It's getting harder and harder to sort the "ironic rock" from the "non-ironic rock" as more and more of the swaggering stuff struts through the door of Aquarius every day. Whats the real rock deal and what's the joke band with seventies thrift store clothes? Does it even matter? Not really, if it rocks, right? Latest contender for the rock n roll reality check is Matador/XL signing Young Heart Attack from Austin Texas. There are, like, seven guys and gals in the band! Gives groupies some choice I suppose. They sure sound like a party band all right. Definitely trying to rip off AC/DC, though they sound more like they're ripping off Kix, but as if they've never actually heard Kix, only The Darkness (who are big YHA fans apparently). With Debbie Harry doing backing vocals. Now...is this a good thing or a bad thing? I kinda liked it. One weakness is that, unlike The Darkness, they don't really write super memorable, catchy songs...it's more about the attitude and the ingredients, the in-your-face, hey-we're-rockin' kinda vibe, not anything more lasting than that. And that's fine, while the record's playing. Plus they do seem like they'd be great live...catch 'em on tour with Peaches!
Young Marble Giants' true minimal masterpiece, Colossal Youth, receives yet another reissue. Whatta cause for celebration -- this is absolutely essential listening (and Cup and Windy don't use that word lightly, mind you)! This British trio's existence was ever so fleeting, and they only had one proper album, but what a leftfield classic it is. It sounds *totally unique*, like nothing before, and has made a huge impact in the many years since it was originally released in 1980. Seriously -- this is one of those classic albums that not only has influenced tons of musicians (Hole even covered "Credit in the Straight World", but don't hold that against YMG!) but is also great listening in and of itself. It ranks up there with, like, The Velvet's first record, Neu!, the Raincoats, Pere Ubu's Modern Dance, etc etc.
A very hushed, metronome-sounding drum machine ticks out the tireless beat of each song like a friendly clock, and its neutral tone is also reflected in Alison Statton's girlish, earnest, not always pitch-perfect vocals as well as in the muted string strum of Stuart Moxham's electric guitar. Spartan, angular strikes from the same guitar punctuate this steady atmosphere as a frail organ does its wheezing, bleeting melodic best and Philip Moxham's rubbery bass line hesitantly bends and bounds. Minimal and no-frills, yes, but somehow there's so much more going on, and so much more expressed than its quietness belies. The songs are tiny and simple and total perfection. Powerful and totally f**king timeless and yes, very highly recommended.
(We believe this just might be the fourth edition. In the past, each time it's been pressed the track listing has increased, but not so with this Play It Again Sam America pressing. The song count remains at twenty five. Might be that there simply aren't any more recordings left in the vault to plunder. Not that we're complaining, we just wish a label would once and for all release it and be able to keep it available forever and ever and ever! Hopefully PIAS America is that label. Heck, we're truly fortunate to have as much YMG music as we do!)
Young Marble Giants' minimal masterpiece, Colossal Youth, receives yet another reissue (the fifth or sixth to date)! This one is extra super special because it's a three cd set which compiles ALL of their previously released music! So you not only get the fifteen songs that make up the Colossal Youth album, but also a five song Peel Session from 1980, six songs from their 1981 Testcard EP, three from the Final Day single, sixteen from their 2000 Salad Days album, and their first ever recorded appearance titled "Ode To Booker T" from the 1979 compilation Is The War Over?.
Needless to say, it's a cause for celebration! Absolutely essential listening. This UK trio's existence was ever so fleeting, and they only had one proper album, but what a leftfield classic it is. It sounds *totally unique*, like nothing before and pretty much nothing since. Amid the aggression and edginess of the post-punk movement, YMG emerged as a remarkably stark, understated and utterly engaging wonder. It has made an enormous impact in the many years since its original release in 1980. Seriously, this is one of those classic albums that has influenced tons of musicians (Hole even covered "Credit in the Straight World", but don't hold that against YMG!). It ranks up there with, like, The Velvet Underground's first record, Neu!, the Raincoats, Pere Ubu's Modern Dance, etc., etc.
Their music's simplicity is deceptive. A very hushed, metronome-sounding drum machine ticks out the tireless beat of each song like a friendly clock, and its neutral tone is also reflected in Alison Statton's girlish, earnest, not always pitch-perfect vocals as well as in the muted string strum of Stuart Moxham's electric guitar. Spartan, angular strikes from the same guitar punctuate this steady atmosphere as a frail organ does its wheezing, bleating melodic best and Philip Moxham's rubbery bass line hesitantly bends and bounds. Minimal and no-frills, yes, but somehow there's so much more going on, and so much more expressed than its quietness belies. The songs are tiny and simple and total perfection. Powerful and totally f**king timeless and yes, very highly recommended.
As we mentioned above, we believe this just might be the fifth or sixth edition, and we hope that it's kept available forever and ever and ever!
This live cd documents two Young Marble Giants' performances at the New York City venue The Hurrah way back in November, 1980. If that sounds familiar to all of you YMG fanatics, well, it's because this is basically the audio tracks from the dvd of the same name. Since the band was only in existence for a mere two years, and hence has a pretty short song repertoire there aren't really any surprises setlist-wise (nor any marked performance variances in the songs themselves), but of course who needs extra bells and whistles with songs this good? All the minimal pop greats are here: "Searching For Mr. Right", "Brand New Life", "Wurlitzer Jukebox", "Include Me Out", "Music For Evenings", "Credit In The Straight World"... Hell, yeah! Truly for diehard YMG completists.
What a treat, and 21 years after the fact, too! In the ensuing years since Young Marble Giants made their masterpiece "Colossal Youth", they've become cult favorites beloved by music fans of all stripes and styles (close to home, Windy, Owen of Casiotone for the Painfully Alone and Cup of I Am Spoonbender are big big fans). "Salad Days", recorded in 1979, is a perfect example of a 'home recording' done right. Featuring different versions of 11 songs from "Colossal Youth" PLUS four others, "Salad Days" preserves the immediacy and personalities evident in this performance of the group at such an early stage. It's easy to envision Stuart, Philip, and Alison huddled together on a worn couch playing such gems as "Brand New Life" or "N.I.T.A.". Alison's voice, especially, sounds like she's RIGHT THERE sitting next to you. This is a record you wish would never end.
A brand new solo incarnation from San Francisco based multi-instrumentalist Trevor Montgomery (Lazarus, Tarentel, The Drift), Young Moon evokes the romantic and wistful jangle pop of early eighties groups such as Durutti Column, The Lilac Time and Autumn Fair. Far from the downer croon of Lazarus, Montgomery employs a hazy autumnal shimmer of synths and guitars with vocal treatments pushed back in the mix in songs that explore love's gains as well as losses. At times Montgomery's vocals evoke early Springsteen with some obscure C86 band backing him, but this album is more than a culmination of influences and moods. It's a genuinely heartfelt and sincere approach to music making with some of Montgomery's best songwriting to date. A beautiful record to wake up to as our warm summers make way for the chill of the fall.
With their last record, "War Prayers" Young People showed that they were really coming into their own and moving beyond their obvious influences. With this new release they take an even greater leap forward. Stripping down their sound considerably and making a totally raw and engulfing album that injects a minimalist aesthetic into their pop songs with amazing results. By taking away some of the layers and some of their overly sprawling emotions of past outings, they have really found their sound, narrowing their target and hitting it dead on. Like Young Marble Giants or the hard to track down in the States No Sound Is Heard album by the UK group Klang, Young People have made a set of songs that might sound sparse on first listen but have so much richness hidden away inside. Any hints of their somewhat twangy past have been sublimated into their new more subtle sound and we are so loving where they've moved to. Sometimes less is so much more.
New ep from this band...elements of Cat Power. White Magic, Young Marble Giants.
The focal point of Young People's second album is set squarely on Katie Eastburn's lilting, sedated vocals -- an odd mix of beleaguered'n'world weary and tentative, sweet, almost childlike. Her untethered, off the cuff delivery runs the gamut from top-of-her-lungs exuberance to lullaby hushed, and this unpredictability is right in line with the group's overall offkilter, earthy dissonance. From song to song, she along with fellow members Jeff Rosenberg and Jarrett Silberman trade off on guitar, bass and percussion duties. Guitars are raw and sinewy, drums are loose and primal. Although at times the art-folk proceedings may seem rather unstable and ramshackle even, they're not without structure. War Prayers is definitely a much more devil-may-care, dynamic array of songs than those of YP's self-titled debut, and they resonate with an increased confidence and energy.
At first we thought this record was pretty good, a sort of indie, twangy Cat Power / Dirty Three / Palace-y pastiche. That is, until the second track, and then the third, and then the fourth, when it became obvious that the entire record sounded EXACTLY the same, like it was in the same key, and the vocalist's wannabe-Cat-Power warble had the range of, well, maybe all of 2 or 3 notes, and the guitar player, who is in fact a fantastic guitar player, was going to opt instead to let his guitar feedback and whine and hum with the minimum amount of interference. Maybe that's a little bit harsh, but the record taken as a whole is a very monochromatic affair, and not necessarily in a good way, with the vocals and guitar just sort of droning on and on, less in a hypnotic way, and more in a sort of nagging way, if that makes any sense. Definitely worth a peek if you are fanatical about indie-rock-twang and/or the above mentioned bands, but otherwise this might be a pass.
A killer new two song blast from these SF shoegazers, and both sides kill. The A side sounds like it could have been plucked off one of their records proper, equal parts Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine, thick blown out riffs, blurred into billows of soft noise, simple, driving krautrocky rhythms, thick driving basslines, ethereal angelic vox, super droned out and totally hypnotic, heavily reverbed and gloriously washed out and woozy.
The B side might be even better, ditching the more standard elements of 'song' and instead weaving a super thick, dense, atmospheric sprawl of heavily layered guitardrone, channeling the mighty Spacemen 3, or minimal early krautrock, but here, cranked up and doused in distortion, hypnotic and hazy, pulsing and churning, a constantly shifting miasma of buzz and thrum, super heady and heavy and very psychedelic. So great. Definitely has us hankering for a new full length.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
The long awaited debut full length from Young Prisms, a youthful SF Mission District based quartet who kick out some of the raddest psychedelic shoegaze slacker jams we've heard in ages.
Thick clouds of swirling soft focus guitar noise and churning grinding muted crunch obscure drifty indecipherable vocals, spidery guitar melodies running throughout, propulsive indie jangle wreathed in reverb, shuffling drums, loads of effects, somewhere in this swirl of shifting sounds and layered lurk pretty little pop songs, but those pop songs drag along all manner of sonic detritus in their wake, transforming the group's stripped down garage pop into something much more grand, something that sounds like Sonic Youth crossed with My Bloody Valentine, but even more blissed out and ethereal, the vocals lilting and haunting sometimes give the songs a Blonde Redhead vibe, but way more chaotic and dreamily noise drenched, and still with enough jangle and crunch that they can still hang with the cool kids (Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, etc.), and while these guys are in fact pretty dang cool, they're also still outsiders, noisier, heavier, their sound more washed out and deliriously druggy, the songs, no matter how simple or stripped down in the beginning, seem to always blossom into explosive garage psych blowouts, huge billowing clouds of gauzy hazey buzz and thick clouds of psychdrone blissdrift blur. But never completely obscuring the jangle pop underneath, Which is what makes these guys so good. We dig big time!
Latest from these SF shoegazers, and like the last one, Friends For Now, In Between finds the band's sound falling somewhere between Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine and Blonde Redhead, this time maybe even some Mazzy Star. Right out of the gate, the band take the sound of the last records, and blur it even more, unleashing a lazy, sprawl of smeared chords, breathy female vox, simple skeletal rhythms, all wreathed in a cloud of gauzy shimmer, total mid-nineties style dreampop, and YP do it better than most, taking simple pop songs, and dousing them in effects, the production lush and layered, allowing for a heavy part to somehow get even heavier, usually with a sudden eruption of low end, or a strange thickening of the guitar sound, however they do it, it makes for some heady psych pop bliss out for sure.
The rest of the record follows suit, with dreamy boy/girl vox, chiming guitar jangle, swirling effects, hooks galore, soaring choruses, with much of In Between sounding like it could have come from the Slumberland back catalog, which is not a bad thing at all. The band equally adept at fuzzy girl group style reverb shimmer pop and crunchy fuzzy shoegaze, the record rife with MBV-isms, but the band employ them in a way that makes MBV seem like an influence, rather than In Between sounding like an inadvertent homage.
There are so many great bands in SF these days, but as far as blissed out jangle and shoegaze dream pop, nobody can touch Young Prisms. So good.
Up until now, Louisville noise rockers Young Widows have trafficked in a dense, bass heavy almost sludgey sort of crush, more in line with groups like Jesus Lizard, Harvey Milk, Karp, Lubricated Goat and Drive Like Jehu, total AmRep old school knuckle dragging, ass kicking pound and pummel. But over the course of the last full length and the series of 7" collaborations, the band did not shy away from melody, and displayed a keen pop sense, that in other bands might seem out of place, but YW just folded that poppiness right in along with the crashing drums, and buzzy basslines, and while we should have been prepared for this, we really just weren't. Some of that sound and vibe is still present, but In And Out Of Youth And Lightness is a whole 'nother kind of beast. Brooding and slithery, a little bit twangy, low slung, druggy and hazy and a little washed out, imagine a noise rock version of aQ slowcore faves True Widow, and you'd definitely be close. The drums are muted and minimal, shuffling more than pounding, the bass still thick and buzzy and driving the proceedings, but here it's more gloom pop than noise rock. The guitars are spidery and skeletal, minor key, unfurling haunting melodies and woozy chords. The opening track sounds like it could burst into proper noise rock action at any point, but it never does, it doesn't need to, instead, it just drifts drowsily, all drugged out and sun baked and gloriously languid.
But the band haven't ditched their noise rock past completely, they can still whip up a serious din, like on the churning riffy "Future Heart", but even then, the vibe is way more post punk, old school gloom rock, all wound up in TW's heavier guitars and mathy crush, yet even amongst all this roiling heaviness, the guitars are reverby, the vocals deep and dramatic, the sound not so heavy as moody, and then just as quickly as the band exploded into noise rock action, they slip right back into brooding blackened ballad territory, "In And Out Of Lightness" sounding a bit like Woven Hand or Sixteen Horsepower, all grimly bluesy, swampy, murky and moody. "Lean On The Ghost" is another slo-mo doom pop twang folk trudge, a hazy chunk of slowcore blues that melds Amrep to apocalyptic swamp folk, and on it goes.
The band having essentially totally transformed into a some glorious sort of of post punk slowcore combo, and as much as we loved them before, this new sound is WAY hitting the spot. Every song a grim black gem, heavy, hooky, haunting, the more we listen, the more we think this might be challenging the most recent True Widow as our record of the year. And it has us imagining our dream tour: Young Widows, True Widow, Crystal Stilts, Woven Hand... if only!
Record number two from these Louisville sluggers (sorry), another slab of churning, bass heavy, noisy, groovy riff rock, landing somewhere between the Jesus Lizard and Karp, Harvey Milk and Caustic Resin, Lubricated Goat and Drive Like Jehu. In fact these guys sound like they were spawned from an AmRep Mom and a Touch And Go Dad, which is absolutely not a bad thing. Opener "Took A Turn" has one of the sickest bass sounds EVER, a roiling, crumbling super distorted groove that goes on and on and on, beneath the weary mush mouthed vocals, building tension like crazy, until he sings "Drums..." and then the drums come in, the bass still grinding away, and then finally the guitar drops, a thick blanket of melody over that near static bassline. "Old Skin" has a killer riff, a sort of downtuned Iron Maiden sort of thing, that is totally mesmerizing, and continues on though most of the song, even when the band is furiously pounding away. In fact, most of these songs consist of no more than two parts, but that's all it takes, this is blown out, heavy as fuck, sweaty, live and loud, with a definite nod to Bleach�era Nirvana.
This stuff definitely sound killer on record, but it's easy to tell these guys must destroy live, even moreso, knowing that these tracks were actually recorded at various locations, studios, practice spaces, live shows (on those you can sometimes hear the crowd), but they're not meant to sound live, just to sound LIVE, cuz most bands do play and sound better in front of a crowd, so the final tracks were culled from all of those recordings and performances, and the results speak for themselves, loud, heavy, intense and definitely live sounding. Anyone into the above mentioned bands will definitely dig this big time.
And wow, the packaging, super intense, multi folded, 8 panels, of varying length, all overlapping to form different versions of the cover image, hard to explain, you just gotta see it, super striking!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Splits are always a strange proposition, it's not always clear what brings the two bands together, often the union is sonic, but just as often it's something less obvious, the bands are on tour together, the bands are pals, but split 7"s are pretty great, just speaking for ourselves, splits have often been responsible for introducing us to new bands even though we bought the split just for the OTHER band. That hardly applies here though. Again, not sure what brought these two bands together, we're guessing it's Louisville. The Louisville connection is strong between both bands and the label.
The Young Widows jam might just be our favorite from these punk rockers yet, stripped down and bass heavy, tons of space, angular guitars, draped over the crunchy buzzy low end, the bass and drums locked tight, the vocals sung spoken, long stretches of pulsing effects, a kick ass climax, low slung and heavy as fuck, can't help but think of Shellac, Tar, Helmet, all that sort of stuff. We loved the last YW full length, we're assuming this got recorded afterwards, cuz it would seem insane to leave a song this good off the record.
Will Oldham as Bonnie Prince Billy offers up his own winner on the flip, a dark and lush, sprawling bit of country blues, surprisingly poppy, some gorgeous vocal harmonies carry the song, as the instrumentation is minimal and subdued. It reminds us of seventies Laurel Canyon style strum and shimmer, there's even an awesome, just this side of cheesy, dramatic spoken word part, before a super emotional second half, again heavy on the vocal harmonies, makes us think folks into Fleet Foxes who have somehow missed out on Oldham all this time, might just be immediately smitten.
Final installment in Young Widows' 4 part split single series, the first three were with Will Oldham, Melt-Banana and Pelican, this last one is with a band called My Disco, but no matter how good the other bands are, pick these up for the Young Widows' jams, all four of em, including this latest, are total nineties AmRep, Touch And Go style noise rock rippers of the highest order, also bucking the trend of throw away tracks on 7"s, again bringing us back to an era where 7"s were precisely where the best songs by a band were to be found, and damn if these 4 tracks aren't the best thing we've heard from Young Widows, sludgey low slung bass lines, pounding math rock drummage, chiming angular guitars, slicing and arcing over drawled sung / spoken / shouted vocals, and catchy as all get out, think Rapeman, Tar, Vertigo, Jesus Lizard all that stuff and you'll be in the right neighborhood (and right decade).
My Disco do their own sort of dour post punk noise rock, stripped down and spread out, caustic minor key guitars over loping basslines and lazy drums, hazy and weary and a bit woozy, a laid back soft noise jam, definitely a good fit with the Young Widows, a slight gothic tinge, but definitely the tone and timbre make this sound like it could have been some AmRep B-side. Rad stuff.
Here's hoping these all get compiled on a cd sometime soon, but for now, you'll have to buy all 4, especially cuz they all have killer cover art and the four sleeves all fit together into one big 14" x 14" image. Cool... ----* ----* Selected New Arrivals : ----*
Volume 3 in the 4 part series of split singles from noise rockers the Young Widows. The first two featured the band teamed up with Bonnie Prince Billy and Melt-Banana, and for number 3 they go toe to toe with metallic post rockers Pelican.
Of the three volumes so far, this is the most laid back and least heavy of the Young Widows jams, a long tribal slow building almost Shellac sounding groove, all drums and buzzing bass, while the guitar grinds and scrapes, tons of space, very minimal, then the vocals come in, hovering over the spare musical backdrop, reminds us quite bit of that classic Amphetamine Reptile sound, especially when the guitar locks in with the vocals, sounds like it could be one of the weirder cooler lesser known groups in the AmRep stable. The last minute though gets rough and raw and heavy, channeling some supercharged Fugazi, howled vocals and sharp crunchy guitars, another killer jam that just like the other two volumes, sounds too good to be relegated to a 7". Or it's a return to the good ol' days when the best songs WERE on 7"s.
Pelican does what they do best for their side, heavy, chunky, melodic instrumental epic metallic post rock, and it sounds fantastic. This particular number is WAY on the melodic side, even with it's churning chugging breakdown, the main part is gorgeous, majestic and massive and crazy catchy. These guys do just keep getting better, but like the 12" featured elsewhere on this list, we still find ourselves imagining various singers doing their thing on Pelican songs. Here's a rad idea for a weirdo Pelican project. Those guys should pick their favorite vocalists, and have those vocalists pick their favorite Pelican songs, and record vocals for a record of 'vocal mixes'. Just give us some credit if it happens!
Like the other 7"s in the series, packaged in cool spot varnished full color covers, all four of which fit together to form one big creepy angular skull image. ----* ----* Highlights : ----*
Didn't like this one that much, sorry. Kinda corny actually.
There isn't really a review for this because, much to our disappointment, we couldn't get past the first minute of the first song. See if you can.
Jim Jarmusch's new film Dead Man is a western. Our friend Hank who used to be in Crime and who now produces self-admitted unwatchable movies said that even he found Dead Man unwatchable. Imagine Cannes, Hank all dolled up in a tuxedo, Jarmusch also in a tuxedo, a big crowd assembled to watch Dead Man. Halfway through the film, French guy stands up in the balcony and yells "Piece of sheet, Jeem!" Mayhem, in several languages, ensues throughout the theater, and Hank says he saw Edward Scissorhands unobtrusively slinking out of there. This is the first release from Young's new label Vapor Records (also home to Jonathan Richman).
You know when an old friend buys you gift that you don't really need or want, and even though the gift sucks, you're kinda happy they thought of you. That's kinda how we feel about this new Neil Young album, Fork In The Road. I mean don't get us wrong, we're happy to see Neil has finally picked up the electric guitar again after a few years of playing strictly acoustic, and to hear him playing with some old members of Crazy Horse is pretty bad ass. But we have to be honest, while there are some good moments on the album (i.e. rippin' solos from Neil through his mostly homemade guitar rig) it skims dangerously close to the borderline of cheesy, dad-rock territory. Although we do have to say, here at the shop we've been playing it in the store, always in anticipation of this one incredibly awesome/hilarious moment when Neil starts to repeat "cough up the bucks, cough up the bucks" in this weird hip-hop type of chant. So freakin' good. But like a bad gift from a friend, it's the thought that counts, and you can't help but be charmed by the classy ways of Mr. Young.
Believe us, we were very skeptical of this brand new release from the godfather of grunge, interestingly titled Le Noise and housed in a stark, black & white cd booklet. But after seeing a solo set at the Fox Theater in Oakland a few months back, Neil pushing monumental amounts of fuzz and volume through four vintage Fender tube amps, we knew Mr. Young would be back to the heavy amplifier worship we've heard on past albums like Year of the Horse or Zuma. Le Noise reminds us that Neil isn't the type of performer that sticks to what's comfortable, safely plucking away at old songs for fans of his own generation. Instead he continues to explore new ground and expand the taste level of himself and his listeners.
For Le Noise, Neil enlists the help of legendary producer Daniel Lanois to piece together his heaviest album in the last decade. And as the title may suggest, not only is Le Noise heavy, but there is an experimental undercurrent throughout the entire album, Neil's voice often shrouded in delay and reverb, noisy underwatery washes of electronic sizzle and shimmering feedback flutter about, we think Neil's been listening to Fennesz.
We also love how bare bones Le Noise is, no sign of Crazy Horse here, only Neil and his guitar, sometimes acoustic but mostly blaringly loud electric. Not even any drums or percussion, just lots of low end rumble and tube amp sizzle to accompany Shakey's quivering voice. So great and so recommended!
There is a magical moment about three songs in on this amazing live acoustic document from 1971 where we get to hear the reaction of an audience hearing "Old Man" for the very first time. Recorded between After the Gold Rush and Harvest, this set covers Young's most classic material including "Helpless", "Journey Through the Past", a medley of "A Man Needs A Maid/Heart Of Gold", and the first official release of "Bad Fog of Loneliness". With just acoustic guitar and piano, it's no wonder that this intimate set has existed in bootleg form for so long. It's so good! Released as part of a live archive reissue series, the first being a live set from Fillmore East with Crazy Horse, it also includes the DVD of this essential performance. Recommended!!
Oh Neil, how we love you down deep and for your past and for the songs we'll never forget. And yes your recent outings have been less then stellar. There have been a few glimmers of hope in recent years, and seeing you play live is still such a treat. And we're happy that you have felt the urgency to release a new work speaking out against this war we continue to be in and this administration that continues to do just about everything wrong. And like most of your recent outings there are a couple moments that ring with some past glory while most of it is well, a bit less then stellar. But we do still love you. And that's what's important isn't it?
A collection of music performed live on tour, all pre-1975 classic Young material such as Tonight's the Night, Motorcycle Mama, an 18 minute version of Cowgirl in the Sand (from Windy's favorite Young album Everybody Knows This is Nowhere) and a ferocious version of All Along the Watchtower (with guest Chrissie Hynde).
"Buffalo Springfield Again" is a song title here, and "Neil Young Again" would have been a good album title for this, his 29th album. 29th! Acoustic-y, quality stuff from this '60s veteran/grunge-era hero. Quite nice, fans will be pleased. Note, this is the regular jewel-case version...there's also a cardboard digipak style edition, which comes with a semi-large folding poster insert, but it costs amost $10 more. Not worth it.
Finally, the record that nearly ruined Neil Young gets a proper cd release! And what better time than in the current electro-resurgence, retro-eighties new wave craze!!! Every band and their mother are now singing through a vocoder, but Neil was doing that shit 20 years ago!!! And people HATED it. 'Trans' was his worse selling record and had everyone predicting the end of Neil Young. But as always, people just don't get it. This record is awesome (though that opinion is not universal among AQ-staffers, we must admit). The first track starts out like any old Neil Young record, good old rock and roll, lulling you into believing nothing has changed. But track two kicks into future-gear, transporting us to 'the future' of music as it could only be imagined by folks in the eighties. A world of robots and robot cars and 'futuristic rock and roll' where everyone sings through vocoders and all melodies are played by wheedling little computers (or guitars rigged to sound like it). And weirdly enough, it's sort of a dark depressing, melancholy world. The melodies are mostly minor key, the emotions evoked are mostly -not- happy, and maybe the future is not so bright after all. That's part of the charm of 'Trans'. All kitsch value aside, this is a really cool record. With some of these songs, you'd think you were listening to that new Flaming Lips album, maybe. Great songs, catchy melodies, all sort of wistful and morose and sorrowfully dreamy -- in a futuristic sort of way!
More jams from grunge's granddad and those crazy Crazy Horse guys. Get past the first song and this is a quite lovely, very emotional, satisfying album.
The marquee on the cover also has Miles Davis on it! And our pal JW says this is better than Les Rallizes!!
Grunge godfather Neil Young has often been a hit or miss proposition, especially lately. That's gonna happen when you've been around for so long and made so many albums, some of 'em of the contractual obligation variety (and others merely misguided)... But we always get at least a little bit bit curious when a new Neil Young comes out. There's always the chance he's gonna bring the heavy amp-worship, as on the quite excellent Le Noise a couple years ago. Plus, this one's with his beloved band Crazy Horse. However, so was another disc of his this year, Americana, which we didn't bother to review 'cause we felt it fell into that "misguided" category - Neil & Co. doing hoary old tunes like "Oh Susannah" and "This Land Is Your Land", really? But we're ready to give Neil and his Crazy Horse brethren another chance, or rather, they've given us another chance, two discs worth. The first disc of which, we'll note up front, starts with a nearly half-hour long track called "Driftin' Back". Basically, what you think of that, will determine whether you want to proceed with checking this whole thing out. Nobody can say that Neil Young & Crazy Horse are afraid of the word "indulgent". You know you're in for some endless jamming, for good or ill. Check out the sound samples, see what you think. Your mileage may vary, as do the lengths of these songs, there's 3-4 minute numbers but also a couple in the 16-17 minute range, along that that aforementioned opening epic. While lyrically this is Neil's typical old fogey hippie getting old stuff, you'll get more out of this from listening instead to the way his guitar swooops and soars, drifts and rumbles. Ultimately, that's the payoff; that sound, that soloing. Thus, some of the Neil Young fans here at aQ were willing to swallow this Psychedelic Pill, and found it mesmeric, but others here might have reviewed it with one of those "McKayla Maroney is not impressed" photoshop pics.
Oh, and this IS on vinyl too, but for some reason (and not just 'cause it's of neccessity a triple lp) it's really outrageously expensive. We could probably order it for you if you ask, but we're not gonna get any otherwise.
During a time of creative restlessness and an ornery disregard for his audience and label alike, Neil Young throughout the eighties tried out several genre exercises with very mixed results. Though looking back on them now, records like the electronic rock album Trans (1982) and his rockabilly mini-record, Everybody's Rockin' (1983) have developed their own peculiar charm, even if David Geffen didn't think so back then (he tried to sue Young for making deliberately uncommercial records). The third of these records, Old Ways (1985), was a straight up country record that fared worse than the previous two. But while the contract dispute was raging on, Young was out on a year long tour with a band of country session greats including Spooner Oldham, Hargus Robbins, Rufus Thibodeaux and Ben Keith called The International Harvesters. While the resulting album was not one of Young's best, this new Archives series release (Vol. 9 for those who are counting!) showcases what a great live band they were, and it shines a brighter light on this grey period of Young's career. While a few tracks were featured on the Old Ways album, he also reworks earlier songs such as "Are You Ready For The Country", and "Motor City" and Southern Pacific" from the critically maligned hard rock album Re*Ac*Tor from 1981, giving them more a honky tonk stomp and chug feel. There's even a reworking of Buggalo Springfield's "Flying On The Ground is Wrong". But for Neil Young enthusiasts, the real reason to pick this up maybe the inclusion of 5 never before released tracks that are all first rate! All in all, a kick-ass and rollicking live set that is worthy of this great archival series.
We'd be stocking the vinyl of this too, but for some reason ol' Neil or his management/record company thinks folks should pay $55 for it! Good grief.
It was tough to not be won over by this one before we even heard it. It's called Damp Circuits, it features a twisted cover with bright Chinese characters over a murky landscape of clouds and lightning, over which an image of a man fiddling with a huge bank of electronics is superimposed, and it's subtitled The Golden Era Of Synthesizers In East Asia, and yeah, it's just as good as all of that had us hoping it would be.
Young was a Hong Kong musician and producer who modernized Chinese folk melodies by performing them on (at the time) state of the art synths, adding fuzzed out wah guitar, groovy basslines and whirring organs, the vibe slips from groovy funkiness to woozy exotica, to fuzzy sixties garage to what sounds like a revved up synthesized traditional folk (replete with weird crowd sounds). Fans of Perry & Kingsley, Dick Hyman, and other synth pioneers will FLIP. Listen to the samples and you'll be smitten, here's hoping there's lots more where this came from! On the Sublime Frequencies offshoot sub-label Sham Palace!
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It's been a busy 2011 for Brontez and The Younger Lovers. They released an awesome full length earlier in the year released on an Austrian label, that sadly we were never able to get enough of to list (but we're told we will be getting a cassette version soon). They made another awesome and endearing music video with aQ pal Gary Fembot, and Brontez's modern dance company performed at museums in the bay area and beyond. On the flipside, they also had a terrible incident happen to them in the summer when Brontez and bandmate Adele Castellon were gay bashed outside of an Oakland club, resulting in five broken bones in Castellon's face (who ironically is heterosexual).
But we're super glad they haven't let someone else's ignorance and stupidity bring them down as the band seems to be hitting a new stride as of late. These three new songs are some of their best yet. "Boy From Senegal" features some pretty infectious lalala's by Matthew Melton of The Bare Wires, who also recorded these jams. That track has been stuck in our head for weeks with its Oh Sees like mixture of intensity and poppiness. The other two tracks keep the energy high and the power-pop garage punk sound delivered with raw perfection.
The 7" comes with a digital download, and with some UN-intentional punk spirit the labels on each side are wrong so the A side is really the B side.
We're so happy this is now on vinyl as these are songs meant to be slapped on the turntable and blasted in bedrooms for full on pillow fight and punk rock sleep over action. An added bonus is that the vinyl also comes with a cd copy of the record. Now on to the music inside...
Full on DIY scrappy and delicious garage punk jams brewed up by the Bay Area's own Brontez, best known for being in Gravy Train and beloved by many for his amazing DJ nights (such great taste in music!) and his overall contagious inviting and exciting spirit and high energy. Ever since moving to the bay from Alabama several years ago he's injected such a great bolt of sexually charged queer spirit into what can often be such a straight and white dominated punk rock scene. In true punk fashion he taught himself how to play guitar and with Gravy Train on a bit of a hiatus had songs pouring out of him that begged for a home so The Younger Lovers was born.
His covers of The Rip-Off's and The Replacements show how he loves his rock n roll to be loud, fast, scrappy and full of relentless energy. We love how honest and direct his lyrics are, whether coming clean about his wandering heart in "Ballad For All My Bandmates And Lovers" or singing about how he can't resist a hottie in "Low Top Chucks & Skinny Jeans." You can tell that Brontez loves punk, garage and riot girl a as much as he does girl groups and sassy bubblegum pop. These are songs that are as rocking as they are endearing, making us want to jump and dance as much as they make us wanna lick an ice cream cone and have a pillow fight with a room filled with our punk rock crushes. So damn fun!
This awesome & underrated record by The Younger Lovers is now available on chrome colored cassette with four demos recorded by K.B. from the legendary '70s New York power pop band The Nasty Facts, and they kill! The cassette is limited to 250 copies, so act fast on this one. Here's what we said about this record when it first came out three years ago:
Full on DIY scrappy and delicious garage punk jams brewed up by the Bay Area's own Brontez, best known for being in Gravy Train and beloved by many for his amazing DJ nights (such great taste in music!) and his overall contagious inviting and exciting spirit and high energy. Ever since moving to the bay from Alabama several years ago he's injected such a great bolt of sexually charged queer spirit into what can often be such a straight and white dominated punk rock scene. In true punk fashion he taught himself how to play guitar and with Gravy Train on a bit of a hiatus had songs pouring out of him that begged for a home so The Younger Lovers was born.
His covers of The Rip-Off's and The Replacements show how he loves his rock n roll to be loud, fast, ramshackle and full of relentless energy. We love how honest and direct his lyrics are, whether coming clean about his wandering heart in "Ballad For All My Bandmates And Lovers" or singing about how he can't resist a hottie in "Low Top Chucks & Skinny Jeans." You can tell that Brontez loves punk, garage and riot girl as much as he does girl groups and sassy bubblegum pop. These are songs that are as rocking as they are endearing, making us want to jump and dance as much as they make us wanna lick an ice cream cone and have a pillow fight with a room filled with our punk rock crushes. So damn fun!
Full on d.i.y. scrappy and delicious garage punk jams brewed up by the Bay Area's own Brontez, best known for being in Gravy Train and beloved by many for his amazing DJ nights (such great taste in music!) and his overall contagious inviting and exciting spirit and high energy. Ever since moving to the bay from Alabama several years ago he's injected such a great bolt of sexually charged queer spirit into what can often be such a straight and white dominated punk rock scene. In true punk fashion he taught himself how to play guitar and with Gravy Train on a bit of a hiatus had songs pouring out of him that begged for a home so The Younger Lovers was born.
His covers of The Rip-Off's and The Replacements show how he loves his rock n roll to be loud, fast, scrappy and full of relentless energy. We love how honest and direct his lyrics are, whether coming clean about his wandering heart in "Ballad For All My Bandmates And Lovers" or singing about how he can't resist a hottie in "Low Top Chucks & Skinny Jeans." You can tell that Brontez loves punk, garage and riot girl a as much as he does girl groups and sassy bubblegum pop. These are songs that are as rocking as they are endearing, making us want to jump and dance as much as they make us wanna lick an ice cream cone and have a pillow fight with a room filled with our punk rock crushes. So damn fun!
