)It's Saturday morning and I'm awake really early goofing around and making a new mix compilation CD for my car. I've decided to put on "Rock and Roll Girl" and since I haven't written a cover lover article in a while, I thought this is perfect.
I came across this song via The Muffs, a fuzzy pop-punk band from the early 90s from Southern California. Although they have stated in interviews that they have not broken up, it's hard to ignore that they've been pretty much inactive since 2004.
Their singer, Kim Shattuck, has a snarly, but unique, voice, and I think she's really into obscure garage bands, as seen on their album Hamburger... However, I think the song that they're probably best known for is "Kids in America", a Kim Wilde cover (oh don't worry, we're going to have a "Kids in America" cover lover post eventually).
Trying to figure out some of the covers on Hamburger, I found The Beat, a band that debut with The Beat in 1979. The band was lead by Paul Collins, and eventually people started referring The Beat to Paul Collins' Beat - and it would make searching a lot easier, I suppose.
I actually don't have any other music from The Beat, other than this song for comparison, but they seem to be rock and rolly, probably based out of Los Angeles, as heard on their song "I wish there was an easier way, to meet all the girls in LA".
Between the two version, I would love to nod to The Muffs, just because it feels a little more updated and a little more punky. Plus, there's something sinister when you hear Shattuck sings "I wanna be with the rock n roll girl".
Both songs are now on my mix CD.
The first thing Philadelphia's Javelina wants you to know is that their name is pronounced as if it were a Spanish word. Like “Ha-ve-lee-na.” In fact, it's printed right on the front spine of their debut CD for Translation Loss Records. A javelina is like a sort of wild pig (technically a peccary). This is actually a completely useless fact, but I found it while Googling the band to find out more information on them, and thought you'd like to know. It's also a rather appropriate name for a band that sounds like these guys.
The album is sludge metal, inspired by bands like Down, Motorhead, Eyehategod, and Crowbar. The band features ex-members of Lickgoldensky, Smut, and Otophobia. This is a very straightforward metal disc. This album is heavy in more of a literal sense, in that it sounds like a band made up of a bunch of large, angry dudes. The vocals basically sound like a dude who's about to smash your face in with nothing but his fist. The album typically sticks to more straightforward rhythms with more emphasis a thick, sludgy tone than on displaying the players' chops (which are definitely there).
The musicianship is competent. There's quite a bit of punk influence here (particularly on tracks like “Asbestos”), and even a little bit of modern “post-metal,” for lack of a less annoying term (like the sort of stuff Robotic Empire has been putting out a lot of, lately) on “Architect,” which is probably the best track on the album, but I'd say it'll appeal more to metalheads than anyone else. If you like bands with Phil Anselmo in them (e.g. Pantera, Down, Superjoint Ritual), then these guys might be right up your alley.
These guys are currently on tour, so if you like what you hear, go check 'em out! Their debut album is out now on Translation Loss records. More info: Official MySpace page
May 17 2008 8:00P The Drunken Unicorn w/ Withered Atlanta, Georgia
May 18 2008 8:00P Hell w/ Tooth, Horsefang Chapel Hill, North Carolina
May 19 2008 8:00P NARA Sushi w/ Tooth, Lord By Fire Richmond, Virginia
Jul 11 2008 8:00P Talking Head w/ Sourvein Baltimore, Maryland
Jul 12 2008 8:00P Manhattan Room w/ Sourvein Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Jul 13 2008 8:00P The Knitting Factory w/ Sourvein New York, New York
-Soup
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05/17/08 Melos Pestoia
Discography
05/18/08 Traffic Roma 05/20/08 Casa de Cultura San Sebastian 05/22/08 BeCool Barcelona 05/23/08 La Marquise Lyon 05/25/08 Cactus Brugge 05/26/08 Mains d’Ouevres Paris 05/27/08 Le Grand Wazoo Amiens 05/28/08 Treibhaus Lucern 05/29/08 Elfer Frankfurt 05/30/08 d:qliq Luxembourg 05/31/08 Gleis 22 Munster 06/01/08 Steinbruch Duisburg
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Taking their name from Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa is a band with members from New York, Chicago, Boston, DC, and Richmond. Their latest album is called Rest and it was released last Tuesday, May 13th. This album was composed primarily through e-mail, because of the various band member's living location!
The band is headed by frontsman, Champ Bennett, but you can tell this isn't a dictatorship, but a collaboration, with each band members adding in their own color to the music. Sometime these addition seems to make their songs unconventionally long. Take, for instance, their most accessible song "Jeroen Van Aken" is over eight minutes long - definitely not radio material.
What makes "Jeroen Van Aken" good is you get to hear the melodic vocals between Champ Bennett and Nikki King and the chorus seems to be "it seems the devil's got a grip on me" while the music build in the background. But instead of ending at the four minute mark, the song continues on with a great bass line played by (and I'm guessing because there are several bassists listed in the liner notes) Billy Bennett.
The other songs that I was drawn to all features sweet lush vocals, including "Pseudonyms", which has some nice pianos and some haunting noises that sounds like a musical saw. Be sure to check out "Abutting, Dismantling", another whispery vocal song - with some great rhythmic percussions.
I am unfamiliar with their earlier works, but judging from Rest, I would recommend Gregor Samsa to any fans of slowcore bands like Minnesota's own Low.
Rest is out now, can be purchased directly from their record label, Kora Records. There is a limited edition of this record for only $7 more (with less than 200 left) that I suggest you get instead of the standard version. I've taken a look at the pictures of the limited version and I'm very tempted to place an order very soon. They are also on tour to support the new record.
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Jason Yudoff just released his second studio album, Tragic Hero last Tuesday, May 13th. Apparently this album's been hitting the music industry rounds for a while now, because, despite just officially released to the general public, it's already been nominated in the 2008 Grammy Ballot in four categories: "Best New Artist", "Album of the Year", "Record of the Year" (for the song "Personal Addict") and "Producer of the Year" (Ron Thaler).
Since the song "Personal Addict" is nominated for "Record of the Year", I thought it that would best represent him: a little funk and jam. Even his funky voice on this song sounds a little like Jamiroquai, doesn't it?
I also really liked the frantic piano-driven song, "Locked in a Box", which really shows off Yudoff's piano-playing skill.
There's also a studio version of "Too Late Janie", which originally appeared on his live album, LIVE at The Cutting Room, which sounds a little more controlled. It even sounds better in the studio, but I did missed the improvised piano in the middle of the live version.
Tragic Hero is out now, you can find his music on amazon and itunes as well as cd baby. He's playing one show in New York at the Make Music at the Waterside Plaza on June 21st.
Links:
jasonyudoff.com
myspace.com/jasonyudoffandthenewhotness
 Hellapop Festival (May 24th) ♥ Bands: The Definite Articles, Teamawesome!, iji, Tinkture, Hey Three Eyes, The Creepy Crawlies, James Rabbit, Charlie Don’t Surf!, The Paper Orchestra, The Panduhs, Old Hack, Tippy the Vegan, Music from Anteria |
Okay, so I've never been an avid calendar user (too much work!), but lately I've been organizing myself with W♥M Calendar so I know which concert dates to attend and what CDs are being release when. Since I also use Outlook for calendaring, Google does offer Calendar Sync which seamlessly sync both outlook and W♥M calendar (so I can manage offline or online).
I believe the calendar is shared among all the weheartmusic.com users by default (but you can set it to private or "friends only"), so, anyroad, I know someone will be attending Hellapop Festival (May 24). This looks really fun, and I would be there too if I lived in California.
I thought I'd mention two bands doing this festival that I thought looked interesting.
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Tinkture looks like a group of very young ladies, into DIY punk, possibly Riot. I thought "Pyrotechnics" is a very fast and feels very garagey. The vocals has a southern sound to it too. I generally like these DIY punk, as you've probably figured from my various punk articles.
I couldn't help but think of Supergrass's "Alright" when I heard "Farther Away" by Shadow Puppet Theatre. These guys looks very hip and are snappy dressers on top of that. Plus, they seem like they would hang out at all night cafes. They are from Modesto, and consists of singer/guitarist, Adam Bishop, and upright bassist, Jessica Jones.
These are only two of the many, many bands that's attending the Hellapop Festival, so be sure to check them out. That Team Awesome sounds pretty fun, as well as Charlie Don't Surf (which may have stolen their title from Apocalypse Now, but they seem too young to actually have seen that movie - so I vote for Veronica Mars).
Links: myspace.com/popsongromance
www.tinkture.com
myspace.com/shadowpuppettheatre
Since joining Sellaband, she's been gaining "believers" (657 to be exact) and has raised enough money to record a full-length. Today marks the release of her debut album, It Might Like You, and is also Sellaband's first release by a Polish artist. As a promotion for the past month, she's been posting short teasers on Youtube that are quite... umm... uhh... well... just watch them. There are two versions of the album; the regular edition
There will be a listening session for the album on Sellaband starting at 8pm EST for Believers and 9pm EST for the rest of the world.
| Links: Official Webite | Album Website | Sellaband | MySpace | Youtube |
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So I got this announcement that Rob Dickinson is re-releasing Fresh Wine For Horses a second time. This version will include Nude EP as a bonus second disc.
Now, bands repackaging albums as deluxe or special editions are more commonplace, but they generally fall under a limited time frame, like perhaps an anniversary mark at five or ten years. Dickinson's original release for Fresh Wine For Horses was three years ago, a pretty odd number, but I guess he felt the time is right for another college try and planning on releasing the 2-disc set on June 10th.
The press release said that "End Of The World": "lifts shamelessly from the soundtrack to the British cult movie Withnail & I", a movie I have on Criterion DVD... Which I have to rewatch sometime. But listening to it, is it me, does the intro sounds a little bit like Laura Branigan's "Self Control"?
I have been meaning to do a write up on Catherine Wheel since W♥M started, but I felt that I'm not an expert when it comes to this band because I was so unfamiliar with their large body of work. I even had a massive Catherine Wheel fan make me compilation of their "best of" songs, but have failed to really get into it. I didn't dislike it, but I wasn't really into it, you know?
What I can tell you that I first came across this band with an edited version of "Black Metallic" from MTV's 120 Minutes. This was at a time when they were grouped (unfairly, I might add) with the shoegazing 4AD-type sound at the time.
After gaining a somewhat massive attention from the States with "Black Metallic" and "I Want to Touch You", I was fortunately enough to catch them on tour early in their career. The thing I remembered from this concert was the tiny elongated venue, the now-defunct Cadillac Club, in Fresno, California. They also made use of a smoke machine, which looked pretty awesome with lights. They also did an extra long 15 minute rendition of "Black Metallic", which I believe was the last song of the encore.
Although I wouldn't call myself a huge fan, I did like them enough to pick up Happy Days and Wishville on Yahoo Auction for about the cost of shipping, adding to my random collection of Catherine Wheel singles and promos.
Trivia: I just found out that Rob Dickinson's cousin is Bruce Dickinson, lead singer of Iron Maiden! Both Iron Maiden and Catherine Wheel are midevil torture devices.
Links:
myspace.com/robdickinson
I have a ton of news I need to get to, but obviously still playing catchup because of my illness from last week. As I have previously mentioned, many of these news items can be found on our press.weheartmusic.com website, so if you have music-related announcements, please let me know, maybe even twitter me?
First off, is Stereo Total return to the USA for one BBQ show!. This is for May 31st, in Brooklyn, NY. And if I lived in New York, I would be out all the time... especially because everyone seems to tour and/or are in New York. Plus, I love Stereo Total!
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I don't normally announce other people's contests, but I felt this one is too good to pass up: Win a Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus Terabyte Hard Drive. It is for a Terabyte drive from Maxtor. As you know, my HD is fast depleting, so I entered into this contest. Don't worry, I never win at these things anyway, so I thought perhaps you guys might have a better luck at it.
What makes his contest music-related is that it includes MP3s and videos (?) and music content from The Sickest Kids, Be Your Own Pet[W♥M], Between The Trees, Story of the Year[W♥M], Black Gold, etc.
Winners will be contacted the week of June 9th from www.thesyn.com/blog.
Jason is reviewing Samantha Crain's album, The Confiscation, so I thought you might want to check out Samantha Crain - "The Confiscation," a music novella, out July 22 on Ramseur Records.
Reading her mini biography, it seems that she's a Native American folk singer, so the obvious "earthy and spiritual" was used to describe her music.
It should be interesting to read the review and hear some of her music here.
She's also doing a ton of tour dates, so head over to her myspace for the latest information.
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Also, a few brief mentions: Grupo Fantasma Serves Up Sonidos Gold For June 17th Release and Bad Religion to Release New Maps of Hell (Deluxe Edition) on July 8th.
These titles are pretty self-explanatory. It seems like we just reviewed Grupo Fantasma's Comes Alive, but this new CD, Sonidos Gold, is a studio album with new material.
From my brief listen to this new album, it's really good, with a fusion of latin and dance/pop music.
Also, briefly, my favorite, Bad Religion is re-releasing New Maps of Hell, in a "deluxe edition". This is pretty cool, considering that this legendary punk band have never released any deluxe or repackaged their albums before.
I will assign someone to review their album, but in the meantime, read my previous article on Bad Religion.
Links:
weheartmusic.com
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Tour Dates
05/30/08 Electric Weekend Madrid
05/31/08 Siesta Festivalen Hässleholm 06/13/08 Skabazac Festival Rodez 06/14/08 Greenfield Festival Interlaken 06/15/08 Mix Up Festival Verneuil/Paris 06/21/08 Hurricane Festival Germany 06/22/08 Southside Festival Neuhausen 06/26/08 Frihamnen Göteborg 06/27/08 Peace & Love Festival Borlänge 07/03/08 Sundsvalls Gatufest Sundsvall 07/05/08 Ruis Rock Turku 09/05/08 Gröna Lund Stockholm |
Punk rock Swedes Millencolin has been around forever it seems. I've been listening to them since 2001, and they were already established with several CDs. My absolutely favorite disc by these guys is Pennybridge Pioneers. It loud, fast punk but not thrown together. It's smart, and displays their talents wonderfully. That's why I was surprised when I popped Machine 15 into my Macbook because it doesn't even sound like the same band!
You can definitely recognize Nikola Sarcevic's gritty vocals, but they are prettier, and more melodic. They whole album has taken a straight rock, dare I say, emo/indie rock turn. Songs like "Brand New Game" and "Saved by Hell" sound like they should be played with Taking Back Sunday, instead of at a Bad Religion show. The closest they come to their old stuff is with the song "Route One".
They are great songs, but I'm still shocked at how different it is in comparison to their late 90s-early 2000s stuff. I was actually most impressed with their opening track Machine 15, which has a slight euro-rock feel, ala their Swedish friends The Hives (and personally one of my favorite bands). I wish there was more of that influence on the entire album, but hey, who knew these guys could pull off power pop too?
They are touring in Europe all summer, but be sure to check back in the fall.