If your a fan of Surf or 60’s Garage rock, then listen to this song. Leicester band Sex Beet just released a 7″ on Dutch label A Fistful of Records titled ‘She Don’t Surf’. You’ll find this song ‘Scarecrow’ as the opening number on the 3 track E.P.

The guys have already shared the stage with bands such as Black Lips and King Khan – so have a listen.

I suppose you’re all wondering what the new COEN BROTHERS film is like? Well I went to see it this evening, and I’m gonna say this: it’s very different from their usual films, it’s more of a deep, philosophical comedy drama. Some (denser) audience members may leave feeling cheated, or fail to be entertained, but upon reflection at the ending, I found the film to be very clever, and begin to make sense upon reflection; when I left the cinema. Just go and see it, if you’re intelligent, and want to be entertained. It’s about as challenging to watch as Charlie Kaufman’s latest, I’d say, but possibly a little less complicated. But c’mon, it’s a Coens film, who’s not gonna go see it?

Yes. Yes you should. I’m serious.

Anyway, back to music. I’ve been listening to a bit of a mix lately; about half electronic, half other music? Well whatever, but I’ve bumped into a few incredible tracks from all different corners. Such as this – Erol Alkan’s latest signing, German dude BORIS DLUGOSCH, who has released possibly one of the biggest bangers of this year, immediately rivalling everyone from Jack Beats to Crookers, and mainly due to its simple formula of chopped up beats, wiping synths and high pitched groans, as well as steady popping bass.

“Bangkok” (Original Mix) – Boris Dlugosch (zshare)

Also from Germany is minimal techno duo AKA AKA, who sample some crazy stuff (including Batman & Robin), but in this track utilise a bit of didgeridoo in place of the usual repetitive electronic percussion, which I thought was pretty raaaaaaaaaad:

“Woody Woodpecker” – Aka Aka (zshare) [hi-qual/large file]

A while ago I found these two Portuguese guys called OCTA PUSH, who are incredible. They’ve pretty much popped out of nowhere, and they mix all kinds of styles together to form some kind of supersound. I can’t really explain it, but it’s very accessible. This is their signature track, I think, and it’s pretty sumptuous when you first hear it smother your ear-holes…

“Kolokani” – Octa Push (zshare)

So THE BLACK KEYS decided to go hip-hop for their newest stuff, and collaborated with a ton of rappers and vocalists, including one of my favourites, Mos Def. But the track I’m gonna show you features RZA of Wu-Tang fame, and Pharoahe Monch of “shut the fuck up” fame. It holds a significant amount of soul, psychedelia, and swagger. Raw:

“Dollaz & Sense” (ft. RZA & Pharoahe Monch) – Blakroc (zshare)

I saw TURBO FRUITS a while back when whiting out at a festival, and I remember them playing pretty well for a Be Your Own Pet spinoff. I actually bought their debut album, despite it not seeming fully thought-out. This new stuff shows a stronger side to them, with a balls-out Black Lips-style tightness. This is how mainstream rock music should sound nowadays, brilliant production too. Apparently they’re soundtracking the new Drew Barrymore film though…ugh…

“International Language of Love” – Turbo Fruits (zshare)

INVASION are insane. I first read them described as “wizard metal”, and straight away got on that shit. First listen sounds like Death From Above 1979 with crazy soulish vocals. And I’m happy to say it all sounds that good! It’s pretty spacey, you should check out their videos actually, I’ll post one now just to keep you entertained – watch their other videos though, they’re really cool 90’s video montage-based! Can you handle:

“Alchemy” – Invasion (zshare)

[BONUS COVERT DUBSTEP SKILLZ: "Dublicker" - Unknown Artist vs Aphex Twin (zshare)]

So Long To Carolina

You might as well check out Joe and Ian’s complete interview at “Maps” in Italy. Here!

The PFYFH, my OMB formed in 2007, released two singles in January 2009: “Party Whip” and “Political Efficacy.” But just when you thought PFYFH was fading away, a new single surfaced. “JUU” or “Just Under Ugly” is the name of it. It features multiple tracks of recording: orchestral strings sounding guitars, a sporadic drum machine, No Age influenced noise, tape recordings, a CD cover repeatedly tapped by a pencil, a brief wah-wah, and animal noises. All recordings on the single were recorded and mastered in one take in just under one hour. That said, PFYFH is all but done. Thanks to all the fans have who supported the project throughout the past two years. I’ve decided to switch gears from experimental music to garage/punk revivalism. A new collaborative project in that area might be coming soon.

DOWNLOAD: PFYFH – “Just Under Ugly”

While you are at it, you might as well listen to Gangbang Gordon’s latest cover of Black Lips “Not A Problem.” Click here to visit the page where you can hear it and download it. That was another quickie that I put together using two different guitar parts and pots as drums.

Cardiff band The Muscle Club have an album out called Fragmented Ideas from Young Lungs (small town records and killing moon)

Having seen them play several times over the years and seen them improve. The last time being the Jamie T gig at the The Globe where they played an awesome cover of the Fugazi song Waiting Room- what an amazing bass line! Bet Ceri had fun with that.

With the release of an album comes the reviews. This post came about because I was reading through my copy of Decembers Artrocker and came across a review for said album.

Here’s the review…

Someone’s gotta move the scene along eventually, but it ain’t going to be The Muslce Club. It might just be short sightedness on my part, but this Welsh group (and touring partners of Dananananaykyrod and Black Lips) have got a frustrating imbalance between energy (they have good energy) and original tunes (they have no original tunes). In a similar vein to Video Nasties, the band whip up the hyperactive indie factor throughout their debut without pressing an iron stamp onto an exciting new identity. ‘Ithica’ is a pretty good example: it replaces original ideas with an accelerated performance- a re-visit is not inspired. ‘Alright!Ok! You win!’ explodes into a satisfying orgy of screaming towards the end, but doesn’t transcend the heard-it-before indie anthem. I’d rather drink my own mucus than shoot down an enthusiastic new group, but The Muscle Club need to transform their lightening-bolt energy into a flash of inspiration.

What became of allowing bands to grow? Whilst The Muscle Club’s first album (which to be fair I haven’t heard but seen them live enough times to know what they are like) may not be ground-breaking- it’s still good written fun pop indie songs and there is nothing wrong with that and give them a chance who knows what they come up with?

I’d be really interested to hear what anyone elses opinon is? I know I may be slightly biased as they are a Cardiff band.

P.S. a small plea to music journalists- please stop comparing all Cardiff bands to Los Campesinos!

Apoteósico.
Así podríamos definir el concierto de ayer de los Black Lips en Madrid. La primera impresión tras las tres primeras canciones fue la de que se nos echaba encima un concierto frenético y que prometía dejar poco descanso al personal.
La segunda que sacamos y que quedó palpada bien prontito fue que todas las buenas referencias sobre su directo eran ciertas. Y vaya directo, los americanos no pararon durante la hora y cuarto que duró el concierto, aunque ahí estuvo el único pero, la breve duración del mismo, y más cuando los de Atlanta cuentan con cinco discos a sus espaldas. Pero bueno ya se sabe, lo bueno si breve…dos veces bueno.
Una de las primeras canciones con las que más disfrutó el respetable fue con “O Katrina!”, una de las principales canciones de su penúltimo disco y que generó los continuos pogos de un público exaltado.
La verdad es que no recordábamos un concierto tan intenso desde hace mucho tiempo, y no sólo por la agitación de los Black Lips sobre el escenario, la locura que se vivió entre el público es indescriptible. Pogos,saltos, latas de cerveza volando, y para sorpresa de servidor un buen número de personas subidas en el escenario tirandose hacia el resto del público con la total permisividad de los miembros de seguridad. Inaudito.

Tras un buen número de temas llegó el éxtasis en forma de canción, “Bad Kids”, seguramente la mejor canción de su anterior álbum. El público seguía entregado y tras abandonar el escenario y volver para los bises, cerraron el concierto de forma sorprente con “Too Much Monkey Bussines” de Chuck Berry lo que nos sorprendió gratísimamente.

Europe/Eurasia
11-11 Lisbon, Portugal – Caixa Economica Operaria
11-12 Madrid, Spain – Joy Eslava
11-13 Valencia, Spain – El Tinglado
11-14 Barcelona, Spain – Nitsa Club
11-17 Torino, Italy – Spazio 211
11-18 Milan, Italy – Musicdrome
11-19 Bologna, Italy – Covo
11-20 Rome, Italy – Blackout Club
11-21 Istanbul, Turkey – Babylon

United States
12-31 Atlanta, GA – The Earl
01-20 Costa Mesa, CA – The Detroit Bar
01-21 San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
01-22 Pomona, CA – The Glasshouse
01-23 Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theatre
01-24 San Diego, CA – The Casbah

Australia
01-29 Brisbane, Australia – Laneway Festival
01-30 Melbourne, Australia – Laneway Festival
01-31 Sydney, Australia – Laneway Festival
02-01 Auckland, Australia – Laneway Festival
02-02 Wellington, New Zealand – SFBH
02-24 Melbourne, Australia – Corner Hotel
02-05 Adelaide, Australia – Laneway Festival
02-06 Perth, Australia – Laneway Festival
02-08 Sydney, Australia – Manning Bar

Japan
?????

Does this mean that they could be launching a full out U.S tour in the spring like last year and the year before? One can only hope!

48 minutes of the best in the business:

http://liveweb.arte.tv/fr/video/The_Black_Lips_au_festival_des_Inrocks_TckTckTck/

R: Tema del día: súper grupos. No es que volvamos a dar por saco con las (cuatro mil) bandas que nos parecen “súper”, no. Más bien hacemos un pequeño gran recorrido por la definición del término, empezando por los padres (Crosby, Still, Nash & Young…), siguiendo por los hijos (Electronic y demás) y centrándonos en las súper formaciones de los últimos tiempos (Monsters of Folk, The Dead Weather… ¿Soulsavers?). Pero esto es sólo la parte central de nuestra sección en No són hores (que podéis escuchar también en Onda Cero)… Esta semana dedicamos las noticias a The White Stripes y a pinchar lo nuevo de Róisín Murphy. Y, sobre todo, tenemos una completísima agenda hablando del Tanned Tin vs Primavera Sound y de dos conciertos que revolucionarán esta noche de lunes: Camera Obscura y The xx (¿he escuchado por ahí que alguien dice “concierto de la temporada”? Pues será que sí).

I find it highly ironic that the Black Lips studio album that technically contains the largest number of my favorites (9)is actually my least favorite album, Let It Bloom. It’s a good album, but the songs just don’t comare to their live counterparts on Los Valientes Del Mundo Nuevo, of those that appear on the live LP. This album only contains two actual favorites: “Sea of Blashemy”(though I prefer the live version more) and “Empassant,” the rest are just good tracks. I thought I’d just share that with y’all while I procrastinate.

Chris

200 million thousand

the black lips

2.24.2009

Art that transports the listener or viewer is often labeled as transcendent. That word is much too deep to apply to the Black Lip’s fifth studio album, 200 Million Thousand. However, like a saucy B-movie, the Black Lips have found the ability to transport the listener through time and space, temporarily suspending the now. And this is truly an artistic success.

It says something that “200 Million Thousand,” spans multiple genres under an hour, playing like a blend between the Sex Pistols and the Beach Boys. Their “flower punk” is often sloppy, but it’s an aesthetic choice in this case.  Buried under (often way under) the heap of this psychedelic jam session, are surprisingly exacting pop hooks, intelligent musical experiments, and insidious grooves that belie the band’s wastrel image.

The Black Lips sing of being “trapped in a basement” in a haunting tune—ironic considering that this Atlanta band’s sloppy “flower punk” would have been unjustly confined to basement shows; now it could fit flawlessly in a Zach Braff film. The Lips’ influences loom largely. “Big Black Baby Jesus of Today” sounds distractingly like the 13th Floor Elevators, and “Drugs” is clearly all about the New York Dolls.  One of the more intriguing tunes, “The Drop I Hold”, is a stoned bum-out that features singer Alexander almost rapping.   Each song is different than the next.  “Starting Over” even steals a guitar line from the La’s “There She Goes”.  Also worth mentioning is the eerily familiar bonus track, “Never Get Away”, which sounds like the Beatle’s covering Devo’s “Gut Feeling”.

Touching so many genres, the album can cater to any mood, but the constant changes can prove irritating.  Despite this, the smart if self-conscious album makes it clear who the Lips would like to be (clearly someone with multiple personalities), but it’s hard to tell who they really are.

Like any rock ‘n roll guilty pleasure, 200 Million Thousand may not be among the great albums of the year, but it certainly is good at what it does. A necessity during midterms, it gets the pulse racing and jerks you across genres, feeling like a rock n’ roll lightning rod at times. And sometimes being jolted by rock, like what the Black Lips play, is just what you might need to stay up that extra three hours to finish studying.

Lo-fi indie rock Black Lips punk. Now that I have your attention…

Philadelphia Phillies pitchers Brett Myers and Cole Hamels had words after Game 5 of the World Series on Monday, one witness told Yahoo! Sports.

The incident was related to Hamels’ statement after Game 3 that he was looking forward to his frustrating season being over. As Myers walked past Hamels in the locker room Monday he reportedly said sarcastically, “What are you doing here? I thought you quit?”

1. A Story of Boy Meets Girl – Mychael Danna and Rob Simonsen
2. Us – Regina Spektor
3. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out – The Smiths
4. Bad Kids – Black Lips
5. Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want – The Smiths
6. There Goes The Fear – Doves
7. You Make My Dreams – Hall & Oates
8. Sweet Disposition – The Temper Trap
9. Quelqu’un M’a Dit – Carla Bruni
10. Mushaboom – Feist
11. Hero – Regina Spektor
12. Bookends – Simon & Garfunkel
13. Vagabond – Wolfmother
14. She’s Got You High – Mumm-Ra
15. Here Comes Your Man – Meaghan Smith
16. Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want – She & Him

http://rapidshare.com/files/256080248/OST.500.DayS.Of.SuMMer.rar

So I was hoping to have Part II of my CMJ coverage posted by today but I couldn’t get my creative juices flowing enough so it’s going to have to wait till next week. I promise Part II and III (that’s all of em) will be up by Friday of next week. I’m taking a break from everything to celebrate Halloween in New Orleans.

Friday:
There’s the Haunted Treehouse party tonight at NOLA Art House and there’s a good band out of Seattle by the name of TacocaT playing with another band from Seattle called The Trashies at Saturn Bar if you don’t want to brave the rain for the Treehouse. There is also a free show at One Eyed Jack’s featuring the Meat Puppets and Bobby Bare Jr. doors are at 8. According to the Meat Puppets Myspace they aren’t going on until 1 am.

Saturday:
Rumor has it there’s a secret band playing at Saturn Bar Saturday night. If I were a betting man, well actually if I could find someone to bet with, I would bet it’s going to be the Black Lips. They are playing Voodoo that day and Saturn Bar would be where they’d play if they weren’t on Vice Records. I hear doors are 7 or 8 and it’s an early show. Get there early that place is tiny. This is all just speculation of course.

Don’t forget that the official release of No Ceilings drops tomorrow. Expect a review of that in the weeks to come.

Also, not that I care or like anything he’s put out since Get Rich or Die Tryin’ but supposedly 50 Cent is doing a show at Serrano’s tonight in Baton Rouge. If this happens there might be a riot.

From their 2009 release 200 Million Thousand. Start clicking around on their Myspace page thusly. Or just watch the clip below. It’s got something of a Sloppy Garage Band meets Sloppy Psychedelia vibe.

The Almighty Defenders: David Waldman, Divulgação

Bandas de garage sempre tiveram sua afeição por fantasias. De Music Machine e The Monks até Mummies, Knights of the New Crusade, The Spits e algumas bandas de Billy Childish, o gênero atesta como gosta de tematizar seu visual. O Almighty Defenders, banda que reúne King Khan & The BBQ Show e Black Lips, entra nessa categoria. Vestidos de cantores gospel, eles lançaram seu debut ao final de setembro pela Vice Records, após longa espera desde o anúncio de formação da banda, no blog do Black Lips.

Não só na fantasia, também na sonoridade eles adotaram incorporaram tema da música religiosa americana. As músicas são uma mistura de gospel e soul com a sujeira de garage que caracteriza os projetos dos integrantes. O melhor signo para este tipo de som está na primeira música divulgada do grupo, Bow Down and Die, uma canção de amor com letras seculares no formato gospel.

Um ponto interessante do disco é como ele revela um verdadeiro projeto co-autoral, no qual as peculiaridades de cada banda são muito reconhecíveis em um trabalho inédito para ambas. Por exemplo, All My Loving e Cone of Light, estão na chave do King Khan & The BBQ Show, com vocais carregados soul e doo wop, enquanto The Ghost With the Most e 30 Second Air Blast são mais blues e country, marcas mais típicas do Black Lips.

The Almighty Defenders: David Waldman, Divulgação

Com essa equação de estilos e sonoridades, o Almighty Defenders realiza, finalmente, aquilo que interessa à música gospel. Ora, é justamente este um estilo feito para o louvor, marcado por uma alegria transcendente que “ilumina” seus ouvintes. E não se trata de uma elevação como propõe a breguice do U2, mas algo mais criativo, buscado nas fórmulas da raiz da música popular, não nas fórmulas da linguagem de massa.

No entanto, se reconhecermos quão intensas são as performances dessas bandas, ambas não deixam de ser pregadoras a um público específico em seus shows, com a diferença de que a violência com que a platéia reage pode mascarar o contágio de alegria – nada que inesperado em bandas de garage punk, por outro lado.

When I left Napoli on Saturday I knew that I would one day return, I didn’t expect that day to be Monday. Hopefully in 7 hours I’ll be back in Rome with passport safely in hand and just going to pick a Vespa up. No hitches please.

With all the train travel today was a good opportunity for a Black Lips marathon, as I had 4 albums to give a listen, first up was the eponymously titled debut (that’d be Black Lips! then). It shows the great promise they had at the time as a garage-rock blues and punk outfit, but it’s just too erratic and the production is awful.

‘Let it Bloom’ is basically more of the same. Some half decent tunes but the it’s sounds like it was recorded in a trash can.

Next up was ‘Los Valientes Del Mundo Nuevo’ and, erm, same again. Except this is a live album, but with the production value of the other two I’ve mentioned so far, they may as well have been also.

Lastly, ‘We Did Not Know the Forest Spirit Made The Flowers Grow’ is just rubbish. There’s maybe a few tunes that are okay but on the whole it’s pointless. I do like Black Lips, the time i saw them live at The Deaf Institute was brilliant, but the only album of their’s I’d have any real interest in listening to again is ‘Good Bad Not Evil’.

Christ, what a complete and utter stress that was and it’s not over yet. The important thing though is that I have my passport back.

Getting it was a bit of a nightmare mind. My train to Napoli just had to be 15 minutes late didn’t it, meaning I had around 55 minutes to get to the hostel (which is probably at least a half hour walk each way at normal pace), pick up the passport and get back in time to make the train to Rome. If I missed that one the next one my ticket was valid for wouldn’t be for 3 or 4 hours meaning I’d be much too late to hire the scooter later and wouldn’t even get any evening at all in Rome.

So this meant I had to combine some serious power walking with sprints when there was enough room (space isn’t something you get much of in Napoli) and then run up the 6 flights of stairs to the hostel and do same all over again on the way back.

When I got into the main square where the station was it looked like I’d be okay for time and I even managed to spare 30 seconds to pick-up a Naples butty for lunch. Then when looking at my ticket I realised that in the usual tired and and stressed state this morning I’d stamped the Napoli – Rome ticket rather than the Rome – Napoli one. I thought well if I can show the other ticket and the stamps it’s pretty obvious what has happened and shouldn’t really be an issue.

Here is where the next problem arose, I could see the train on platform 11 and I had a good 3 minutes before it departed. What I couldn’t see were the little yellow boxes that you use to stamp the tickets, they are on every platform in Rome. I looked about but none were in view so I asked a group of staff and rather than just pointing me in the right direction the guy put his hand out for my ticket and asked where I was going, he would have seen that it was the wrong ticket and with only about 2 minutes left I didn’t really have time to explain so I ran off to look further myself. I found one but it was out of order, arghhh! I found 2 more opposite but there were some girls dawdling and when I did try to use the first one it made the right noises but didn’t print anything. The 2nd one just about printed something but it was barely ledgilble. It would have to do though as I then sprinted and only made the train by about 20 seconds. Napoli station is bobbins!

So now it makes it a lot harder to explain what happened with the tickets. I’ll just play dumb and handover the one I’ve just stamped and see how it goes, if the the inspector does say anything I’ll try to explain and if he does try to fine me I’ll just outright refuse to pay and take it from there. That’s my plan and I’m sticking to it! Maybe my ticket won’t even get checked, it wasn’t on the way here and there were inspectors on board then too.

I can’t wait to get on that Vespa later and ease the tension of today. It will be like a radox on wheels. Even if it is on the mental Roman roads.

Phew, just about got away with it. I thought I was okay as I gave him the ticket and he put it between the clipper before doing a double take and putting his glasses on. He was checking the stamp that you could hardly read, I don’t think he noticed that the from and to points were the wrong way round. He eventually clipped it so crisis over and €50 fine averted.

I picked up the scooter without a problem, a sky blue PX. The clutch is a bit off so I have to watch out for wheelies but it idles and runs well so that will do nicely for the next 24 hours.

So I spent the next 3 hours or so racing round Rome, quite the terrifying experience really. I wanted to visit (at least to see the exteriors, if I’ve time tomorrow I’ll try for the interiors, but the queues can get pretty big and the stuff in Vatican City is priority number one) The Pantheon and The Colosseum (see pic below) and I did, eventually. The problem is that I’d work out a route on the map and then that would rendered obsolete within a turn or two by one way streets, it was also hard to check for the right junction while dealing with the truly crazy Rome traffic. So this often led to me ending up in scary and bendy high speed dual carriageway tunnels and such like, miles from where I actually wanted to be. I did get to see a lot of the city though and I had good fun doing it. Tomorrow will be even better in the day time.

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Meterhead released an Official Remix EP package that contains three powerful tracks featuring great stuff from the Black Lips, Acid Girls, and Wale.  This is the first release in awhile for LA-based Meterhead.  He’s been keeping pretty busy by working on a number of various side projects, some we may even hear of in the coming months.  Keep an eye out for this man.  One would hope that these recent releases represent his new awakening into the culture and keep him from returning to the dormant lifestyle he was living.

Acid Girls feat. Frankmusik – Wake Up (METERHEAD Remix)

BONUS!

Wale feat. Lady Gaga – Chillin’ (METERHEAD Remix)

Black Lips feat. GZA. – The Drop I Hold (METERHEAD Remix)

The Mohawk in Austin has really impressed me recently.  First the Black Lips and Strange Boys play a very memorable show two Saturday’s ago. And then this past Monday, the Junior Boys brought their distinct brand of groove to the Mohawk.

The Junior Boys are a duo from Hamilton, Canada.  They began in 2003 and have released three full length studio albums and two EP’s.  There most recent work, “Begone Dull Care” is easily their most cohesive work to date.  They have refined their sound and can definitely transfer the studio sound to the stage.  

Junior Boys opened up with “Work,” a slow groove with a punchy beat and sounds that can only be described as circular.  The night was a little chilly, but the sky was clear and we were listening to a band that just wanted you to move.  We warmed up pretty quickly.  I remember hearing the singer say to the keyboardist, “I can’t believe how many people came tonight…”  I’m not sure if he wanted the crowd to hear him, but I think he made us all appreciate being there a little more.

After an hour of playing the Junior Boys left the stage, but the crowd remained where they stood.  Nobody was ready to go home, and not ready to disappoint, the Junior Boys came back.  Ending the show, the Junior Boys decided to play a little bit of a house beat, improvising a dance jam that sent us away feeling pretty good about how we had spent our night.

This question is entirely influenced by The Needle Drop, as is this entire segment. Here it is:

What does Punk Rock Mean to You? Examples?

Just to get the ball rolling, here’s what I think. Punk Rock means to me, freedom to act, sound, look, smell, or taste however you like. The elements of attitude, integrity, and passion are clearly displayed. Artists are NOTsigned to major labels, with exceptions to early “Punk” artists. Lastly, music that is cutting edge and/or distinctive. For modern examples, my favorite punk bands are The Black Lips, Jay Reatard, The King Khan & BBQ Show, No Age, Mika Miko, and Wavves.

Pleaseeeee Comment!

Chris

The opening guitar riff on “There She Goes” is quite similar to the opening riff on “Starting Over.” Check it out:

The Las
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvPm0-tIQk0

Black Lips
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSMZ1N_UVSg

Comparison