmouth, where a move to hide all the CDs and DVDs upstairs is causing would-be customers problems:

Mr Long, 44, who is a retired health and safety inspector and is now chairman of the Portsmouth and District Branch of the Multiple Sclerosis Association, said: ‘I’m an avid music collector and there is no reason why HMV need to discriminate in this way.’

‘By putting the majority of their stock upstairs they are preventing anyone who is in a wheelchair, is less able, or has a pushchair from browsing their shop.’

That’s both unfair and, more importantly, potentially illegal. Gennaro Castaldo – who, you’ll recall, was yesterday telling Marketing Week about how you can protect your brand with a spot of good PR – can you make things better?

Spokesman Gennaro Castaldo said: ‘We do our best to look after all our customers’ needs, and our store-team is always happy to help provide a service by alternative means, such as bringing a selection of products downstairs for a customer.

Right, Gennaro. If Mr Long wants to browse through the three for £20 offer, your staff will carry everything downstairs, will they? It’s a nice idea if Martin knew what he wanted to buy – ‘bring me a copy of Meat Is Murder’ – but isn’t HMV keen for customers to spend time browsing, discovering stuff they didn’t know they wanted. That’s the point of a record shop having a shop, isn’t it? If Martin knew what he wanted to buy, and could just get someone to bring it to him, he could use Amazon, right?

Can’t you find some way to let Martin get to the records?

In the case of our store in Commercial Road we carried out a feasibility study in line with DDA compliance requirements and were advised that installing a passenger lift would not be viable given the nature and construction of the building.

Ah – so there’s no way to put a lift in the building, Gennaro?

Hang on, though – there is a lift, isn’t there? Martin?

Mr Long, of Shakespeare Road, Fratton, said: ‘I asked a shop assistant if there was a lift but he said it was only for staff use. I don’t think they’re trying to make it easy for people in my position at all.’

It might be they’re talking at cross-purposes. Perhaps the lift is a paternoster or just more of a dumb waiter. After all, Gennaro wouldn’t be in the papers telling everyone putting in a passenger lift was impossible if there was a passenger lift out the back and it was just staff didn’t want to share, right?

Sure, there might be a security problem with having a customer go round the back of the counter to get upstairs – but the staff who Gennaro was going to have scamper up and down carrying discs could surely accompany a person who needed to use a lift instead?

Still, Gennaro, you have something to add?

We also responded to customer feedback by moving the children’s section downstairs to the ground floor to give improved access for parents with pushchairs and buggies.

Oh, yes, that helps: “what are you complaining about? We’ve put the Fimbles downstairs.” If Gennaro ever moves to whatever it is Osborne puts in place of the NHS, I look forward to dementia care patients being told their complaints are invalid because they’ve done something in the orthodontic department.

Still, it’s not like Gennaro just shrugged and said “go to another store”, is it?

He added that the company owns another shop in Portsmouth’s Gunwharf Quays which does have wheelchair access.

That’s something like a 25 minute walk away from the other store. You’re not prepared to find a way to let customers use a lift, but think they should start a half-hour haul across the town instead. Classy.

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Visit No Rock & Roll Fun to comment, complain and kvetch

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion’s performance at the 2010 Pitchfork Music Festival was a rare highlight during a festival which will more than likely be remembered for three things: The heat, the boring bands who played during those hot afternoons, and Pavement.  Others didn’t quite see it that way, and Jon Spencer didn’t take to kindly to those sentiments, especially those made by Jim DeRogatis who compared The Blues Explosion’s performance to a black-face parody of the blues.  For this, DeRo earned a “F*cking a**hole,” from Spencer.

There’s more, in this particular interview with Eye Weekly, of course.

On his decision to wear rubber pants in the steaming heat, Spencer replied, “I’m in a rock ’n’ roll band and I was there to play rock ’n’ roll. I didn’t go there to work on my tan or play hacky-sack. Jesus Christ, what’s this world coming to? Everybody gets so upset about me trying to look good! I’m getting to be an old man, but I’ve got a job, and I’m going to do it the best I can. F*ck these squares.”

To this, I say, “Amen, brother.”  After watching so many bands play in shorts, and hearing so many of those bands in shorts complain about the heat, and then having to sit through painfully uninteresting sets by those boys and girls in shorts, it was pure joy to witness the Blues Explosion leave everything they had on that stage.

From Eye Weekly, via The Daily Swarm

Beginning with his much-loved lo-fi days in Guided by Voices, and on through countless, much cleaner sounding side projects and solo projects, Boston Spaceships’ Robert Pollard has always been an adherent to the Four P’s of Rock ‘N’ Roll – Pop, Punk Rock, Psychedelic Rock and Progressive Rock.  With Boston Spaceships, however, the Four P’s are often scaled back to include only punk and pop.  Perhaps, this explains why Boston Spaceships records have been the source of Pollard’s most consistently satisfying, post-GBV output to date, with songs like “C’mon Baby Grace,” from the forthcoming Our Clubhouse Still Rocks, taking all of thirty seconds to make the trip from your headphones to your heart.

MP3: Boston Spaceships – Come on Baby Grace

Our Clubhouse Still Rocks by Boston Spaceships will be due out September 7th via GBV Records.

Boston Spaceships