Flipper will always have a unique place in the annals of punk and hardcore. They never sounded like anyone else, their lyrics often strayed from typical punk topics (witness “Earthworm” and “The Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly”), and by the standards of the day their songs could be much longer than those of their peers.
I had trouble deciding which song to use to pay tribute to Mark Volman. Mark and Howard Kaylan, aka Flo and Eddie (the two main singers of The Turtles), were part of Frank Zappa’s lineup during 1970-1971 (approximately). This song, which is listed as “Sofa #1” on the record (You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 1), would be reinterpreted four or five years later as “Sofa #2” on the studio album One Size Fits All (“Sofa #1 would become an instrumental). The “Eddie, are you kidding me?” bit at the end refers to a song of the same name on Zappa’s Just Another Band From L.A. album.
When Negative Approach was active in the early 1980s, primarily on the Detroit punk scene, I don’t think anyone foresaw how much staying power they would have. It will be interesting to see if Laughing Hyenas keep their catalog in print.
Everyone has heard the famous quote from John Peel about The Fall: “always different, always the same.” I can’t think of a more fitting quote to describe Osees. There are some bands whose catalog you really need to follow in sequence, to appreciate the development. Have there been changes with Osees? Sure, but you can drop in almost anywhere in their catalog and get a really good idea about their sound and style.
I am surprised that it has taken me this long to put a Kas Product song on one my shows, but here we are. I love the fast tempo and energy of this particular track.
Years ago, I had XM Radio service in my car. At that time they had a handful of interesting stations, including one that featured all French indie rock. Not surprisingly, it didn’t stick around for very long, but at least that station introduced me to Gros Mené. Merci.
Buckethead has been putting out mostly digital releases for the past several years (hundreds of them), but if you are interested in exploring his official CD releases a good place to start is Monsters & Robots. This album and Colma are probably his best two albums put out under his own name.
Sexores, who if I recall are originally from Ecuador but now reside in Mexico City, are putting out some really good releases lately.
Memest are a Spanish band on one of my favorite labels, Discos Macarras out of Catalonia. If you are fond of any of the several sub-genres of metal (doom, sludge, thrash, etc.) you should definitely check out that label. Memest rule!
A friend of mine from my early college days used to make me phenomenal mix tapes, and his specialty was to feature 3-5 songs from new import releases (he worked at a really cool record store so he had great access to stuff, especially from the UK). On one of these tapes he put on three or four songs from Let’s Play Domination, and I was immediately impressed by the very unique sound. They had a mix of dub, post-punk, and electronica that even to this day doesn’t sound like anything else.
The new Pete Power record is really good. It has an early 2000s kind of feel to it, which I have always liked. It’s new, and I have it in my home “heavy rotation.”
BRNDA is a fine example of how not all indie music that comes out of Washington, DC is punk, post-punk, or Riot Grrrl. BRNDA, Light Beams, and others are bringing out a fun-flavored variety of music. I highly recommend this new album.
“Athlete Cured” by The Fall has always been one of my favorite songs by them, which is saying a lot because I am a Fall maniac. I didn’t catch the connection when The Frenz Experiment first came out, but I read a review or interview somewhere wherein it was pointed out that the basic riff of “Athlete Cured” is uncomfortably similar to the riff of “Tonight We Are Going To Rock You (Tonight)” by Spinal Tap. There is a similarity, sure, but the song structures (not to mention lyrical content) are vastly different. I think they only played this song twice live in addition to a performance for a Peel session. Too bad, because I think the lyrics are very clever.
I do my best to keep up with releases from the very talented Glitterbeat label, but somehow this Los Pirañas record slipped by me. No problem, it is firmly in my collection now. The sheer number of unique musical styles that come out of Colombia and Mexico is incredible.
I can’t get enough of Citric Dummies. It’s not easy to stand out in the world of hardcore punk, a genre that has been around for forty-five years, but these guys and Zig Zags and a few others are really exciting to listen to.
The collaboration between King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard and Jello Biafra is definitely one I did not see coming. This version of “Police Truck” is everything it should be: a little sloppy, high energy, and featuring enough saxophone skronk to drive the punk purists into depression. Jello’s voice really hasn’t aged a bit. Rather than DK reunions I would love to hear him do collaborations like this on songs from the DK back catalog (I wonder if Jello would ever get together with Metallica for a cover of “Holiday In Cambodia”? That would be dynamite).
If you don’t know Mikey Dread by name, you probably know him by voice, certainly if you’ve spent sufficient time with Sandanista! by The Clash. I’ve always been amazed and impressed with the wide variety of sounds and styles of the male reggae singers: Dread, Marley, Tosh, Toots, Prince Far I, Yellowman, etc. So many great singers, and not a single one sounds like the others.
This Jimmy C song has a bit of a throwback sound to it; for me it mostly evokes Smithereens. I hope this album does well- it is finely crafted and has a good sound to it.
My taste in electronic music definitely favors songs that are very percussive, which is why I love this track by Common Dream.
Hungarian music, whether traditional or modern, always seems to fall into one of three camps: sad and wistful; scary and bleak; or absurdist. Láz, like most Hungarian punk and post-punk, smoothly fits into the scary and bleak category. One of the reasons I love to hear global genres like punk or metal performed in local languages is that it really adds a new element to it. Go try it yourself- spend some serious time with Mexican punk then spend time with Hungarian punk and notice the different feel, even with songs that have the same temp and basic chord progressions.
It will be curious to see if listeners twenty years from now will understand the reference to the song title “One Weird Trick.” Anyone who has used a mobile phone in the last five years has surely seen the click-bait ads with headlines like “Harvard Medical School shocked to learn that a nine-year old can stop cancer with this one weird trick.” It just so happens that Dana kicks ass. I love this band.
I’m guessing that Me Fritos and the Gimme Cheetos is a play on another band’s name? Does it matter? Not really, but I do like this group more than the Gimme Gimme band. Plus I really like Fritos.
There are so many really cool bands coming out of Poland who are really carrying the torch of post-punk and modern jazz (and even jazz-punk hybrids) like Błoto, Eabs, and Allarme. I love it.
I can’t get enough of Chini.png. Chini’s voice always matches the music so well.
The members of the band Bleak Squad do have some impressive entries on their collective résumé (Bad Seeds, Birthday Party, PJ Harvey, Magic Dirt, etc.) and while you can pick up the influences of those past bands, and I think this band has done a good job of staking out their own direction.
I love how this Kreidler song brings me back to Second Edition era Public Image Ltd. The sounds wash in and out, there is a very rhythmic beat that occasionally disappears for no reason, and curious little tones pop up here and there.
Marginal Man have always been one of my favorite early Dischord bands- I listened to this record constantly, and I was super disappointed with the next record. But I still go back to this record over and over again, even all these decades later. I saw them live in Detroit (I think just once) and when they played this song I remember most of the crowd doing this slow walk in a circle in front of the stage clapping above their heads in time with the claps that are in the intro to this song.
This Spectres track is so cool, and I love this one very small part of the vocals at the 1:06 mark where the singer does this quick little “nah, nah nah nah” thing that reminds me of The Smiths’ “Shakespeare’s Sister” (around the 1:15 mark to be specific). Either I have too much free time on my hands or I have some sort of musical OCD.
I remember buying the Blight 7” at a record store in Ann Arbor (probably Schoolkids Records, RIP) not long after it came out. I don’t know if Blight did very many shows; I never recall seeing any flyers or mentions of them in fanzines. The record just sort of materialized in the punk singles section of the record shop, which is kind of appropriate because this music is really an outlier among the punk and hardcore records coming out at this time (even Flipper sounds normal compared to Blight).
I love how this song by MagikBitum mixes Amber era Autechre with a techno beat the weaves in and out.
If I remember correctly I read that Lögnhalsmottaningen was one of those one-off studio “bands” created for fun. I think Stewart from Boyracer and the Emotional Response label was part of this. I think there should be more.
I can assure you that all of the songs on this new EP by Osnova are excellent and well worth your time.
This song from Carambolage comes from their first album, released in 1980.
Usually when artists put tags on their Bandcamp releases, they opt for genre titles or maybe their home city or country. Patrol, from Barcelona, did that plus they added “Judas Priest” as one of their tags. Maybe it’s an inside joke, because I sure don’t hear much resemblance.
I remember buying the Dance Craze soundtrack when it came out, during the height of the second wave of ska (aka the Two-Tone era). I loved it. I can’t say that I’ve ever been a huge fan of Bad Manners, but I like them enough, and the rest of the bands I just love. Years later, I found the entire movie on YouTube. Obviously there were many more songs in the film than in the single LP. “Wouldn’t it be great if they put all of the songs from the film out on audio?” I thought to myself. I don’t how I missed the official release of the deluxe reissue, but imagine my wonderful surprise as I scanned the box sets at one of my favorite record stores (Attic Records in Pittsburgh) and there it was. At a really good price. My wrists are still sore from digging my credit card from my wallet as fast as I did.
Spoilsport Records, who released this great new album by Dragnet, is just putting out one great release after another. I recommend you follow them on Bandcamp and don’t miss anything new from them.
The new album by Skloss will definitely be one of my favorite ten albums of this year. I can’t help but increase the volume for this record. I love how this song begins with a riff that sounds like it came from one of Tool’s first three records, before launching into its own form. I bet these guys would be awesome to see live.
This month we have new albums out by Snooper and Upchuck! The world is really in a terrible state these days, but we do have some great new music coming out.
One of my happiest memories is seeing Interpol live in London at the Royal Albert Hall. One of my most disappointing memories is that Interpol did not play “The Heinrich Maneuver,” though it was a fantastic show.
I could have chosen any song from this great new album by Steröid to put in the show. Not because the songs all sound the same, but because they are all cool as hell. Like a lot of Australian bands lately, they have this sort of punk-pop approach that leaves plenty of room for individual flair and personality.
I love the Guerilla Asso label, I really do, but I hate it when you click on a band name in Bandcamp and it just takes you to the label’s page. True, there is a small write up about 10 Juin on the album page, but I do wish bands and labels would make it easier to find out information about the artists. This is especially true for artists who only show up on various artists compilations. First world problems, I know.
Richmond, Virginia isn’t that far from where I live (three hours or so depending on traffic, which is a very large “depend”) but I really need to spend time down there. There is a great label (Grave Mistake) from Richmond and so many amazing bands like Shagg Carpet. Punk, post-punk, metal (I think Windhand are from there)you name it.
Pittsburgh is another current hot spot for some awesome punk and post-punk. I don’t know about labels, but they do have some great record stores (Attic Records is fantastic) and some great bands like Illiterates and Forty Winks.
This song from Unschooling is really intriguing. It sounds like something on a late-early record from The Fall (by late-early I mean the late Rough Trade period). Whenever this song ends I always want it to keep going. Just like most songs by The Fall.
Ha ha, so on their Bandcamp page R.M.F.C. references lots of phrases all beginning with the letters R-M-F-C, kind of like MDC (Millions of Dead Cops) did when they started, though these two bands I’m sure have nothing in common. Anyway, I like that R.M.F.C.’s self-description on Bandcamp is “extremely talented, intelligent and famous child prodigy.” I’d much rather see that instead of anything with the words “deeply personal.” Or “bedroom pop.”
I don’t know if Pearly*is named after the obscure Radiohead song of the same name (asterisk included) but I like this band a lot. It used to be easier for me to keep up with new music from New Zealand but their R1 radio site has made it a lot harder to connect and listen, so my exposure to new bands is a lot more random. Oh well.
As I write this I am actually listening to her brand new album Angel, which I will definitely feature in near future shows. What a singular talent. In his autobiography Frank Zappa wrote that flutists and harpists are often grumpy because they have to play all of that angelic music (I’m paraphrasing), but her playing is nothing of the sort. The pacing and blending of instruments brings some of the best modern jazz and chamber classical music together.
Ptaki is another one of those great jazz/post-punk hybrids that have come out of Poland recently. Maybe it’s the pierogi?
I was almost done putting this show together when I remembered Halloween! I don’t typically play very many holiday themed songs in my shows, but playing something my Misfits or Samhain in October just seems natural. In the first vinyl era (pre-CDs), it was really difficult to get Misfits 7” records, at least where I shopped. I had no trouble getting the 12” records (Walk Among Us, Earth A.D., and Legacy Of Brutality) but I had to live with taped copies of the Three Hits From Hell EP and the Evilive EP. The really rare 7” records like “Bullet” I’ve never seen in person. All that to say I am very glad that Misfits put out the 2 Collection CDs and the coffin box set.
Enjoy the show!
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