OK, I know - I said I was bailing but let me just leave you with this Fleshtones Video Chronology and Kim Salmon talking about Blood Red River and other stuff at the I-Bar in the run-up to impending Scientists ATP shows in Australia next week.

A missive from Mr Taber...

"Hi, folks!

In what will likely be Almeron Records final release, I've just received 500 copies of "Always Heed the SYMPTOMS- 'LIVE' in 78".
27 cuts in excellent sound quality, with a total time of 78 minutes. Some classics done LIVE from their classic (and valuable!) original lp, plus a nice mixture of 50s, 60s, and 70s well-known (and not so
well-known) classics. It doesn't suck!

It's $14.99 plus $3.01 postage ($7.01 overseas)= $18 (or $22).

Paypal to tomtaber_14411@yahoo.com, or check, m.o. to Tom Taber, 3746 Tuthill Road, Albion, NY 14411. USA.

Thanks, Tom

p.s. Want an extra copy for a friend (or to put away still sealed)? Just add an extra $10!"

On top of sundry other headaches, I've been having trouble with Blogger and Google today. Pretty low on the list of priorities but just another hassle. This shit should work right?? In these days when we're expected to be contactable etc every hour of the day?? I tell you, this week has made me an arbiter of this ditch MySpazz/Faceblock/Blogger movement that's gathering momentum. Unfortunately I'm addicted so we'll see but one of these outages is gonna push me too far. On top of that the apocalyptic weather conditions that were supposed to engulf us haven't materialised in this part of the world.

The quality of light as I drove back from my daily penance yesterday evening was comparable with summer. Bloody cauld mind you but that's not a problem. There was a micro show flurry this morning but other than that nothing. Even the high winds have subsided. I'm sure that by Wednesday, when we least expect it, mother nature will put her climate boot up our collective jacksy. Anyway, I'm about to switch this blighter off until tomorrow. Aye, right...

Peter C Johnson 1978 – 1981 compiles tracks from the A&M and CBS albums he made during this time. This limited reissue has been put together to benefit the Mark Sandman Music Project in Cambridge, Ma.

Mark Sandman of Morphine died onstage in Italy in 1999. He was “an essential thread in the fabric of Cambridge life” and this facility has been set up in his memory. For anyone who doesn’t know PCJ was all about minimal instrumentation/maximum atmospherics before most. His alumnus includes Nils Lofgren and Bonnie Raitt as well as Carlene Carter and Irene Cara (!). The song “Snowblind” is one of my favourite cuts of all time because every time I hear it I’m transported to another place. It’s dream-like ability to conjure up a trancelike condition has been long overdue. My vinyl copy can rest up now.

Hopefully, as well as providing much needed financial aid to a good cause, this compilation will introduce PCJ to a whole new generation. People who need this kind of aural pop kaboom to soothe away the bullshit that passes for what’s left of the established music biz. This stuff sounds a lot fresher than most all of the stuff that was “happening” at the time. Built in obsolescence wasn’t part of the gameplan back then. There was room to breathe. 30 years later we can use all the clean musical air we can get. So head over to CD Baby, listen to a couple of cuts and see if you agree.

Don’t lollygad though, you need to score one before they’re all gone and you have to live with yet another regret on top of that pile you have already.

Next Saturday night in Edinburgh...

Well, I had intended heading for Auld Reekie to catch FANGS but the weather is somewhat inclement. Another couple of episodes of The Wire Season One it is then. I'll believe in the snow fairy provided I can't leave the house tomorrow but I think it's just 80mph winds and horizontal rain for this part of the world.

So anyway, back on Monday yonder I caught Billie The Vision and the Dancers opening for Jools Holland/Mojo phenomenon, Seasick Steve. Have to say that despite not being able to see what anyone sees in this guys albums, live he's something of a hoot. Playing banged up instruments is various stages of disrepair and generally sounding like a one man Led Zeppelin. But anyway, BTV was the reason I was there. Having dug their latest album "Where The Ocean Meets My Hand" which includes "Overdosing With You", I wasn't exactly ready for the power they pack in person. Bitchslapping the UK is right. This 7 piece ensemble is just about the freshest pop combo I've seen in ages. Their mutant power folk combines almost skifflelike acoustabilly with a mariachi glam undertow. Soaring and percussive and toting a hell of a trumpet player.

BTV singer, Lars is like a cross between Zal Cleminson and Jayne County. Mixed up and shook up like a great entertainer should be. You'll be hearing more about them here when I properly digest their previous two releases. In he meantime, I hope they're planning to come back to capitalise on their Glasgow welcome. I feared it might be a Cramps/Police or Suicide/Clash scenario but it wasn't. That Seasick Steve crowd is open to new things that don't conform. Good for them, it makes me think that all is perhaps not lost after all.

I also saw part of the set by Glasgow's criminally unknown The Martial Arts but had to bale to catch the last train. It was a school night too but well worth the next day knackeredness. Hopefully, before too long, I'll catch a whole show but they can deliver. Count on that. This Groover Recordings combo isn't your common or garden amalgam or identikit indie ranch stash. Bear in mind that Redd Kross never broke through but O-arse-is did. Most people are not like the Seasick audience. They like their music cut up for their consumption and they like to be spoonfed. For instance, this Glasvegas mob that are getting big licks. Doesn't their 45 just sound like a Proclaimer singing with The Mary Chain? It's not bad, maybe quite good but not world beating. Not like Billie The Vision and not like The Martial Arts. What they do comes from the soul with a couple dollups of heart thrown in.

Been a bastard of a week, roll on Friday. Hey, that's tomorrow... there goes the phone...

Indeed, Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. is on the air -- and on the stage! This week, for your consideration...

THURSDAY, JANUARY 31st -- SIT & Die returns to the airwaves of WFMU and the "Strength Through Failure" program with Fabio, performing live and giving away canned hams from noon until 3pm! Should we mention that our last risque appearance resulted in Fabio's suspension? Um, let's not. Available at both 91.1 FM on your radio dial.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 31st -- Same day, same canned ham...but the setting is Otto's Shrunken Head Tiki Bar & Lounge for our last-Thursday-of-the-month residency! Two big and bawdy shows are in store, from 8:00 sharp until 10pm, and there's no cover. 538 East 14th Street (just west of Avenue B) in Manhattan's "East Village".

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2nd -- Lastly, we set out to Brooklyn and Freddy's Backroom for a "Found In Brooklyn" extravaganza of art and music, featuring a group art show at 7:00 and a set by yours truly at 9pm. Also with Les Sans Culottes, The Anabolics and Georgio Valentino -- and it's free! 485 Dean Street (corner of 6th Avenue) in Prospect Heights.

Yours truly, friend, Michael Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co.

"Ballads, Boogies & Blues"

Take in some American Beat as seen in Manitoba's on Saturday night (thanks for the link Ben...) There are also some great Redd Kross clips in this section. Great to see some "Third Eye" songs on there...

I haven’t been making the most of my Cameo membership. The intention to go there every week hasn’t materialised but when I saw there was a screening of "Juno" at 11am this morning then I decided to cut along. That’s a great time to go to a movie theatre. If the shows started at that time normally then I’d have no problem. Wouldn’t have no time to convince myself not to leave the bunker.

However, the psycho-ology of this is not of your concern. The local flooding never even fucked the train schedule up and I ran into Happy G on the way back, total result. The only route from here is downhill. No, not Dowan Hill... Anyway, J is a pretty decent way to while away a little over 90 minutes. It’s like a modern day Bill Forsyth movie. Evidently the result of a fevered indie music mentality, the scene where Juno spits, “I bought another Sonic Youth album and it sucked” resonated somewhat on a number of plains.

A film about a 16 year old Stooges/Patti Smith fan with a smart mouth. What’s not to dig in terms of plain old entertainment? I enjoyed it a lot more than “No Country For Old Men”. I think?

The Voodoo Rooms proudly presents

THE PHAROAH SANDERS QUARTET




Pharoah Sanders - Saxophone
William Henderson - Piano
Nat Reeves - Bass
Joe Farnsworth - Drums

The legendary saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, best known for "The Creator Has a Master Plan", who recorded with John Coltrane, Sun Ra and Don Cherry, makes a rare visit to Scotland. An unmissable opportunity to see a Jazz legend in an intimate venue.

For more Pharoah Sanders info please click here

Doors 7.00 p.m. 2 (hour-long) sets at 8.00 p.m. & 10.00 p.m.

Tickets £25 in advance (stbf) from Ripping Records, Tickets Scotland, 127 Rose Street, Edinburgh, The Voodoo Rooms, & Underground Solushun.

Buy tickets online here

Please note that this show is standing only.

RIP - John Stewart

It's been a quick week. I'll concede that. One in which my last remaining, precious leave day was burned because of the bunker water being cut off due to a burst around the corner. Made me feel for the poor blighters who have to go days, weeks and longer without any. Not a cool scene, with or without wet wipes.

Anyway, there was some solace in that Steve Forbert brought a cracking band with him for his Glasgow show the other night. I also had the pleasure of catching up with Mr Bobby Lloyd Hicks of The Skeletons. Always a good thing. I'm not a Forbert fan but he has his moments and a reasonable following. Highlight was a little number called "The Glasgow Rock" which they worked up just for this one Celtic Connections appearance. Lloyd announced it as "a Ramones outtake" so that'll give you an idea of where it sat sonically. John Williamson gave the musicians a bit of a roasting in The Herald but I disagree with his opinion. The show was too long for sure. I hesitate to use the word, stool, but SF falls somewhere between Springsteen and Earle without having anything like the firepower of the former or the songs of the latter. He brought one of the greatest r&r drummers on earth with him though and I’m definitely down with that.

Anybody going to see this Seasick Steve guy on Monday night?

Billie the Vision and the Dancers are the support so get there early and see them. I hope the SS audience will be open to what they do because it’s nothing like the headliner. And at 9pm, The Martial Arts are playing at Bloc on Bath Street in Glasgow. So if everything comes together, I’ll be at both of those. He typed optimistically, probably intoxicated by the fact that there’s no schlep to the stalag tomorrow…

The Glasgow Film Festival programme is available now. It includes a Monorail Film Club screening of "A Life In the Death of Joe Meek" on Sunday February 24th. Here's a clip...

Anna Järvinen & Annika Norlin - För varje hjärtslag

Say, is the cat lucky? You'll have to join Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. this week for a visit to The Lucky Cat in Williamsburg to find out! It's an evening of readings and musical performances -- with us doing more of the latter than the former. Which is pretty lucky in itself:
THURSDAY, JANUARY 24th / THE LUCKY CAT /
245 Grand Street (between Driggs and Roebling) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn / Program begins at 8:00, with one SIT & Die set at 10:00 /$5 cover, if you mention SIT & Die -- a hefty $10 otherwise!

And more good fortune...

THURSDAY, JANUARY 31st / WFMU / On Fabio's "Strength Through Failure" and later that same day... OTTO'S / Our East Village monthly residency

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2nd / FREDDY'S BACKROOM / Prospect Heights, Brooklyn

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23rd / SOUTHPAW / Park Slope, Brooklyn

Luckily yours,

Michael, Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. "Ballads, Boogies & Blues"

and sticking with Brooklyn, The Fleshtones "Take A Good Look" is out today on YepRoc. More when my copy arrives but in the meantime, you can take a good listen here...

Lou Reed - Kill Your Sons (from The Bottom Line 1983)

(link courtesy of Sonic Producer/Please Kill Me)

Managed to drag myself out of the bunker yesterday for some culture. Starting with the Coen Brother’s “No Country For Old Men”. It’s not bad but is it a return to “form”?, I’m not sure. It has its moments and one particularly great line. Can’t tell you what the correlation is with the book because I haven’t read it. Javier Barden’s remorseless killing machine could be being set up to take on the winner between the Alien and The Predator. I’d like to see the Coen’s take that on. So yeah, it does have ripples of “Blood Simple” and it’s not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon but I wasn’t convinced that it was the tour de force the meeja is painting it as.

So after that, I had a rake about a couple of bookshops and some dvd racks. The sheer amount of stuff out there is alarming and the way it’s presented is generally soulless, as is the packaging. Saw the Ace book but it was shrink wrapped but the same publisher has another one on Rough Trade which is a very good-looking tome.

So on then to The Pearlfishers at the Classic Grand, first time that I’ve been in this relatively new venue. Good size. Better sightlines than Tuts. This old porno cinema has scrubbed up very well into a very cool room. Openers Finniston were on already and their homogenous folk pop was going down OK but it wasn’t for me. Mr Blake noticed that one of their songs bore a resemblance to Cliff’s “Wired For Sound”. I think we’ll leave it at that.

The Pearlfishers aren’t like anything else. Particularly when they can employ the full strings and horns bhuna as they did last night. In this day and age of the bottom line, quality is often sacrificed but not here. I believe that if this could be presented around the country and beyond like this then it the penny would finally drop. The version of “New Stars” convinces me even more that Teenage Fanclub should record it.

Playing tunes from all stages of their existence, it was a classy affair. There’s only one person on earth that I’d forgive for slipping a Paul McCartney song into a set and that’s Davie Scott. A lot of heart and a similar helping of soul arranged to perfection the way you (almost) never hear it anymore.

So let’s tackle a couple of cd’s that mine something of the same field…

The 17th Pygmy – Ballade of Tristram’s Last Harping (Trackwerx)

So here’s the paisley overground. A lush, soaring psychedelic psmogasbord that seems to connect Fleetwood Mac with Wooden Shjips. Beautifully packaged, which seems to be a trademark of Trakwerx quality and very tastefully recorded. If there were such a thing as airwaves in the traditional sense then this would or should be all over it. These lysergic folk pop hark back and pull forward at the same time. The result positively shimmers. If they can pull this off live then there are a wealth of REM and Dream Syndicate fans out there that are starved of something substantial. “Beautiful Lie” sounds like something Debbie Harry could use. In fact Meg Maryatt bears quite a striking vocal resemblance throughout.

She also plays accordion which is a big plus point. Heard a feature on the wireless this morning about that instrument being back but it was never away if you knew where to look. (Hi Angel!)

If you want something substantial that has elements of the Radionapper/Brian Jonestown formula then those vibes don’t come much closer than “Just Like Brian Jones”. Being that there’s no consensus anymore, I’m not sure how you get something like this to the people who would go gaga for it. In terms of what I perceive to be broad commercial appeal then this has everything. It doesn’t require hype, it just needs to be heard. It’s one of those things that if you heard it in a record store (remember those?), you’d be up at the counter asking what it was. I don’t believe there’s a higher accolade than that.

“No tambourines were harmed in the making of this album”. Damnit, they’re funny too.

Cult.With.No.Name – Paper.Wraps.Rock (Trackwerx)

This is a strange concept that initially sounds like a lounge pianists outing with a piece entitled “the morning after the night before last”. This is as far away from “rock” as I’ve been in some time. Drifting way out to sea and I think that the calming effect is something I could use more of.

There’s something quite Roxy Music about it without them sounding anything alike. Kinda abstract Ben Folds territory even. Or Todd Rundgren? It kind of reminds me of The Pearlfishers with a darker streak too.

PWR is a grower. I was sceptical at first but their songs have somehow wheedled themselves under my skin with repeated plays. Look at the influences listed on their myspace as you listen. Go easy on the head scratching though.

If you fancy something atmospheric, fairly relaxing with shades of Julee Cruise then check out Laki Mera for the princely sum of exactly nowt.

And finally for today, I’ve just found out that Redd Kross and Wooden Shjips are paying the upcoming ATP vs Pitchfork. Fingers crossed that both will tack a few more shows on to their respective visits.