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Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 76

by Dave Steed

feeders52

In the ongoing continuing education of Steed, I recently listened to both #1 Record (1972) and Third/Sister Lovers (1978) by Big Star. My overall general assessment is that it’s just not my thing.

I get the draw of the first album, and I completely understand how Big Star and Alex Chilton influenced so many bands. “Feel” and “Don’t Lie to Me” are great songs — there’s no way I couldn’t like them. But despite not wanting to rip it out of my deck, I can’t see a point where I would ever pick #1 Record up again.

I couldn’t get into Third/Sister Lovers at all, though. I was expecting a jangly pop record, but it’s mostly ballads. Way too slow for my tastes, and just a turn I guess I wasn’t expecting after the band’s poppy debut. However, what I did get from Third was how ahead of their time Big Star really were. I can appreciate that fact, at least.

There’s one artist in particular who kept popping into my head throughout my numerous listens: Matthew Sweet. I don’t think I’m far off in saying that he was definitely influenced by Big Star, correct?

Anyway, thanks for the recommendations. If nothing else, I always enjoy listening to music that other people are fanatical about.

Now enjoy the last of artists whose names begin with the letter R, as we continue to look at songs that charted no higher than #41 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the ’80s.

(more…)

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Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

CD Review: Katatonia, “Night Is the New Day”

by Dw. Dunphy

It’s hard for me to believe that the band’s older fans couldn’t find it in their hearts to forgive Katatonia. They’ve been far away from their black metal roots for a long time, have reached personal best levels with Last Fair Deal Gone Down and The Great Cold Distance, and have done it again with their latest, Night Is the New Day. The word from the studio sessions was that this would be an extension of The Great Cold Distance — that the band was no longer going to worry about being slavishly loyal to their genre, but focused on delivering what they felt was their best work, and this latest offering delivers on that promise.

Guitarists Frederik Norrman and Anders Nystrom can still hit that hard, satisfying crunch when they need to, as on the opening assault “Forsaker,” yet that is something of a red herring. From folky acoustic passages in the unabashedly melodic “Idle Blood” to all manner of pedal manipulations, the album verges at times on art rock; at heart, it’s still “heavy,” but it’s more about using the arsenal when most effective instead of blasting all the guns at once. (more…)

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Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

Parlour to Parlour, Episode 17: The Dazzling Strangers

by Michael Fortes

parlour_to_parlour

At my first Dazzling Strangers show at Kimo’s in San Francisco last year, the Chris Streng-led band ripped through a roaring cover of the Electric Prunes’ “I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night.” I was with a group of friends that evening, and since none of them were familiar with the original classic 1960s psych rock single, they misheard it as “I Had Too Much to Drink Last Night,” and one could hardly blame them. Chris did appear drunk, and a few days later, he confirmed it as fact through an email. This cat became more curious by the minute.

The curiosity factor increased yet again when I spun the Dazzling Strangers’ debut album, The Stars Are Ours. Only one song, “Single Girl on a Sunday Morning,” even remotely resembled what I recalled hearing on stage at Kimo’s (…and guess what? You can relive that show along with me since I covered it for Popdose). Not only that, I couldn’t tell you if that particular song was even played. There were drones, acoustic guitars, light electronic beats, blips and bleeps, and not always in the same song; whereas the live presentation I heard was a loud, raucous rock band tearing it up like Mission of Burma were the new big thing. (more…)

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Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

CD Review: Weezer, “Raditude”

by Jeff Giles

51YBpp6r3wL._SCLZZZZZZZ_[1]It’s got to be a pain in the ass being Rivers Cuomo. On the one hand, he’s a talented songwriter and solid vocalist who happens to front the only band in the last 20 years that’s made half a go out of turning power pop into a steady career; on the other, he’s been dogged by ridiculous expectations for just about as long as anyone has known his name. Weezer’s 1994 debut was a fine album, offering a sweet burst of tuneful humor during a time when it was fashionable to be neither tuneful nor humorous, but to hear people talk about it now — or 1996’s Pinkerton, an album everyone hated when it came out — you’d think Cuomo spent his first few years as a recording artist as Lennon, McCartney, and Dylan rolled into one.

Cuomo didn’t help himself by quickly cultivating a reputation for being a mercurial weirdo, which a surprising number of people seem to equate with artistic genius — although that whole “genius” label hasn’t stopped embittered fans from picking each post-Pinkerton record apart while bellyaching about sellout moves like “Keep Fishin’” or “Beverly Hills.” If you count yourself among this crowd, everything you need to know about this album is summed up in its ridiculous, Rainn Wilson-provided title, but just in case you need to read the words, here’s a two-sentence review:

Nope, this one doesn’t sound like Pinkerton either. You bitches can go back in your holes, ’cause it’s going to be a long, long winter. (more…)

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Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

CD Review: Carrie Underwood, “Play On”

by Jeff Giles

51r7GrNs-wL._SCLZZZZZZZ_[1]Stop right there, George Jones and Willie Nelson fans. If you think of fiddles and pedal steel when you think of country, you still get angry when you think about Shania Twain, and you think “Rascal Flatts” sounds like a venereal disease, then Carrie Underwood is not for you.

If, on the other hand, you like a little country in your pop — or a lot of pop in your country — Underwood’s third release, Play On, is going to latch itself onto your eardrums like a musical version of Ridley Scott’s Alien. Underwood might be a vegetarian, but her music is as genetically modified as country comes, and Play On is her broadest bid for cross-platform dominance yet, a 21st-century version of Come On Over that boasts the efforts of some of the most successful song doctors in the business. Mike Elizondo, Max Martin, Kara KioGuardi, Marti Frederiksen, and Chantal Kreviazuk are just a few of the ringers brought in to co-write here, and Mark Bright’s tastefully airbrushed production is perfect for an album whose liner notes include such maddeningly specific credits as “mono piano lick.” (more…)

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Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

Mix Six: “Then and Now”

by Ted Asregadoo

DOWNLOAD THE FULL MIX HERE

I was watching Anvil: The Story of Anvil on VH1 Classic the other night, and I believe it was Slash who said something like: “You know, there aren’t many bands who have been together for 30 years.”  And he’s right (well, if Slash really did say what I attributed to him).  Bands or singers who have been recording music for long periods of time are rare birds indeed.  Some certainly hang on to their core sound and often fit prevailing musical trends into one or two songs (Think “Emotional Rescue” or “Miss You” by the Rolling Stones), while others will revamp their sound and sail off on a new musical direction– leaving puzzled fans wondering: “What the hell is this?” (Think KISS in Music From “The Elder” or when Rush went headfirst into a synthaholic binge).

What I wanted to do for this mix was to feature bands and singers who, by hook or crook, have been able to maintain a musical career that went beyond their salad days.  In putting together this mix, I generally took the first album and the most recent release, paired them together to see what, if any, changes or similarities were there.  Sorry if this sounds a little too academic in its description, but really what I’m trying to do is best summed up in the title of this mix:  “Then and Now.” (more…)

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Monday, November 2nd, 2009

Jazz Don’t Hurt: Taking a Stand With “Conscious Jazz”

by Jason Crane

sirotaDrummer Ted Sirota and his band Rebel Souls have a new record out called Seize the Time (Naim Jazz, 2009). It’s an explicitly political instrumental album, very in line with Sirota’s previous CDs, all of which have featured album titles, song titles and liner notes that make clear Sirota’s progressive politics.

I talked with Sirota about Seize the Time for my show, The Jazz Session. (That interview will air later this year.) During the interview, Sirota mentioned that he believes many critics ignore or dismiss — or simply miss — his music, instead talking about his politics and nothing else. His comment, coming as it did 25 minutes into an interview where I’d done nothing but talk about his politics, initially made me regret the direction of the conversation up to that point.

After a few moments’ thought, though, I told Sirota that while I think the album is powerful musically, I think it’s even more powerful socially because we live in an age where explicit political statements are vital to our survival. I’m happy to have another CD of smart, fun music to listen to. I’m even happier to turn people on to an artist who puts his social awareness where his drumsticks are.

In the 1960s, jazz artists made socially aware music, much as their counterparts in other genres did. I’ll give some specific examples in a minute. To be fair, such music has never completely disappeared, although “conscious jazz,” to coin a term, has ebbed and flowed in the same way as political engagement in this country. (more…)

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Monday, November 2nd, 2009

Name That Tune, Game Forty-Four

by David Medsker

The Rules:

  • MAXIMUM THREE GUESSES between updates of the list, to give everyone a chance to play. An update of the list is when I post the entire list of correct guesses with the words “OFFICIAL UPDATE.” “Guess” is officially defined as “attempting to identify any one song.” Therefore, one comment that lists three songs counts as three guesses.
  • While I’m not going to be a stickler for spelling and punctuation, you must guess the correct musician and song title to a close approximation.

How the game is played: I have uploaded twenty-five very brief song clips. Please bear in mind that both my record collection and knowledge of music are probably 5% of that of Scraps’, so these quizzes won’t be nearly as comprehensive – or even hit-based – as his were. I will use mostly well-known songs, but I reserve the right to use something obscure if it suits my needs, like it does this week. Live versions and covers are also fair game, though I will stay away from remixes, because that’s just mean.

There is a puzzle this week, and the songs in the game will offer a clue as to the puzzle song’s identity.

And here are the clips:

  1. clip 1
  2. clip 2
  3. clip 3
  4. clip 4
  5. clip 5
  6. clip 6
  7. clip 7
  8. clip 8
  9. clip 9
  10. clip 10
  11. clip 11
  12. clip 12
  13. clip 13
  14. clip 14
  15. clip 15
  16. clip 16
  17. clip 17
  18. clip 18
  19. clip 19
  20. clip 20
  21. clip 21
  22. clip 22
  23. clip 23
  24. clip 24
  25. clip 25

    26. Lastly, here’s the puzzle song:
    Puzzle Song

    I suggest subscribing to the comments on the post to more easily follow the progress of the game. Remember — please! — NO MORE THAN THREE GUESSES between updates of the list. Have fun!

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Monday, November 2nd, 2009

Unsolicited Career Advice for … Rush

by Rob Smith

This is a memo written in 1977 to the Canadian management of Rush. If pictures from this period are any indication, Uncle Donnie had taken to sporting a green Mohawk for at least several months that year. -RS

TO: Managers of Rush
FROM: Don Skwatzenschitz
RE: Career Advice

You, my friends, have a great property in this band Rush. I just saw them the other night at the Fitchburg Theater, and I was really surprised. Well, the first thing that surprised me was the fact that the Vibrators weren’t playing at the Fitchburg—I’d gotten my nights mixed up and missed their concert with Stinky Toys and Métal Urbain. This really sucks, because, as it turned out, most of Stinky Toys got deported back to France after the show. That, and, well, I found out the Vibrators, Stinky Toys and Métal Urbain weren’t even booked at the Fitchburg, but at Needles and Pins, a bar down the street from the Fitchburg. What can I tell you? It was a long week.

Anyway, so I stayed to see Rush and some band called Max Webster put on a hell of a loud show. And even though I realize I’m not exactly the biggest authority on this so-called “progressive” scene (I was the only one in attendance with any kind of nose piercings, but I don’t think anyone else noticed), I think there’s something really special about a band that can perform 15-minute-long songs about space travel and intergalactic politics. And by special, I mean—well, special. Not my usual cup of vinegar, but I didn’t leave early, and that’s saying something.

Now, since I am a member in good standing of this “industry,” such as it is, I feel I am uniquely qualified to offer you some advice on how to best position your property, this band Rush, for maximum effect, both in the U.S. and abroad. Certainly, you’re aware of a new form of revolutionary sound sweeping through England and certain pockets of the U.S.—call it punk rock, call it just punk, call it whatever you want to call it; it’s here to stay, my friends. If you handle Rush properly, you should be able to grab a piece of this uprising and prosper. Here are my ideas: (more…)

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Monday, November 2nd, 2009

The Popdose Interview: Eric Johnson, President and C.O.O. of Wolfgang’s Vault

by Ken Shane

Wolfgang’s Vault is one of the Internet’s greatest treasures for music lovers. The site hosts thousands of concerts that are available for free streaming, as well as vintage memorabilia that includes t-shirts, posters, photographs, tickets, and other items of interest. Thus far, only a limited number of the shows in the Concert Vault have been available for download. That’s about to change tomorrow. Last week, I had a chance to speak with Wolfgang’s Vault President and Chief Operating Officer Eric Johnson from his office in San Francisco.

Concert VaultLet’s start with a bit of the history of Wolfgang’s Vault. How did it come into being?

Wolfgang’s Vault began in 2003 with the acquisition of the Bill Graham archives. Bill’s real name was Wolfgang Grajonca. That’s how the site got its name. Our founder, Bill Sagan, originally acquired these assets from Clear Channel as they were spinning off Live Nation. The Bill Graham archives contained the collection of what he had amassed over his 30-year career in the music business, and then ten years after he died. Bill Graham was one of the early inventors of the rock concert, and in this archive was posters, tickets, handbills, you name it, from classic shows and classic venues like the Fillmore East, the Fillmore West, Winterland, Graham’s Day on the Green shows. There were also audio and video recordings of some of these legendary bands like the Grateful Dead, Santana, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Creedence, the Who. It was just a who’s who list of what was out there.

Bill Graham was one of the first to present certain artists. On the site you can get Elton John playing his first show on the west coast. It’s just an amazing, awesome raw show. In addition to that, we’ve acquired another dozen or so archives that include different collections of both memorabilia, vintage posters and photography, and recordings. So we have the recordings of the King Biscuit Flower Hour, Silver Eagle Cross Country, which is the country version of King Biscuit, the Ash Grove, which was a club that was open in L.A. from 1958-1973 with just amazing early folk and delta blues performers, and the Newport Festivals. It’s just a huge array of music spanning 50-plus years, and about 20 different genres of music. (more…)

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