Man, I love me some good old-fashioned punk rock. Western Addiction hit the spot. Ask a 14-year-old kid today where to turn for punk rock and you’re liable to get a dose of anything from NOFX to Taking Back Sunday and plenty of stuff in between. Different strokes for different folks. Punk’s never been about one sound anyway. But when I was 14 some of the best punk rock sounded a lot like Western Addiction. And it’s good that that sound has held up for years because every generation deserves their very own Black Flag and Minor Threat.
Jets Overhead
And now some of Canada’s — actually, I’ll go out on a limb and say America’s (North, Central, and South included) — finest arena rock. With influences ranging from The Mamas and the Papas to Pink Floyd, Jets Overhead’s majestic sound gets me in the mood to grab a lighter, seat cushion, and cash to burn and cuddle up in my nearest sports stadium for a full-on rock show. Trouble is, only a minute number of today’s record and concert ticket buying public are muscially adventurous enough to put Jets Overhead in that position.
Blue Bone Express
I often wonder what kind of music my children will end up listening to. When I was their age I was fed a steady diet of The Beach Boys, The Carpenters, Bee Gees and Roger Miller, so my parents were understandably distraught when the sounds of Dead Kennedys’ Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables blasted out of my room. I had a peek into my future when I mentioned to my son that if he kept practicing the piano and clarinet he’d soon be playing music like the punk rock that was shuffling through the car stereo at the time. “No dad,” he said, “I want to play in the Disneyland band.” Well, thanks to Patti Bao, one of our fine readers, I’ve found possible musical mentors for the kid. Straight outta Oakland, Blue Bone Express — nothing but lively traditional Dixieland jazz here. Look, I’m always worrying that he’ll end up bringing home a pan flute, or let his appearance deteriorate like this, so I am extremely relieved at his choice of aspirations.
3hive vs. Music For Robots Podcast Is Live
Podcast #12: Better Late Than Never
Clearlake
(A reminder: Tune in tonight at 10pm PST to hear Mark from Music.For-Robots and myself go mano a mano for what’s sure to be fine musical joust.)
Anyone remember the movie Judgment Night? Yeah, me neither. The soundtrack’s a different story. It paired up Sonic Youth with Cypress Hill, Dinosaur Jr. with Del the Funky Homosapien, and Teenage Fan Club with De La Soul. Two great genres that go great together: indie rock and hip hop.
The album’s really burned in my mind however because back when the album hit I’d just been promoted to Music Director at a commercial alternative station, and a young, eager radio promotion rep at Epic Records, Stu Bergen (hi Stu!), attempted to cut his aggressive promo teeth by yelling at me for an hour demanding my station report Epic’s “single” in heavy rotation or something. Back then playlist reporting was all theoretical because there was no way for anyone to tell exactly how many times a radio station played a song, but Stu was out to impress his higher-ups, and impress them he must have ’cause he’s been breaking bands, taking names, and running promotion departments for Island Def Jam and Columbia Records (and here I sit blogging away…). I don’t even remember the fate of that Judgment Night track, but I do remember Stu and I breaking bread at Smith And Wollensky’s, A Steakhouse to End All Arguments. And end them it did. Stu and I have been pals ever since.
Now that I’ve bored many of you to tears, and awakened a raging midnight snacking, back to Clearlake: between this remix by Nobody and the recent remix of Against Me! by Mouse On Mars, I sense another remix trend bubbling among the indie rock world. I’m sure there’s plenty more out there. Use the comments to let us know about your recent favorites.
And yes, I realize I’ve said absolutely nothing about Clearlake. More demo tracks from their forthcoming album are available here.
3hive vs Music.For-Robots
New Donna Regina MP3
Speaker Speaker
I thought I’d impress the lady and take her up to L.A. to see a rock and roll show. It’d been too long since we’d got our rock on. We were on the guestlist and everything. We had a babysitter and everything. As we were getting on the 405 at 7pm on Friday night I knew we were in trouble. Traffic. Long story short: missed the show, did a quick shopping spree at Amoeba, replaced a Housemartins (The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death) CD that we’d lost, and sang-along to it all the way home while sucking down milkshakes from In ‘N’ Out. Not a bad night after all. Probably, because, unlike Speaker Speaker, I was right when I picked my girl. We still share a similar taste in music years down the road. And like you, it’s safe to assume, we’re still listening to music fanatically when many of our friends have given up on it, or somehow, unexplicably, started listening to Top 40 Country radio. Speaker Speaker shares The Housemartins and Joe Jackson’s youthful exuberance that too many people lose when they hit their late 20s/early 30s. Don’t let it happen to you.
Twink
Boston native Mike Langlie, a.k.a. Twink, has quite the collection of toy pianos and he’s not afraid to use them — the last six tracks here are proof of that. On his new album he picks apart the childrens’ records he’s used over the years as inspiration for their melodies and moods and rebuilds a dusty, playful romp.