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SnagFilms Does It Again: PresentingThe Gits
Posted in Music on August 29, 2009 by johnbuckley100Fleshtones At 930
Posted in Music with tags The Fleshtones on August 29, 2009 by johnbuckley100We’re playing catchup, as the whole gang at Tulip Frenzy world HQ was given permission to go on their annual vacations. However, on August 14th, the Fleshtones made a rare, rare, altogether too rare stop at Washington’s 930 Club, and they turned thee place upside down, inside out, and over the top. Bringing “Hitsburg USA” to the capital o’ the USA was cool enough, but then there was the set. Keith jumped down onto the packed floor and kicked his way through “Theme From The Vindicators,” and all the kids did the Gentleman’s Twist. Peter Zaremba was resplendent in his sequined duds, kicking off with “Hard Lovin’ Man,” and Bill Milhizer thundered like a one-man construction site. But the highlight of the show may have been when Kim Kane of D.C. legends The Slickee Boys took Keith’s axe and Ken Fox lifted some talented young kid up from out of the audience to play the bass for 1:30 of pure Powerstance rock. Who was that kid? Give him a contract! And bring the greatest rock’n’roll band in America back, puh-leeeze.
Blur : Midlife
Posted in Music with tags Blur, Tulip Frenzy on August 9, 2009 by johnbuckley100[clearspring_widget title=”Blur : Midlife” wid=”4a27e0a2164b4a0b” pid=”4a7f1afad0e0a9b8″ width=”280″ height=”480″ domain=”widgets.clearspring.com”]
There aren’t that many guitarists who qualify as geniuses, but Graham Coxon is one. When it came time for someone to put together a really intelligent Blur collection, lo and behold, it’s almost like they had showcasing Coxon in mind. Granted, hard to do a Blur collection and avoid the guitarist, but thank Heaven whoever was in charge of this had the right sensibiity. What a great band.
This Really Is Thomas Pynchon
Posted in Music on August 9, 2009 by johnbuckley100Confirmed by an unimpeachable source. Yeah, it’s him.
(And go ahead, read the book. Seriously, if you’ve ever been tempted to read Pynchon, but been intimidated because, after all, the guy knows everything about rocketry, astronomy, the history of World War II, the labor movement in Colorado mines circa 1900, how Mason and Dixon came to America, how Werner Von Braun came to America, alligators in the New York sewer system, what Ben Franklin smoked, how the Dutch invented ketchup, what song was on the BBC at 11:00 p.m. the night the first V2 rocket landed, the murder of Herero tribesmen in 1904, precisely where the woodbine twineth, which dogs really can talk, how a harmonica ended up going down a toilet in the US and ended up in London, how airships can travel underwater, which surf music bands from 1968 were best,etc. then this is the best introduction: a straightforward detective novel with a hippie Philip Marlowe. A-and it’s so much fun…)
the black ryder’s “Buy The Ticket, Take The Ride” Out In October
Posted in Music with tags the black ryder, The Morning After Girls, Tulip Frenzy on July 21, 2009 by johnbuckley100The Morning After Girls’ progeny the black ryder (lower case, like ee cummings) sent out an email this week announcing a first album out this October entitled By The Ticket, Take The Ride. Importantly, they also have posted a song from it on their MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/theblackryder). All we can say is Wow. “Burn and Ride” sounds like the glorious offspring of a marriage between Spacemen 3 and Luna, with Mazzy Star doing the officiating.
If, following Aimee Nash’s departure from The MAG, they went on to be a little too polished for their original fans, Ms. Nash gives us a reminder of what’s missing.
The Morning After Girls “Alone” Is A Pretty Rock Classic
Posted in Music with tags The Morning After Girls, Tulip Frenzy on July 14, 2009 by johnbuckley100The thing I liked so much about The Morning After Girls’ first album, which had the rather utilitarian name of The Prelude EPs, 1 & 2, was the way it could be both raw and delicate at the same time. Here was an Aussie band firmly in thrall to the Brian Jonestown Massacre and the Dandy Warhols, and all their progenitors and spore. But that was a long time ago, as Sacha Lucachenko and Martin B. Sleeman shed and gained new band mates, moved, more or less permanently, to New York, and over the course of the last few years, methodically kept the flame alive.
We’re glad they did, because Alone is a beautiful bit of artisanal crafting, bespoke tailoring on a classic last. There’s good news and bad news here. The good news is that they write oft-times brilliant songs — I’ve been grokking on “Who Is They” for months, and the title track is as great a bit of mid-90’s Britpop as anything Noel Gallagher would have produced after a three-day binge. I hear echos of the Stone Roses, the Charlatans UK, Luna, maybe even Spiritualized: good company. The bad news is that some of the rawness has been sandpapered smooth. Sacha and Martin sing very pretty harmonies, and one doesn’t often complain about good singing, but in this case it sometimes sounds pretty for the sake of it.
When they want to, they still can rock — “Death Processions,” for example, packs a wallop. The show I saw in January at the Mercury Lounge was ear-splitting and occasionally thrilling. And they have the classicist’s memory of how bands like the Beatles and the Stones really stuck in your mind — it wasn’t just the hooks, the chorus, the solos, it was those tantalizing outros, making you hark your ear toward the speaker as the song fades away. Oasis knew this from the start, but not many other bands do, nor do they have producers who understand the vaudevillian’s mantra of always leave them wanting something more.
It’s been a long time coming, a long strip tease, as some of these songs have for months been streamable on their web site. This is a band that, with the proper management and a little luck, could be huge. Based on the pleasures they offer, they deserve to be huge. I just hope they don’t forget where they come from. I don’t mean Australia, I mean raw and thrilling. Bands too pretty leave me cold.
Here’s A Show To See: Warlocks With the Morning After Girls
Posted in Music with tags The Morning After Girls, The Warlocks on June 29, 2009 by johnbuckley100Great news arrived this morning:
the morning after girls announce summer tour and album release party
photo credit: phillip graybill
join the morning after girls at the mercury lounge for a headline show to celebrate the release of their debut album ‘alone.’ on july 16, then they’ll cross the nation for this summer’s tour with the warlocks (dates below)
07/16 – new york, ny – mercury lounge
“the morning after girls recall prime-era shoegaze outfits like ride (whose mark gardener made a guest appearance one one of the group’s early eps). where many of their peers put emphasis on volume, the girls know the power of a good, woozy melody. their best moments top churning guitars with clean, aching vocals.” – rolling stone
the morning after girls national tour dates:
07/30 – san francisco, ca – bottom of the hill
08/01 – seattle, wa – chop suey
08/02 – portland, or – doug fir lounge
08/05 – minneapolis, mn – turf club
08/06 – chicago, il – empty bottle
08/08 – cleveland, oh – grog shop
08/11 – philadelphia, pa – kung fu necktie
08/12 – boston, ma – great scott
08/14 – new york, ny – bowery ballroom
08/15 – hoboken, nj – maxwell’s
08/17 – chapel hill, nc – local 506
08/18 – atlanta, ga – the earl
08/19 – birmingham, al – bottletree cafe
08/20 – new orleans, la – one eyed jacks
08/21 – austin, tx – the parish
08/22 – houston, tx – walter’s on washington
08/26 – tucson, az – club congress
08/27 – san diego, ca – casbah
08/28 – los angeles, ca – spaceland
08/29 – los angeles, ca – spaceland
08/01 – seattle, wa – chop suey
08/02 – portland, or – doug fir lounge
08/05 – minneapolis, mn – turf club
08/06 – chicago, il – empty bottle
08/08 – cleveland, oh – grog shop
08/11 – philadelphia, pa – kung fu necktie
08/12 – boston, ma – great scott
08/14 – new york, ny – bowery ballroom
08/15 – hoboken, nj – maxwell’s
08/17 – chapel hill, nc – local 506
08/18 – atlanta, ga – the earl
08/19 – birmingham, al – bottletree cafe
08/20 – new orleans, la – one eyed jacks
08/21 – austin, tx – the parish
08/22 – houston, tx – walter’s on washington
08/26 – tucson, az – club congress
08/27 – san diego, ca – casbah
08/28 – los angeles, ca – spaceland
08/29 – los angeles, ca – spaceland
alone.
the debut album from the morning after girls, released july 7
recorded in various parts of melbourne, australia, and was mixed and produced by martin b. sleeman and sacha lucashenko, with alan moulder at the helm. as was always planned, martin and sacha relocated to new york city in 2008, and with the inclusion of ej (bass guitar), alex (keys, sounds, percussion), and anthony (percussion drums).
indeed, it is easy to say that life is a constant flow of beginnings and ends, inhaling and exhaling, rising and passing. well, the morning after girls’ voice remains steady and stronger than always, and as you join them on this journey, you will see that there is not a call, nor text, nor an email that you need to attend to. there is simply the true presentation of the bond between your heart, soul and mind.
“the general public, which could serve as the group’s mission statement: big, sawing guitars, gauzy synths and searching vocals making for a song that’s hammering and hooky all at once.” – rolling stone
“the general public., is marked by hypnotically beautiful vocals encased in a rising and falling wall of powerfully insistent guitars.” – 9/10 prefix mag
“an onslaught of blissed-out psychedelic rock and leaden, secret machines and jesus and mary chain-esque reverb.” – rcrd lbl
“gorgeous” – village voice
“imagine taking all the majesty of the j&m chain, the mystery of my bloody valentine, the romance of the church, and the effortlessly subversive cool primal scream, and cranking it up to gorgeously thunderous levels in a trashy little lower east side club. now make it go one louder.” – filter mag
“something that harnesses the blood/guts of a traditional rock band facing the monolith of technology with desire and trepidation, taking a wary step in and plunging headlong into a seemingly limitless black hole, is, well…that’s a sound that’s harder to get than might initially appear to be the case,and its valuable when found.” – la weekly
“the morning after girls played the viper room on thursday night as if they were hellbent on being the next psych-rock contenders, and they might be. the new york-based quintet fashioned a glowing wall of sound and decorated it with colorful licks and cool harmonies; think primal scream, or a harder-edged verve, or the dandy warhols if they hadn’t drunk their own kool-aid.” – kevin bronson, buzzbands
Sonic Youth’s “The Eternal”
Posted in Music with tags "The Eternal" by Sonic Youth, Sonic Youth, Tulip Frenzy on June 10, 2009 by johnbuckley100When Sonic Youth’s Rather Ripped came out a couple of years ago, wouldn’t you know there were objections to its conventional structure, as in: no songs that noodled. That it was accessible was a sign of something: if not selling out, then maybe slowing down, as if the Western Massachusetts air was mellowing Kim and Thurston. Or maybe it was just a sign that Sonic Youth, like many their age, knew what to do and were playing for keeps. Now comes The Eternal, which shoots for the basket and makes it without so much as touching the net, a three-pointer of coherent songwriting, no noodling, and pulsating bass lines. Don’t worry, chords are off kilter, and tuned to the usual Sonic Youth algorithm, and seriously, have the ever sounded better?
I’ve dutifully bought my 67 Sonic Youth albums, but lost the thrill sometime after “Expressway To Your Skull.” There were signs of life post-Goo, but The Eternal isn’t just good late SY, it stands up with anything they’ve done since, well, “Death Valley ’69.” There are traces of Elastica in “Anti-Orgasm,” and genuflections to Fugazi in “Leaky Lifeboat (For Gregory Corso).” This will be scored by the cognoscenti as a bummer, but The Eternal would make a good entry point for those not in the know.
Since the early ’80s, Sonic Youth have had a remarkably stable lineup, and even as they’ve evolved from, well, youth to elder statesman status, they’ve not lost a step, nor a scintilla of hipness. Twenty-eight years and 16 long-players on, they sound like they’re just warming up. Eternal, indeed. And thank Heavens for it.
Cracker’s Savory Morsels Served At State Theater Gig
Posted in Music with tags Camper Van Beethoven, Cracker, David Lowery, Johnny Hickman, State Theater, Tulip Frenzy on June 4, 2009 by johnbuckley100So they were standing, like the last rock band on the planet… Yes, Cracker marched through Northern Virginia last night, playing the first of their shows that I’ve seen since, oh, the invention of the Internet. David Lowery’s grown a beard since Camper Van Beethoven played the same venue (State Theater, Falls Church) in January, and if you want to get a sense of the difference between those fraternal twins, consider where he stands when playing with each one. With CVB, he’s over on stage right, holding down the singing and rhythm guitar chores while Jimmy Page and Yehudi Menuhin keep the notes flying on the other side. With Cracker, there he was at center stage, because Johnny Hickman’s gloriously lucid lead licks notwithstanding, Lowery is the center of attention.
Sunrise In The Land of Milk And Honey is a superb album, and restores Cracker’s place in the center of my heart — or maybe more accurately, back on my playlist — in a way not dissimilar to how New Roman Times restored Camper Van Beethoven’s relevance and standing. Watching Lowery work — joestrummering the guitar and straining to hit the high notes while Johnny Hickman, with the ease of Billy Zoom, lets fly his economical licks and amazingly lyrical lines — shows just how much Cracker means to him, how important it still all is, even in the wake of relative critical indifference, to invest everything he’s got in his genially acerbic lyrics, his faux-unsophisticated singing.
They started with the title song and “Hey Brett (You Know What Time It Is)” from the new album, then went right to where it all began — “Teen Angst (What The World Needs Now).” As a band, they can still kick the milk pail over. Middle period Cracker seemed to need to thicken the sound, to heavy the bass. Late period Cracker seems to have rediscovered its punky Americana roots.
After the discursive amusement of Camper Van Beethoven, which mixed LA punk with gypsy music, ska, and ditties from a bar mitzvah in Kiev… to have teamed up with a straigtahead guitarist like Johnny Hickman — a guy who can reel off power chords with the smooth action of a Winchester pump gun sending another shell into the breach — well, it must have been a relief for Lowery, a new lease on life. All that time he’d been a roots rocker trapped inside the surfer body of a Santa Cruz slacker. And maybe that’s why, 17, 18 years on, they’ve geared up again. Let’s go for a ride.
As they worked their way through a long, full, career-restrospective set, I was reminded of those mid-90’s albums I haven’t played in years, and how great songs like “Sweet Thistle Pie” really were. It was those albums — well, maybe it really was Kerosene Hat, and “EuroTrash Girl” — that brought out a not-young crowd on a Wednesday night, and it reminded us how in their deliberately non-chic way, in their rebelling against a claim of greater relevance, Cracker took the Southern route to understatement, though their greatness really ought not be denied.
Cracker’s show at the State Theater saw a band revived, and their new album shows them still in creatively fine fettle. In any objective roster of rock’s most charming — and important — frontmen, David Lowery would be on it: he’s John Fogerty with a subversive sense of humor and a manic wit, Jon Langford’s American cousin. Let’s hope he keeps both Cracker and CVB cranking it up for years to come.
The Warlocks’ “Mirror Explodes” And The Shards Shine Darkly
Posted in Music with tags " Galaxie 500, Black Angels, Black Mountain, First Communion After Party, Sonic Youth, The Warlocks, Tulip Frenzy on May 21, 2009 by johnbuckley100When L.A. psychedelic masters The Warlocks released 2003’s Phoenix, it was filled with enough exuberance for a Modern Lovers album. “Shake The Dope Out” even kinda sounded like “Roadrunner.” And then there was “Baby Blue,” as sweet a confection of SoCal Britpop as anything produced by BJM or members of the Paisley Underground.
But things got darker from there, witness the titles of their next two albums — Surgery and Heavy Deavey Skull Lover. This was disappointing, because at their best, The Warlock’s were the Alpha dogs of the nascent American neopsychedelic scene — big brothers to the Black Angels, regional counterparts to Vancouver’s Black Mountain. They are the grandparents of First Communion After Party, the ones that show up and leave cigarettes in the punch bowl and ashes right next to the rosary that was the gift of Aunt Martha. They could bash their way darkly through six-minute guitar fests with Bobby Heksher singing like some exile from The Darkside, like maybe the member of Spaceman 3 who was left on launch pad because he was just too heavy to get into orbit. Call him Spaceman 4.
Now comes The Mirror Explodes, and it’s the best thing they’ve done in six years. Maybe the concoctions they consume keep them from ever returning to the relative innocence of their Phoenix days, but they’ve sure resurrected themselves from the ashes. Okay, so the opening song sounds like late ’80s Sonic Youth, and surely “There Is A Formula To Your Despair” was swiped from Kramer’s apartment after an early Galaxie 500 session. But these are compliments, man. They’ve got a little of their swagger back, even if it’s 33 RPM swagger in a 45 RPM world. The Mirror Explodes, and after you duck, you realize things are shining brightly all around the room.
Tulip Frenzy 