DEVO is Back - Don't Shoot (I'm a Man) video

I was once a spudboy. Saw DEVO back in the day more than once. Enhanced with pharmacopias too. 1st LP tour - Park West (Chgo), Duty Now tour (Aragon Ballroom) Freedom of Choice tour (Aragon Ballroom). Fantastic concerts.

I've got a few great boots of the band as well (Live May 28, 1977, Eagle Street Saloon, Cleveland, OH and Live 12/27/78 - Agora Theatre, Atlanta, GA off Warners' master tapes - excellent recording), along with a couple of those rare live shows from the early days on official released CDs. A long windup to a short item on the band's new stage show, new upcoming CD of new songs (first since 1990) and new energy.



All this action is resulting in a May 6th show in London where Devo the band will be playing "Are We Not Men? in its entirety (for the first time that way, they say) along with a more conventional greatest hits set on May 8th at the ATP Fans Strike Back day.

DEVO has a new song and video called "Don't Shoot (I'm a Man)" - it's below for your spudness.


"DON'T SHOOT" - DEVO from DEVO Channel on Vimeo.

Tinted Windows - Messin' With My Head

I'm a sucker for good powerpop rock songs, and the rock and pop vets who are Tinted Windows have turned one in right here, 80s lighting, video effects and more. Check out "Messin' With My Head" from Tinted Windows, the second single from their self-titled CD.

More videos are at the band's site. Critics seem puzzled or affronted by the sugary pop hooks, but I bet pop music fans young and old will lap this up. I am.

We Were Promised Jetpacks - Quiet Little Voices (new, official video!)

I blogged last month about We Were Promised Jetpacks and included a live version (from a club gig) of their forthcoming single "Quiet Little Voices". Well, the original video for the single (out May 4th) is out and it's below - We Were Promised Jetpacks full length CD "These Four Walls" comes out in June. Killer song - radiant energy.

Rock Clip of the Week - Teenage Fanclub, The Concept (live @ Irving Plaza, NYC, 1994)

For all my guitar playing and general fandom of old Teenage Fanclub songs around my house, I'm not sure I ever featured the band in a Friday Rock Clip of the Week. So today, that gets rectified.

Teenage Fanclub is playing England's ATP festival (curated by The Breeders) in two weeks - here's the flier - click it for the site:


Here's a smokin' cool live clip of the band rockin' out "The Concept' on a 1994 US tour that is seen here at NYC's Irving Plaza.



And wait, watch it, BONUS FRIDAY! Here's another Fannies vid - a sweetly young Norman Blake being interviewed on SNUB TV and the band cranking "Everything Flows" live with the moshers - NICE!

Burnin' Down the House - The Story of CBGB

The new documentary "Burning Down the House - The Story of CBGB opens this week at the Tribeca Film Festival. The documentary was shot by Mandy Stein, who, it was written at the film fest's site..."is the daughter of the legendary Sire Records founder Seymour Stein, who cherry-picked bands from the CBGB stage for his label—finds no shortage of musicians, employees, and patrons to share their passion for the anything-goes spirit of the club and its beloved founder, Hilly Kristal. Sonic Youth, Debbie Harry, Ice-T, Steven Van Zandt, Fab 5 Freddy, and many others offer up their reverence, but ultimately Burning Down the House pays tribute not just to the club, but to the endurance of the energy and creativity that brought it to life."

See the trailer here - it's definitely a New York rock and roll love story that can be shared by everyone who ever played there and as many of the patrons who came, saw, drank, puked and rocked out to all the bands.

Musical Short and Curlies

- How much do you think the Rock and Roll Experience guys pay the punks to be part of this sweet junket (if the participants are paying $8K?) ?? (via NME)
"Artists set to participate include Sex Pistols' bassist Glen Matlock, DEVO bassist Gerald V. Casale, The Beach Boys' guitarist Al Jardine, MC5's Wayne Kramer, and Blondie's Clement Burke."

- Green Day's been filming videos for its forthcoming CD '21st Century Breakdown', to be released on May 15 - here's a 40 sec. promo clip of their new songs "Know Your Enemy".

- Never heard music by Guided by Voices, but only know the legend? Well, here's your chance - check out a bunch of songs at Songza, the 'music search engine and Internet jukebox.'

- Let's just move down the letter G today - why not? Um, Gutterball? Any action there? Yes - There's the old Gutterball and a new Gutterball!

- Brooklyn Vegan's got video of the Naked Wizard guy from Coachella (NSFW - includes tasering at 3:00 - scary stuff)

Wicked Celtics - I Don't Wanna Hear Your Band

Some days I feel like this guy in the vid... :-)

Great song - I bet this blows up. (thx to @kinch for the tip-off)

The Wicked Celtics - I Don't Wanna Hear Your Band

MySpace founders being booted? Other music sites for bands

TechCrunch is reporting that most if not all of the original senior exec team from MySpace is being asked to depart from the News Corp-owned property. They write...

"An update to my post earlier today that News Corp., under new CEO of Digital Media Jonathan Miller, is looking to replace MySpace CEO and cofounder Chris DeWolfe. We’ve confirmed that things are actually moving much faster than we first understood, and that a decision has already been made to terminate Chris DeWolfe’s employment with MySpace. We’ve also been told that the core MySpace executive team will follow.

MySpace has a dozen or so “execs,” but our guess is that it’s the very senior team that will be terminated: cofounders Chris DeWolfe (CEO), Tom Anderson (President) and Aber Whitcomb (CTO). Removing any more of the team would be much more than a morale blow to the company - it would also bring operations to a screaming halt.

Our understanding is that a new CEO has already been recruited and is in the final stages of contract negotiations. An announcement could come as soon as this week or next. We’ll be posting a shortlist of who we believe are the likely candidates for the CEO position shortly."

This is sort of important to me, as the era of MySpace as the place to go for bands to pop up their pages, looks to be on the way out. I see so many other sites that are better for bands (old school Sonicbids and new school Our Stage, Republic Project and Reverb Nation, for instance, plus ILike and others.

Time for change coming...

One of my earliest songs from the 90s had these lines, which seem to ring true in these changing times for musicians and their online music:
"Grab the indies, music for minds, not masses,
applied senses, it's time for our time, not theirs..."

:-)

Kevin Devine-Miniature Tigers tour underway next week

Do you like Brooklyn's Kevin Devine? Would you go see him live? Well, he's touring alot over the next few months and Phoenix band Miniature Tigers is backing his band on all shows. They both play fun, inventive pop with swell vocals and instrumentation. I especially like Devine's "I Could Be With Anyone" - that's fine.

Check out more Kevin Devine videos at I.Like.

The tour goes south and east, then to the midwest and finally to Boston and New York, finishing up with a show at Music Hall of Williamsburg. A great double bill (along with whatever local bands are added to the bills). See the show!



Check out Miniature Tigers' "Cannibal Queen" below.

Dfactor live shows! Rock shows!

Just a quick plug in my own amp for two shows that I'm doing this week in the greater Phoenix-Tempe-Mesa area.

Tonight, I'll be playing the fine rock stage at Big Fish Pub in Tempe (large triangular stage tucked in the room's north side). I'll be playing four songs from my 2008 CD "Say Yeah!", one cool cover and the rest will be new songs from my forthcoming CD. Songs of sex and rent and social media. I go on at 10pm - not sure who else is playing tonight.

Saturday night, I'll be playing around 11pm after Names of the Innocent and Loaner at Goathead Saloon in Mesa.

If you're in town, drop on by and sip a cold cheap beer with me tonight - it's gonna be 99 degrees in Phoenix today, the beer will taste good tonight.

Tinted Windows - Twice in the Glass this week

Pitchfork runs down this week's TV appearances by rock bands on your glass screen and I notice Tinted Windows are playing twice! Tuesday night on Letterman, and Thursday night on Fallon. Guess they are in NYC and everyone wants to meet Bun E Carlos. Or maybe it's record release week!

Let me digress - Tinted Windows is a band comprised of well-known rockers from other bands - Taylor Hanson of Hanson (lead vocals), James Iha (formerly of Smashing Pumpkins and solo work) on guitar, Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne (bass), and Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick (drums). Read more about how they formed at their site.

The band's debut CD is released tomorrow and surely the band will be rockin' their single "Kind of A Girl" on the shows this week. Fun song. I'll be watchin'. See it below.

Coachella 2009 Stories?

Trying to catch up today on Coachella reviews from the weekend, since my Friday-Sunday did not allow much of any time at all for online webcasting of the event...

Read...
- USA Today
- Paste Magazine, Friday
- Paste Magazine, Saturday
- NME
- Chicago Tribune
- McCartney ever the PR man, from Wired
- Rolling Stone

I think the funniest (ie somewhat sad) item about the weekend was this item from Paste Magazine about the Fleet Foxes set (which was drowned out by other nearby stages' competing music action):

Fleet Foxes (7:25 p.m., Outdoor Theatre)
"It's almost guaranteed that the Fleet Foxes' lovely brand of vocally-charged Appalachian folk would have been a staggering success on Saturday night. Indeed, it may well have been, but when a song like the austere "White Winter Hymnal" is drowned out by the lunkheaded world beats of Thievery Corporation (who were, for some reason, scheduled to play at the same time, across the field at the Coachella Stage), it just sounded like the worst remix ever. Add to that the fact that Perry Farrell's voice eventually drifted into the mix (he joined the Thievery Corp. on one song), and you have an absolute trainwreck of sound. The Foxes, and the audience, deserved better."

Better off as better does, I say.

Were you there at Coachella? Were you kicking? Do you have any under-the-radar sex, drugs and rock stories to share? We get set reviews above, let's hear your on the ground stories below. Share!

Black Lips, Flowers Forever pics

Here are some of the pics I took with my Palm Centro last night at the Black Lips show. Meant to bring my 'real' camera, but forgot it out the door. Though in the dimly lit Clubhouse, I'm sure it would not have mattered much.


Flowers Forever

Cool show all around - I was late for Earthmen & Strangers, rats, but openers Flowers Fowever rocked it out, with homespun songs about the beach and maybe the Rapture (not the band, the final coming of Christ, though it may have been a gag). Cool Prince Valiant-haired keyboardist as well.

Black Lips seemed somewhat businesslike throughout the first few songs, but then "Starting Over" and "Drugs" from 200 Million Thousand kicked in, and the energy level racheted way up. "Bad Kids" was the catalyst for fun, but needless moshpit action that reactivated itself every other fast song from then on.


Black Lips

The band didn't talk too much to the audience, and when they did it was all pretty mumbled quickly or garbled. I heard Jared the bassist talk about a fun day and a cowboy or something. They played a two song encore, including a revved up take on Chuck Berry's "Too Much Monkey Business" that had the kids all wild. Fun times.


Black Lips

More pics are at my Flickr page.

Rock Clip of the Week - Black Lips, Bad Kids

It's gotta be Black Lips! The band rocks out tonight in Phoenix (Tempe,actually) and I'll be in the house. If the young kids let me up front, I'll try to snap some pix...Rock it!

Here's Black Lips singin' "Bad Kids" last summer at Brooklyn's fine McCarren Park Pool - video courtesy of my old friends at Baeble Music.

Record Store Day Saturday - Support indie music

Saturday, April 18th is Record Store Day. And in my Phoenix neck of the woods, longtime indie stalwart record store Stinkweeds is planning a rockin' good event all day tomorrow. The fine owners tell us...

"Hey Everyone!! Just a quick reminder about all we have going on for RECORD STORE DAY on Saturday the 18th! We have so much going on you will be amazed and wowed beyond belief!

First, we have Sing Along Saturday for the kids at 10 AM. The store opens EARLY at 10 AM (instead of 11 AM) and we have over 50 limited edition releases that are exclusive to Indie Record Stores, available for the first time ever this Saturday!

THEN you will be treated to 6 bands (Courtney Marie Andrews, Doug Bale, Fatigo, Back Ted N-Ted, Gospel Claws and more...music starts at noon!) In between bands, you'll get DJ Ben Collins of Modern Art Records spinning all afternoon.


(photo by Phoenix New Times)

Did I mention the free food - all day BBQ and de-lish stuff from That's a Wrap? OH and the guys from Hello Merch (Read: Sam from the Format) and Good Fellas will be on-site silk screening your favorite shirt or totebag with a Stinkweeds/Record store Day logo. whew. PLUS Radio Phoenix will be on hand with free giveaways and we will be
giving out free goodie bags with limited shwag on a first come, first served basis.

AND don't forget to pick up your copy of PHX: WE LOVE IT, a brand new CD compilation with tracks from Go Big Casino (Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World), Sam Means of the Format, Courtney Marie Andrews, Miniature Tigers, Back Ted N-Ted, Gospel Claws, Kinch, Foxglove Hunt, and more. Hand pressed sleeves, limited to 1000! When they're gone they're gone!"



Dig it. I'll hit Black Lips tonight, early morning hike Saturday AM, then meet some new faces in Phoenix music circles tomorrow. Looks like a fun day.

MOG relaunches

From the Interwebs...

"Starting today, visitors to MOG, the Web's premier music blogging network, will find a completely revamped user interface and design, making it the easiest and richest destination online for discovering the latest and greatest in music.



"With this redesign, music lovers have a new home page for music content online. The new MOG is as dynamic and rich as a site like the Huffington Post, but completely devoted to music," explained David Hyman, MOG founder and CEO. "Over 5000 blog posts a week funnel through the MOG Music Network and are edited down to create the Web's best destination for daily music content. In addition, our new pages for artists, albums and songs are the editorially-driven equivalent of Wikipedia pages."

Dfactor sez: Check Out Mog - it looks great! Of course, I'd say that, I'm part of the MOG Blog network. Also, I asks...is David Hyman above Jeffrey Hyman's long lost son??? Enquiring rock minds want to know.

Paul McCartney - Ringo Starr, NYC Benefit show clips

Dave Lawrence Online has got eight clips from the recent David Lynch benefit show in NYC featuring, among others, Paul McCartney with his old pal Richie Starkey handling the drums and singing on a few songs... Here's a review of the proceedings from Spinner.com.

I'm diggin' the version of Jet, here, below - but no Ringo on it.

The Zombies Revisit 'Odyssey & Oracle' one last time

News from my Noble UK friends sez....

"Don't miss The Zombies perform 'Odessey & Oracle' for the very last time in the UK! Following the success of last year's sold-out 40th Anniversary Odessey and Oracle concerts at the London Shepherd’s Bush Empire, the original Zombies line-up will reunite for the final time to perform the entirety of the milestone 1968 album one last time. Dates include: Glasgow ABC (April 21), Bristol Colston Hall (April 23), Manchester Bridgewater Hall (April 24) and London Hammersmith Apollo (April 25).

To coincide with the forthcoming UK shows, The Zombies will release 'Odessey & Oracle: The 40th Anniversary Concert' DVD on Monday April 20th. Last year the band performed the 40th Anniversary Odessey and Oracle concerts for the very first time via three sold out gigs at the London Shepherds Bush Empire. The shows were attended by Paul Weller, Robert Plant, Robyn Hitchcock, plus members of the Artic Monkeys, Snow Patrol and Garbage. One of the nights was filmed for the forthcoming DVD, mixed in 5.1 Surround Sound and includes an exclusive interview with the entire band."

New Moby-David Lynch collaboration

Pitchfork has news (and a nice quick Moby analysis) today about the forthcoming Moby CD called "Wait for Me" (out end June) and a new video with his pal, image inducer and Eastern European traveller David Lynch.

It's embedded below, for the minor chorded affair 'Shot in the Back of the Head'. All in all a good thing. Moby's old CT punk rock, and has always worked hard for his NYC music community - through it, good fortune has come unto him. Right on.

Your Favorite Local Phoenix Band?

AZ Central is holding its annual 'Best-Of' poll right now - voting ends on Tax day April 15th.



I checked out the voting for the Best Local Band - I realize I'm not Mr. on the Pulse as far as all the Phoenix bands go, but was surprised to find local indie faves Kinch not listed as a votee. That being said, I also see a major disparity in the voting - the local band Isle of Essence, worthy though they may be, has a whompping lead over the others as of today - possible ballot stuffing, perhaps? I'm not to say.

[By the way, I've GOT to see Asses of Evil live sometime...]

Here are the poll numbers as of today...if you want your fave #PHX band to win, head over to the AZ Central's voting page, scroll down to Best Local Band on the left, and place your vote.

What is the best local band?
Asses of Evil - 2%
Gin Blossoms - 13%
Greenwich - 12%
Isle of Essence - 44%
Kongos - 13%
Rescue The Future - 0%
Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers - 9%
Shawn Johnson & The Foundation - 2%
Skeletal Secret - 2%
What Laura Says - 3%

Black Lips - Phoenix - Friday April 18th

Next Friday night, Black Lips will be rockin' the Clubhouse in Tempe, AZ with their awesome, lo-fi, powerful and deranged garage rock. Again, I will deem to be there because it is here and now and good.

Tripwire photographed the band and shot the incredibly ridiculous vidinterview below with them for posterity - yours and mine and theirs. For what it's worth, enjoy the hoarse voices and squirrel bait and James Hetfield.

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New Waved Rumor Imeem Mix - Paul Weller

April means rain, and in England that means Mr. Rain, Paul Weller. (Ed: huh?)

Here's my new Imeem Mix in the right column - dedicated to Paul Weller, the Godmaker of all things Mod, Woodsey and Sudsey, complete with Mojo Madness Mania. Many tracks are especially excellent - Into Tomorrow, Have You Made Up Your Mind, Blink and You'll Miss it and others. It's all good. Set it to stream and I'll be your own Pandora, courtesy of the Modfather.

Paul Weller

Franz Ferdinand - Live in Phoenix 4/18

Next week, Lucky Man brings the hyper-thyroidal pent-up megalomaniacal punkpop of Franz Ferdinand to Phoenix to shake this city's recession-wracked, home-closured netizens into an uptempo sort of spast-A-city. Temporarily. And I'll try to be the old guy in the back nodding his head. and tapping his foot. And remembering the old days.

I like Franz Ferdinand. I saw 'em back in the mid-decade on their first flit around the US. They're energetic, they rock, they play well and they maak show. All in all, a good thing. And they'll probably play Britney's 'Womanizer' for kicks as well. I'm looking to hit it next week.

Rock Clip of the Week - The Octagon 'Weekends' (live)

Is it still Friday? Good Friday? Beaster Friday? I wanted to get my Friday Rock Clip of the Week clip up before Saturday AM kicked in. Well. It's already there in the Mid and East Coasts, but I'm here in the sunny desert and I'm not yet at 11pm, so I qualify.

Tonight, after wine wine and more wine, I was (am) (is?) watching a Giorgio Gomelsky clip on YouTube tonight, shot by cool old NYC rock-punk videographer PUNKCAST and saw that PUNKCAST had shot a video of NYC band The Octagon back in November 2007. When I saw the clips, I said holy me, I was at that show, hanging out at the bar, stage right. MikeOat joined me later, skewered on corporate cocktails, and we had a meesh of a night from then on. It was immemorable.

So here's today's clip, from NYC band The Octagon - a song called "Weekends" (you know, they keep getting longer....)

Have a good Beaster weekend. And sing along to the clip below...

"Then I saw you, standing by the statue,
's been a rough night, haven't slept a wink.
It's making my bones cold, making all the boys blue.
When as you stepped over, I thought there is only one life
Sometimes things don't work out...
and sometimes they...
do.
You said, "It's nice to see you, you haven't changed a bit
And I said,
"Yes, I have, I'm stronger. But these weekends keep getting longer and longer and longer. The weekends keep getting longer and longer and longer.
The weekends keep getting longer and longer and longer.
The weekends keep getting longer and longer and longer.
The weekends keep getting longer and longer and longer.
The weekends keep getting longer and longer and longer.
The weekends keep getting longer and longer and longer."

The Horrors - New CD, US tour in April/May

Remember the Horrors? I sort of did, having written about their earlier songs two summers ago, but as Earvolution reminds us....

"In 2005, The Horrors exploded out of the UK with goth-drenched garage rock that was less bluesy than The Cramps but more stylish than most garage rock bands. Most of their success stateside was owed to the ghosts of The Ramones and Screaming Lord Sutch with "Sheena Was A Parasite," their goth punk homage to the seminal New Yorkers coming across as disjointed and energetic, owing more to post-punk than garage rock but clearly relying on energy like its distant cousins."



The Horrors have a new CD coming out next month called Primary Colours. The band is hitting the US for a major tour that kicks off at Coachella later this month. See their MySpace page for dates and locations. The preview video track called Sea Within a Sea is up at the band's website. I tried to embed it below and it messed up. I like the song, brings me back to Smart Bar/Metro circa 1982 (I was there, I was kickin'). The synthy riff has good atmosphere and it just goes on and on... Does anyone know the scary guy who introduces the clip? If so, knock it out in the comments....

Trail of Dead, FLYP interview, Isis video and tour dates

And You Will Know us By the Trail of Dead are destroying European rock halls these days with the amped up wonders of their newest CD "The Century of Self". The band is touring France and Holland this week (wha? No Amsterdam show?) and then hitting other Northern European countries until mid-May.

Read and see an interview with the band's Jason Reece and Conrad Keely (who did all the great line art drawings in the CD packet) at online magazine FLYP, which is taking new ways to reach online readers. Great stuff.

04.07 -- Paris, France -- Trabendo
04.09 -- Groningen, Holland -- Vera
04.10 -- Rotterdam, Holland -- Mozaique Festival
04.11 -- Leuven, Belgium -- Depot
04.14 -- Portsmouth, England -- Wedge Rooms
04.15 -- Nottingham, England -- Rescue Rooms
04.16 -- Manchester, England -- Academy 3
04.17 -- Glasgow, Scotland -- Oran Mor
04.19 -- Newcastle, England -- Academy
04.20 -- Birmingham, England -- Academy
04.22 -- Bristol, England -- Thekla
04.23 -- London, England -- Electric Ballroom
04.24 -- Oxford, England -- Academy
04.26 -- Hamburg, Ger. -- Ubel and Gafaehrlich
04.27 -- Malmo, Sweden -- Debaser
04.28 -- Oslo, Norway -- Rockefeller
04.29 -- Bergen, Norway -- Bergen Festival
05.01 -- Stockholm, Sweden -- Debaser Medis
05.02 -- Jonkoping, Sweden -- Popadelica
05.03 -- Copenhagen, Denmark -- Vega
05.05 -- Berlin, Germany -- Kesselhaus
05.06 -- Prague, Czech Republic -- Roxy
05.07 -- Vienna, Austria -- WuK
05.09 -- Bologna, Italy -- Estragon
05.10 -- Zurich, Switzerland -- Mascotte
05.11 -- Munich, Germany -- Muffathalle
05.12 -- Frankfurt, Germany -- Mousonturm
05.14 -- Cologne, Germany -- Live Music Hall
05.15 -- Lingen, Germany -- Alter Schlachthof

My fave clip from the CD is still "Isis Unveiled" - Lyrics like "But be warned for I am a jealous God who placed the demons in hell and the angels in heaven at my side..." Here's the band's new video of that song:

New Neil Young film - Fork in the Road

Neil Young's all about his 1959 car these days -

"In this EXCLUSIVE WORLD PREMIERE film, Neil Young takes you behind the wheel of LincVolt, a 1959 Lincoln Continental converted to run on alternative, earth-​friendly fuels. Young crosses America in this remarkable vehicle, singing in real time tracks from his brand new album "Fork In The Road." A beautiful, minimalist road movie, from Young's filmmaking alter ego Bernard Shakey.

Of the new album, UnCut Magazine says: “FORK IN THE ROAD finds Young back in his rusted-​out garage, looking under the hood of a world badly in need of an overhaul. Employing the classic American metaphor of the endless highway, he sets out on a road trip through these troubled times, finding much to fret about, but fueled by the dogged belief that we can get through this mess.”

Watch the film below - blog embed courtesy of Jaman.com

Get Around

The Beatles' digitally remastered catalog out in September

I guess this news from Billboard about The Beatles' catalog getting the digital mono scrub and becoming available in September is big news, but I'm also guessing there might be much shoulder-shrugging.

I mean, who doesn't have a lot of the Beatles catalog already? The next generation still to come? Ok, then, they'll pick it up in 2012. I guess the limited edition documentary of each LP may be interesting to new fans... "for a limited period each CD will also be embedded with a brief documentary film about the album.

Roll up.

Another new Art Brut track - Weird Science

Art Brut could fart over a guitar riff, and I'd probably lap it up (sniff it up?). Well, maybe not, but even their B sides are great - here's a new B-side called Weird Science - it's all about drinkin and some science fiction mixed together. Genius! Enjoy the tune from Art Brut, courtesy of Downtown Records. The band's new CD is Art Brut Vs. Satan and comes out April 21st through Downtown.

Music Notes from the Western Front

Lots of little bits to share today - Happy Monday of rockin' Holy Week!

- Great rock blog - Too Cool to Die - with Minor Threat guitarist interview...

- Stream Part 1 of Arcade Fire documentary at Pitchfork.tv this week only.

- Here's a band of which I have LPs, but haven't played in eons - Greg Kihn Band - late 70s on Beserkley records - ConcertVault has a great 1978 live NYC club show.

- Bruce Springsteen rocked Phoenix Friday night - "At the start of his six-song encore, Springsteen recalled the early days of his career and how he sometimes would return to Arizona after a tour had wound up because "I liked the heat."

- TuneCore's CEO writes... "TuneCore Artists get worldwide distribution, radio play in Guitar Center stores; endorsement deals with Ernie Ball strings; royalty administration, collection and accounting; marketing pushes with song giveaways; sales certification awards; advertising of your album, band and music in Guitar Center catalogs and emails; free buttons and other merchandise shipped out to TuneCore Artist every three months, guides and information on on-line marketing; educational information on mastering, mixing, trademark, copyright and more."

Rock Clips of the Week - Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees

The 2009 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony/party is gonna be webcast on FUSE this Saturday night at 9pm EST. It might also be on TV, but I rarely watch the glass screen anymore, so I wouldn't know. But since it's here, Waved Rumor's Rock Clip of the Week is again a collection of clips.

The performer inductees are: Jeff Beck, Little Anthony & the Imperials, Metallica, Run D.M.C. and Bobby Womack. A bit of a "deep cut" lineup, as JohnnyStrike might say. But I say, it's more of a bit of a random cross-cut ex-post factor musical hokey pokey lineup, am I right? I mean, we have a fusion rock guitarist (Beck), 50s-60s pop balladry (Lil Anthony), 80s-90s-00s metal (Metallica), NYC hip hop and boring early 70s soul? (Womack - I have one of his LPs in my stash - it's dullsville).

Maybe, the Rock Hall can just put politics aside and make next year's ceremony an absolute killer event - vote in KISS, Iggy Pop, The Replacements, Guided by Voices and fucking Husker Du, am I right? :-)

Anyway, Happy Friday, here we go:
Jeff Beck Group, Definitely Maybe, 1972


Little Anthony & the Imperials, Hits Medley, live 2007


Metallica, Master of Puppets, Live 1989


Run D.M.C., Sucker MCs, live 1984


Bobby Womack, When the Weekend Comes (live)

Best 1970s #1 songs CD collection picture ever?

The Strokes stroking new songs

Rolling Stone talked briefly this week to The Strokes' singer-songwriter Julian Casablancas and got the good on the band's recent recording progress.

But the REAL news lies in the comments from electricturf - I've reprinted his comment in full here, because I think he knows the real deal. Supertronambulous!

electricturf | March 30, 2009 2:17 PM

"I've seen the future and it's the strokes. Listen to their albums on random repeatedly and you'll understand that the mixture of seventies and future sounds have always been prevalent in their music. Now that Jules has confirmed their goal I worship them even more and on will be on a strokes binge while waiting for their new album. I believe the strokes believe in synchronity, so it makes sense that their new album will drop in 2009. 2 + 9 = 11. No wonder they began working Feb "11"!! I predict their album will drop in nov. 11/11.
I've seen the future and it's not mayhem, or war, or terrorism. It's sedation, inebriation, sex and the Strokes. P.S. Julian sounds like a robot or mind control."

Boston Spaceships - The Planets Are Blasted

Over the last week, I've been listening carefully to Robert Pollard's latest CD from his new recording band Boston Spaceships - The Planets are Blasted. By carefully, I mean taking note of chord changes, instrumentation, song structure, melodies, etc. Because otherwise it all washes over me in one big melodic rockin' roar, as Pollard's best stuff has done to me over the last 13 years...

Too often lately, (esp with children in the mix), listening to music becomes a background activity - it plays, and I take note of hooks and choruses, but it's hard to really dig in deep and hear everything that went into the song. But I'm trying to do this on The Planets Are Blasted. And it's paying dividends.



So many great pop songs on this disc. The two openers are fantastic: Canned Food Demons (hook: "now she’s coming aroooound") and the early 90s track Dorothy's a Planet (first found on GBV's Suitcase record in lovely acoustic form). And the last four songs at the end on the disc - Queen of Stormy Weather, The Town That's After Me, Sight on Sight (The Who!) and Heavy Crown are equally pop genius. Typically Pollardian, burying the great songs at the end (or maybe to just force guys like me to dig a little harder for the goods).

I love this graf from the Austin Town Hall blog on the CD about Pollard's presumed recording process - it's likely spot on.

"I’m curious to hear more details on the recording process of these songs. For the most part, the way these songs see the light of day all starts at Pollard’s home. He comes up with raw demos, usually consisting of him on an acoustic guitar and singing vocal melodies on top. He’ll go through the songs deciding which ones will work for his solo project and which ones are Boston Spaceships material (The man has a self-proclaimed 3,000 un-released songs give or take a thousand depending on how many Miller Lites he’s had). He’ll then call Slusarenko up and say that he has some ideas, they’ll get together, have drinking challenges, write notes on songs usually ending with KICK-ASS the more they drink. Slusarenko will then take these songs home, mull over them until he knows every subtle part, take them to Moen and flesh it all out."

Anyway, a great 2009 release from Boston Spaceships - there's another one expected around the time of Pollard October birthday - maybe a late fall tour will follow!

Bob Mould - Life and Times next week, Live in MPLS

Bob Mould is touring behind his brand new release Life and Times and played his former town of Minneapolis on Monday night (the anniversary of Husker Du's first MPLS show, as noted in the piece) and Decider was there with a mini review and pics.



Glad to see Bob Mould's still playing songs from all of his musical phases (all of which I've seen live in its many facets - Huskers, solo, Circle DVD shows, and the SUGAR show I attended at Melkweg, Amsterdam could very well be the loudest I ever saw, apart from an earlier Husker show...). Looks like a great setlist (even if he's been playing live the same older songs for awhile - any chance to switch up the Husker or Sugar tracks? Jes askin'...)

Hear some of the new tracks performed by Bob in a recent Daytrotter session. Bob Mould's new CD Life & Times is released next week on Anti Records.

GBV's "Bee Thousand" takes top place in Amazon top 100 indie records

Wow! I guess Amazon.com's audience is deeper into Guided By Voices than I thought. GBV's 1994 Bee Thousand CD is ranked among Amazon types as the top indie rock record of ALL TIME!

Here's the Stereogum piece about it.

I like Bee Thousand alot, but prefer other earlier and later GBV releases more. But it's a cool list and you should check out some of the bands within for a new music education.

There was a decent 33 1/3 book on Bee Thousand - read more about it from last year's blog action.