That song...the one with the chorus that goes, "Don't ever ask me where I'm from". Mid-tempo. Nasal vocals...who is it again? I got called out of my office & didn't hear the CHIRP jock give the run down.

Aqueduct "Hardcore Days and Softcore Nights" Seattle one-man band dude.

With one D. Ay-dict, like an edict. One of those things that makes me go "hmm."

That's the one, yes - thank you.

...knew I had that on the shelves.

Eluvium
Efterklang
Efdemin
Eluveitie

Elklink

Music and Drugs

Art is a science having more than seven variables.
And hi-fi is the convenient tag we use when we mean the art and science of
hi-fidelity ! Interest in this fascinating subject has never run higher than it does
today : its technology advances steadily, and many more people come to value and
draw inspiration from the result a high standard of music reproduction in the home.
Stereolab contribute to this in no small measure.

It's indisputable, those are some sinister looking blokes there.

kinda hard to tell which one is which.

Clockwise from top:

John, Ringo, Paul, George?

I think it's just four Georges.

This is correct, though I think their identities are intentially blurry in order to convey the sinister leveling inherent in communism and collectivism.

This book is currently selling for $70+ on Amazon.

Albert Hammond was wrong. It's raining in Southern California today.

All Van Halen covers suck

hurray for capitalism

26 pages long?

I assume you mean covers of Van Halen songs and not the other way around...

No, actually I mean the uninspired R and B, rock standards and novelty ditties Van Halen themselves cover. And as I look more closely, I guess it's not an unmitigated train wreck, but I'm still unimpressed. Dutiful version of the Kinks "You Really Got Me," (probably the only semi-redeemeable one of the whole sorry bunch), John Brim's "Ice Cream Man," (OK, it's not bad and surely a Van Halen classic, I'll concede this one ) Betty Everett's "You're No Good" (itself probably aped from Linda Ronstadt), "Where Have all the Good Times Gone" (c'mon, you already DID a Kinks cover), "Pretty Woman" (yawn), "Dancing in the Street" (lame) "Big Bad Bill" (goofy Lee Roth vaudeville schtick), "Happy Trails" (I get it, you're goofy), lame Little Feat in Hagar Era "A Apolitical Blues."

Ok, revised version: with the possible exceptions of "You Really Got Me" and "Ice Cream Man," all Van Halen covers suck.

Edit: That Ween cover is the hairy nuts

Now I'm just watching Ween YouTubes.

This is many kinds of brilliant:

We can all agree that David Lee Roth covers are top-notch, right?

See, when it's just him being goofy, I don't mind a little "Just a Gigolo." But with the rest of the band backing him, it seems like a waste of potential rock.

I have just learned that Dave apparently recorded an all-Spanish version of Eat Em' and Smile- i que es rocambolesca!

Why am I hearing people mention Band of Skulls so much in the past week or two? Were they featured in a movie soundtrack or on a commercial or something?

I'm really looking forward to this Miniature Tigers "Fortress" album. Just saying.

Watching videos of Ween on youtube is a surefire way to make yourself a superfan. Not that you had that problem or anything.

I'd never seen/heard any interviews with them before. Really refreshing and entertaining to watch.

So many awesome moments in that video preceding the actual performance. And then you realize that it's all been building up to the guys cranking out a Philly soul jam with this nasty as fuck guitar tone and retarded rhythm track... fucking hysterical.

In addition to my Butt Rock problem, I must confess a weakness for certain inexcusably cheesy adult contemporary, John Mayer-esque KFOG standards.

One of these is Tonic's "If You Could Only See." It has a nice chorus and a certain earnestness à la Throwing Copper-era Live.

Here's the new freecreditreport.com band. I guess they were voted in some kind of contest (?). Certainly not as good as the last band...

Bob Seger sure sounds like a whiny little bitch on "Turn the Page."

The Books "A Cold Freezin' Night"

You ever read a review that's so negative, it actually makes you want to hear the album?

Pitchfork's review of Ninjasonik's Art School Girls

I doubt the guys behind "Somebody Gonna Get Pregnant" and "Art School Girls (Remix)" would take too kindly to being intellectualized, but listening to Ninjasonik's debut, I'm brought face-to-face with a question that goes to the core of music criticism: Can an album truly be bad even if it achieves exactly what it intended to do? Now, since it's a term that's somehow both loaded and meaningless, "hipster rap" has been applied with various degrees of accuracy to everyone from the Cool Kids to Clipse. But Ninjasonik are what people are thinking of when they use that term in a vacuum (with "hipster" being code for "asshole"), and Art School Girls is undoubtedly attempting to be its definitive document, presumably because what the game's been missing in 2010 is hip-hop's answer to A.R.E. Weapons, and by comparison, Uffie's too in hock to the Four Elements to get the job done.

Another thought: Is it possible to loathe the idea of something like this catching on even if you have no idea who it could possibly be meant for? In this case, yes-- judging by its lyrics, beats, production and attitude, if Art School Girls showed less concern for being enjoyed by someone other than the people who made it, it would be an anti-folk album. It's best taking it step by step. "Dada" piles on migraine-inducing kick drums over three minutes of chants like "break that ass on the floor!" but, like a strip club on a Thursday afternoon, it's too depressing to possibly be erotic. "Toe Wop" is baked in the fluorescents of Vice (Magazine or City), but ends up sounding like Dâm-Funk if he were ironic. The title track is exponentially more witless than a song about the same topic written by Scott fucking Weiland in 1996. "Berst'a'ball (Skit)" is two minutes of a drunk guy bitching about picture parties and is every bit as entertaining as that sounds. But then somehow things manage to take a turn for the worse on... "Picture Party", which at least tries to fit a proper song into its torturous five and a half minutes before dedicating its second half to more drunk guys bitching about picture parties. I'm willing to take this as a next-level example of "write what you know."

Now, we're in a year where Eminem and Drake are the two top-selling rap acts, so being solipsistic or even unlikeable isn't a hurdle to successfully communicating with an audience. But Ninjasonik's musical values are so null and void that in a cruel irony, you can't imagine Art School Girls playing anywhere but the fashion-conscious Brooklyn get togethers they spend the majority of their time complaining about. Pretty much the only thing saving this from total failure is the title of "Drink n' My Ska Step", and even that gets less funny every time you hear it. It serves as an unintentional metaphor for the compositional method of Girls' Side B, which mostly consists of a joke usually included in the title ("Somebody Gonna Get Pregnant", "Holla Front") that's then repeated ad nauseum for two or three minutes over entry-level electro. It almost makes you nostalgic for the awfulness of the first half, which at least made you feel something.

It's just one of those situations where, "oh, come on-- they're just fucking around" doesn't work as a copout, not when the heart of this album pumps to the beat of their contempt for others: Although Ninjasonik have no real investment in what you might consider typical street-rap, they still manage to include the kind of casual misogyny, homophobia, and race-baiting you can rely on from your garden variety download from Datpiff.com. So, the question again: Can an album truly be bad even if it achieves exactly what it intended to do? If your intent is to make shit music, I don't even see how it's a question at all.

here's some cool news:

I greatly regreat that I once owned a Cadillac and didn't affix both Deadhead and Black Flag stickers to the rear bumper to confound people

I did mention that I saw both bands for the first time one week apart? Black Flag kicked all kinds of ass all over the Dead.

Here's one I wrote about eight years ago...Chris Jericho e-mailed me and threatened to "kick [my] ass if I ever meet you."

Happenstance
Artist: Fozzy
Label: Megaforce
Length: 11/48:03

I can’t decide if this band is supposed to be a mock metal joke with an imagined history, a la Spinal Tap, or if this is a serious effort by a band that existed under the radar known only to heavy metal fans who pride themselves on their knowledge of import albums.

Fozzy is billed in the liner notes as the “most influential heavy metal band of all time”. Has anyone here heard of Black Sabbath? Or Led Zeppelin? The same notes claim that Fozzy existed over the last twenty years trapped in a ridiculous contract that allowed them only to release records in Japan. Happenstance is purported to be the second American release.

If this is a great, influential band, why does this album consist of eleven cover songs? It seems that someone at Megaforce is trying to pull the wool over our eyes ­ this “band” is a figment of someone’s imagination, a lame attempt at a second version of Spinal Tap. I don’t know who the musicians are, as they all have nicknames like “Moongoose,” “Duke,” “KK LaFlame,” or “The Kidd.” One tipoff to the joke is that the credits list “the St. Hubbins Pentecostal Pale Young Boys’ Choir” among the backup vocalists.

If you like 80’s hair metal, or are a fan of groups like Judas Priest, The Scorpions, or Dio, this album may have some interest for you. I’m not sure what Fozzy is trying to accomplish ­ if they are a serious metal band, it’s time to record some new material. If it’s a joke, it falls flat.

one of these days i'm gonna sit down and listen to ween.

A few weeks back a bartender friend of mine (and a huge Ween fan of many, many years) told me I was listening to Ween when I asked her. I was a bit surprised. One song had been sort of a paisley underground tune and the following was a believable country stomper and the next something entirely different...I always thought of them as an extension of Weird Al or Primus - jokey-yuk-yuk-rock stuff - but these songs were really good.

PiR in 5...4...3..

for about 3 years now I've had Ween mixes from both Sausage and Paves on my computer, but I've never unzipped the files.

Amazing songwriters and human beings, yuh. Timeless.

After years of occasionally enjoying it, I've come to realize that most nerdcore is built on a subtle foundation of casual racism.

In a distinct minority 'round here, but I just listened to All Eyez On Me and, man, 2Pac had it all over Biggie.

Savage Garden's "I Want You" is a pretty great song.

Seems the reunion monster has now got its tentacles into some fairly dark corners.
Sooncome gigs in London from The Pop Group and The March Violets.

I'd pay money to see a live performance by the fucking Pop Group.