Sunday, December 24, 2006
On this, the twentyfourth day of December in this year of two thousand and six, much of the world is waging war in the high streets. They’re reporting on the radio that yesterday was the highest spending day in quite a number of years. What the fuck are these people buying? It must be stuff that I don’t see. Either that or it’s just anything to muster up that buzz. Anyway, if you’re reading this then maybe you’ve escaped. Good on you if you have. I know how hard it is not to get sucked into the bullshit. Or do I? Anyway, I’m not that shucched about coming over as a miserable bastard. Certainly not to those who don’t want to understand that it is possible to opt out. Live and let live, have a high old time if you want to. Eat and drink your way to oblivion and pass out on the couch. Tis yer prerogative after all. Wonder if they’ll show Charlie Drake on the telly news shouting “ ‘allo my Darlings!”. That’d take me back.
Anyway, I’ve been looking at the reactivated PUNK magazine. Ms Amy Allison scored one for me and sent it on over. It’s no secret what an inspiration on NBT that the original was. Mr Holmstrom’s handlettering that made me think that maybe I’d get away with that, not being one for typewriters and all. Put that together with a pile of papers stapled in one corner and whaddaya got?
#19 has come out on the tail end of the whole CB’s shutdown. The word PUNK has changed out of all recognition but the fire is obviously still in the belly of it’s publisher. You should support John Holmstrom because if it weren’t for him and his crew then a lot of what you know (and cling to) simply wouldn’t exist. The photo of Dee Dee wearing a Lynyrd Skynyrd t-shirt is worth the admission price alone. Hopefully future issues might feature Kitty and the Kowalskis, The Star Spangles and the new front-line of rock’n’roll that NYC has to offer... See to it that the title has that future.
Anyway, I’ve been looking at the reactivated PUNK magazine. Ms Amy Allison scored one for me and sent it on over. It’s no secret what an inspiration on NBT that the original was. Mr Holmstrom’s handlettering that made me think that maybe I’d get away with that, not being one for typewriters and all. Put that together with a pile of papers stapled in one corner and whaddaya got?#19 has come out on the tail end of the whole CB’s shutdown. The word PUNK has changed out of all recognition but the fire is obviously still in the belly of it’s publisher. You should support John Holmstrom because if it weren’t for him and his crew then a lot of what you know (and cling to) simply wouldn’t exist. The photo of Dee Dee wearing a Lynyrd Skynyrd t-shirt is worth the admission price alone. Hopefully future issues might feature Kitty and the Kowalskis, The Star Spangles and the new front-line of rock’n’roll that NYC has to offer... See to it that the title has that future.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
As the frenzy begins to whip up for the daft season, the hatches have all been inspected ready to be secured at the first opportunity. I’m opting WAY out…
Wii up here in kiltland is one half of wiiwii, which turns out to be an alternative spelling for a slang expression for urinating. Quite apt then. God those things look crap, aren't they just a condensed version of those virtual suits that people used to get togged up in. Gets the wee (and big) fat bastards off their sofas though (allegedly). I doubt that'll save the toffee headed scumhordes that buy into this crap from their well-deserved collective fate. I think i'll launch a rival console and call it "pish". That'd be a lark, eh? Stop the bus i need a wii? Oui. Let’s hear it for the generation chasm.
So, the next week or so will allow me to read "Nirvana – The True Story", watch The Fleshtones "Brooklyn A Paris" , listen to Wooden Shjips at mindbending volume and get in about various albums here that have been neglected due to pressure of existing.
No “work” for a week and a half. Make up a sentence with the words “palpable” and “relief” in it and who knows. Maybe a couple of minutes of mild euphoria might ensue. Wouldn’t count on it though. I’m having flashbacks to the Vietnam that was last Christmas. Post traumatic seasonal disorder if you will. Anyway, I have to make a pre-dawn raid on the shops now. Catch you down this cyber road apiece...
Wii up here in kiltland is one half of wiiwii, which turns out to be an alternative spelling for a slang expression for urinating. Quite apt then. God those things look crap, aren't they just a condensed version of those virtual suits that people used to get togged up in. Gets the wee (and big) fat bastards off their sofas though (allegedly). I doubt that'll save the toffee headed scumhordes that buy into this crap from their well-deserved collective fate. I think i'll launch a rival console and call it "pish". That'd be a lark, eh? Stop the bus i need a wii? Oui. Let’s hear it for the generation chasm.
So, the next week or so will allow me to read "Nirvana – The True Story", watch The Fleshtones "Brooklyn A Paris" , listen to Wooden Shjips at mindbending volume and get in about various albums here that have been neglected due to pressure of existing.
No “work” for a week and a half. Make up a sentence with the words “palpable” and “relief” in it and who knows. Maybe a couple of minutes of mild euphoria might ensue. Wouldn’t count on it though. I’m having flashbacks to the Vietnam that was last Christmas. Post traumatic seasonal disorder if you will. Anyway, I have to make a pre-dawn raid on the shops now. Catch you down this cyber road apiece...
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Monday, December 18, 2006
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Bop Records Proudly PresentsTEENGENERATE ?The Kings of Tokyo Garage Punk
Thursday 28th Dec @Tote Hotel, Collingwood
w/Spazzys, Mach Pelican, Kamikaze Trio and Breadmakers (In Cobra)
Friday 29 Dec @Tote Hotel, Collingwood
w/Spencer P Jones & the Escape Committee, Kim Salmon, Onyas and Eddy Current Suppression Ring (In Cobra)
"You’ve seen Guitar Wolf, you know The 5678s, you heard about The Gimmies, now you can get the real action. Bop Records and The Tote announce two exclusive Australian shows of the true kings of Tokyo Garage Punk, Teengenerate. The Tokyo quartet were at the spearhead of the mid 90s Japanese Garage Rock Craze. Although they only existed between 1993 and 1995, their impact on rock 'n' roll was enormous: garage rock would not be what it is now without them.
Centered around long term musical collaborators (& brothers) Fink & Fifi, together with Sammy and Shoe, Teengenerate recorded everything in the red - the fuzz became a fifth member. Far from a gimmick, as their stand out long player Get Action suggests, (along with a hoard of 7 inches, split singles and comps), these guys were wild and tight. Their records have also included covers of Radio Birdman's "Burn My Eye", The Eastern Dark's "Johnny and Dee Dee", "Savage" by The Fun Things and "All I Want" by the Dirty Lovers. Following the demise of Teengenerate, members continued playing in other name droppers, including Firestarter, Supersnazz, and most recently the reformed Raydios.
After recently reforming to play Billy Bass Wolf’s memorial gig, Teengenerate have now agreed to take the trip down under to pay their respects to the Australian music that so influential in creating their sound.
Your only chance to catch Teengenerate live is at The Tote on Thursday 28th December and Friday 29th December. To celebrate this visit, Bop Records are releasing the "Live At The Shelter" album to coincide with the tour. Tickets are $30 + bf and available at The Tote Front Bar (3 9419 5320), Missing Link, Polyester and the Corner Box Office (www.cornerhotel.com). "
More info
http://www.boprecords.net/
www.myspace.com/teengeneratemusic
Contact – Toshi Maeda (Bop Records)
info@boprecords.net
"Okay you guys. Get all your shopping done early so you can join us for our last show of the year (and that's NOT last show forever like some Oregon band we know and love, and I think we know who I'm talking about, have recently done that's made us all bummed out). The Tacoma Mall is going to be nuts then anyway. Never shop on the last weekend before Christmas. You'd be crazy to do anything but come to Hell's Kitchen at 5 PM. We're playing with some really great young Tacoma bands that will probably kick our old asses.
So we'll hope to see you all there."
Your friends,
Bon and Girl Trouble
I’ll be glad to see the back of 2006. Not that I expect a great upswing in “the year of the great seventh number” but I’m sort of presuming that it can’t suck worse. This past week has seen flood and pestilence in Bonnie Scotchland. Not that your reporter has been adversely affected by the former. I made it home before they started closing roads and all that palaver. An ongoing, not life-threatening but uncomfortable ailment meant a stint at the local infirmary on Thursday. Bring on the results. Most likely the main thrust will be that it’s wear and tear through getting auld. You never know though. Am I concerned? No but thanks for asking. One gets used to situations even if they don’t understand them.
My ongoing tussles with keeping a myspace connection continue apace. I try to reply to mails but it generally ends up crashing. I am stoked however to have been added by JTFF today and can’t stop playing that video over and over. Going into myspace has the same kind of affect that going into one of those giant diy stores on me. I do want to dress up my page and all but the actuality of doing so sucks the will to live out of me.
My ongoing tussles with keeping a myspace connection continue apace. I try to reply to mails but it generally ends up crashing. I am stoked however to have been added by JTFF today and can’t stop playing that video over and over. Going into myspace has the same kind of affect that going into one of those giant diy stores on me. I do want to dress up my page and all but the actuality of doing so sucks the will to live out of me.
There was a power cut here on Friday for acouple of hours. But, what if there was no power, no internet (ever!), the expectation that everything will work always is at best daft. Some supposedly higher power is quite feasibly fucking with us. Isn’t that what such entities do? Anyway, I’d like very much not to get perturbed when such bollocks but I haven’t mastered that level of understanding. Nope, all the toys get thrown outta the pram. Despite appearances, I is only - er - human...
Yesterday I left the bunker early and headed for Glasgow. Systematically managed to bodyswerve the shoppers and achieve what I set out to do. Mainly to hit up Volcanic Tongue to get my mitts on the only known available output of an SF phenom called Wooden Shjips. Yeah, with a J. Mr Hesske brought them to my attention earlier in the week and their sonic arsenal seemed to speak directly to my predicament in a ramalamafafafa meets Mac Rebennack’s "Storm Warning" backwards kinda way. More about them later but you can check out the YouTube clip that hooked me in the first instance. You can get it from VT here in the UK and I’ll sort out info for the US in due course.
Also went to see Stranger Than Fiction in one of those Multplex places. It takes a wee while to percolate but all in all it’s a decent way to spend just under 2 hours. There’s an irritating computer graphic effect involved toward the beginning but that soon passes. I’ve never been sure about Will Ferrell but he’s good in this and there’s a particularly pertinent use of a song that will strike a literal chord with hardcore NBT readers. It’ll hit you harder if I don’t tell you. It had quite an effect on Maggie Gyllenhaal's character - Ana, evidently a woman of taste. The soundtrack was put together by former Redd Kross man, Brian Reitzell.
Yesterday I left the bunker early and headed for Glasgow. Systematically managed to bodyswerve the shoppers and achieve what I set out to do. Mainly to hit up Volcanic Tongue to get my mitts on the only known available output of an SF phenom called Wooden Shjips. Yeah, with a J. Mr Hesske brought them to my attention earlier in the week and their sonic arsenal seemed to speak directly to my predicament in a ramalamafafafa meets Mac Rebennack’s "Storm Warning" backwards kinda way. More about them later but you can check out the YouTube clip that hooked me in the first instance. You can get it from VT here in the UK and I’ll sort out info for the US in due course.
Also went to see Stranger Than Fiction in one of those Multplex places. It takes a wee while to percolate but all in all it’s a decent way to spend just under 2 hours. There’s an irritating computer graphic effect involved toward the beginning but that soon passes. I’ve never been sure about Will Ferrell but he’s good in this and there’s a particularly pertinent use of a song that will strike a literal chord with hardcore NBT readers. It’ll hit you harder if I don’t tell you. It had quite an effect on Maggie Gyllenhaal's character - Ana, evidently a woman of taste. The soundtrack was put together by former Redd Kross man, Brian Reitzell.
Kudos to Mr Tom Morton who managed to get two Hello Saferide mentions into his Sunday Herald column this morning. Whilst we're on the subject - check out this version of "The Quiz", live from London.
And that’s about it. Time to get in about some music and I may be back this way again later today. Can’t say for sure.
And that’s about it. Time to get in about some music and I may be back this way again later today. Can’t say for sure.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Thursday, December 14, 2006
RIP - Dead Moon (Thanks to J at Garageshock for the heads up)
I can't get the Seattle Weekly link to work but check outthe Goner Board and also Sub Pop
I can't get the Seattle Weekly link to work but check outthe Goner Board and also Sub Pop
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Monday, December 11, 2006
Please join SUSQUEHANNA INDUSTRIAL TOOL & DIE CO. for a hillbilly holiday at our favorite honky tonk, the RODEO BAR!
We'll be pulling out all the seasonal stops,
including a free raffle drawing of semi-fabulous gifts --
conducted by the mysteriously alluring RAFFLE GIRL, naturally...
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14th / RODEO BAR / www.RodeoBar.com /
375 Third Avenue (corner of 27th Street) in ol' Manhattan, NYC /
10:00 sharp until 1:00 / No cover! /
Yours truly- Michael, Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co.
"Ballads, Boogies & Blues" www.SITandDieCo.com
CHERRYBOMB
Thursday December 14, 2006 * 8 pm
Betsey Trotwood * 56 Farringdon Road
* London £4
With your DJ hosts Matthew Lees and Bob Stanley
Plus guest DJs:
Queens Of Noize
Sheila B. (Cha Cha Charming)
(Thanks to Nancy for the info)
Saturday, December 09, 2006
I discovered Groover Recordings whilst trying to track down stray Hello Saferide tracks. Thanks to Martina from Razzia, I got a direct line to this fine organisation and wasn’t quite ready for the revelations of the label output. Christian Örjestål is the brains behind this outfit. He compiles albums of mainly Swedish acts doing covers and originals called Jeans & Cover. There are two volumes of that and the third is The World Turns All Around Him (A Tribute to Gene Clark). Gene & Cover – geddit?
Anyway, Volume 1 is comprised of cover songs of quite unlikely candidates like Hall and Oates “Rich Girl”, Wham’s “Careless Whisper”, A hillbilly run-through of The Hives “Hate To Say” and Richard Marx’s “Hazard” as covered by The Martial Arts. We’ll come back to them in a wee while but the lovingly crafted comp is like a cleverly pieced together radio show. The trick is in the curation and the ability to identify a great song. Perfectly executed and it’ll make you rethink your jaded perspective. I guarantee it. You knew that David Essex’s “Rock On” was cool right, well the reinterpretation here is at once faithful and also fresh. I don’t mean that in some lumpen rap sense. This one also contains one of those aforementioned HS nuggets. A song called “Teen Line” by a Milwaukee group called The Shivvers that I never heard. If any further proof was needed that Annika Norlin could save the world, at least in a popular music sense, then this is it right here.
Volume 2 is similarly constructed like a vinyl album. Put together with care, unperturbed by the notion of shuffle play. Exquisitely high quality pop with a lustre like well-treated quality furniture. You can scratch the veneer but you won’t damage the majesty of the piece. GR are very well connected to the international beat that can’t be beat. This is where “Highschool Stalker” came from for “Introducing… Hello Saferide”. “On the alta vista… twice on the yahoo”. The best internet reference since “Maria Bartiromo”. Other standouts include the pre-Flop Rusty Willoughby’s “Dead Lavender”, Roger Manning Jr’s Davy Scott-esque “Sleep Children” and Sator man Kent Norberg’s “Ah Jesus”. The Lisa Marr Experiment weigh in with a smart wee murder ballad called “The Return of Donna Lee” that makes me think of Dave Alvin.
The Gene Clark special has an Allison Anders liner note and is illustrated with Blythe Dolls. It has a kind of Macdonald brothers afterglow without there being any overt Redd Kross involvement. We’ll return to them too across the piece. It kicks off with ex-Mercury Revver, Jason Russo’s Hopewell doing “With Tomorrow” and The Digs giving “Is Yours Is Mine” a kind of Television-ish sheen. The Autumn Leaves weigh in with “She Don’t Care About Time”, I forgot just how drop-dead great they are/were. And here are The Martial Arts again… “Why Not Your Baby” is the missing link between country rock and Joe Meek making everything groovy indeed. If this introduces these songs to a new generation then it’s a job well done. These things aren’t thrown together but the end result is more than worth the probable wringing of hands and tearing out of hair. HS and Maia Hirasawa re-gender their contribution as “He’s The Kind Of Boy”. At this point I don’t need to tell you how great them art.
So this all brings us back to The Martial Arts who have an album out on the self-same Groover imprint called “Your Sinclair”. So this band embody Redd Kross, Dwight Twilley, The Quick, Phil Seymour, get the picture? Well it turns out that these are youngsters from Glasgow. Not somewhere in Sweden, or the US, or anywhere like that but just up the road a bit. Maybe I saw the name before and I just shrugged like I’m prone to do. This is a great, great album and I’m sure The Fratellis are perfectly nice guys but this combo should be stealing all their thunder. Who even knew that there was a world where Halfnelson (pre-Sparks for any Young ‘uns) and The Shoes came together with some TFC gusto, that patented West Coast (of Scotland) teenage ingredient that we export to the world? Wherever Greg Shaw is right now, I’m sure he approves wholeheartedly. The screenprint on the cd looks like an old RCA cop too. They sound way too young to be so savvy. Apparently Christian discovered them on a Redd Kross message board. He has a keen ear I can tell you and there’s a good chance that you won’t hear a better debut anytime soon. It makes me wonder what they’re like live because if they can even approximate this then it must be quite a night out. “Mod Val” could have been on “Third Eye” what higher recommendation could there bloody be? A 21st Century “Mondo Deco” even.
Anyway, Volume 1 is comprised of cover songs of quite unlikely candidates like Hall and Oates “Rich Girl”, Wham’s “Careless Whisper”, A hillbilly run-through of The Hives “Hate To Say” and Richard Marx’s “Hazard” as covered by The Martial Arts. We’ll come back to them in a wee while but the lovingly crafted comp is like a cleverly pieced together radio show. The trick is in the curation and the ability to identify a great song. Perfectly executed and it’ll make you rethink your jaded perspective. I guarantee it. You knew that David Essex’s “Rock On” was cool right, well the reinterpretation here is at once faithful and also fresh. I don’t mean that in some lumpen rap sense. This one also contains one of those aforementioned HS nuggets. A song called “Teen Line” by a Milwaukee group called The Shivvers that I never heard. If any further proof was needed that Annika Norlin could save the world, at least in a popular music sense, then this is it right here.
Volume 2 is similarly constructed like a vinyl album. Put together with care, unperturbed by the notion of shuffle play. Exquisitely high quality pop with a lustre like well-treated quality furniture. You can scratch the veneer but you won’t damage the majesty of the piece. GR are very well connected to the international beat that can’t be beat. This is where “Highschool Stalker” came from for “Introducing… Hello Saferide”. “On the alta vista… twice on the yahoo”. The best internet reference since “Maria Bartiromo”. Other standouts include the pre-Flop Rusty Willoughby’s “Dead Lavender”, Roger Manning Jr’s Davy Scott-esque “Sleep Children” and Sator man Kent Norberg’s “Ah Jesus”. The Lisa Marr Experiment weigh in with a smart wee murder ballad called “The Return of Donna Lee” that makes me think of Dave Alvin.
The Gene Clark special has an Allison Anders liner note and is illustrated with Blythe Dolls. It has a kind of Macdonald brothers afterglow without there being any overt Redd Kross involvement. We’ll return to them too across the piece. It kicks off with ex-Mercury Revver, Jason Russo’s Hopewell doing “With Tomorrow” and The Digs giving “Is Yours Is Mine” a kind of Television-ish sheen. The Autumn Leaves weigh in with “She Don’t Care About Time”, I forgot just how drop-dead great they are/were. And here are The Martial Arts again… “Why Not Your Baby” is the missing link between country rock and Joe Meek making everything groovy indeed. If this introduces these songs to a new generation then it’s a job well done. These things aren’t thrown together but the end result is more than worth the probable wringing of hands and tearing out of hair. HS and Maia Hirasawa re-gender their contribution as “He’s The Kind Of Boy”. At this point I don’t need to tell you how great them art.
So this all brings us back to The Martial Arts who have an album out on the self-same Groover imprint called “Your Sinclair”. So this band embody Redd Kross, Dwight Twilley, The Quick, Phil Seymour, get the picture? Well it turns out that these are youngsters from Glasgow. Not somewhere in Sweden, or the US, or anywhere like that but just up the road a bit. Maybe I saw the name before and I just shrugged like I’m prone to do. This is a great, great album and I’m sure The Fratellis are perfectly nice guys but this combo should be stealing all their thunder. Who even knew that there was a world where Halfnelson (pre-Sparks for any Young ‘uns) and The Shoes came together with some TFC gusto, that patented West Coast (of Scotland) teenage ingredient that we export to the world? Wherever Greg Shaw is right now, I’m sure he approves wholeheartedly. The screenprint on the cd looks like an old RCA cop too. They sound way too young to be so savvy. Apparently Christian discovered them on a Redd Kross message board. He has a keen ear I can tell you and there’s a good chance that you won’t hear a better debut anytime soon. It makes me wonder what they’re like live because if they can even approximate this then it must be quite a night out. “Mod Val” could have been on “Third Eye” what higher recommendation could there bloody be? A 21st Century “Mondo Deco” even. 
What Jay Sherman-Godfrey doesn’t know about knocking out a primo pop song simply isn’t an issue. This seven song, “mini-album” is more than testament to that. Jay has been pushing roots-rock to the kids since way before it had a pigeonhole. He was also the man who made the connection between Laura Cantrell and the good offices of Francis Macdonald. Here he’s aided by The Proprietress’ alumni, Jon Graboff and Jeremy Chatzky. Drums are by Phoebe Summersquash, who I last saw in the Sarah Silverman movie, “Jesus Is Magic”. Twoscore kicks off with “Bad Party” and this short, sharp collection is anything but. Gear like “Silver Shoes” can light up this often dreary slog. You can check out this choice produce at Jay’s cyberhangouts. His myspace and regular website are but a click away. Of the six originals and one Brian Wilson cover (“Girl Don’t Tell Me”) on this Able Mobile imprint release - I think the steel-fuelled saunter of “Someone Like You” is my favourite. Ooh sha-la-la kids... the twang has it!
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