Check Out Chalant's Special Place
Those of you who have been around for a while will remember almost two years ago when I first posted about Alabama hip-hop trio Chalant.
That post remains one of my most popular, not only because the songs were great, but because one of the songs I posted was “Suck My Pussy,” which seems to attract a lot of random Googlers.
It’s taken some time, but Chalant has finally released some new music. They were kind enough to drop me a note the other day to let me know about the new EP,
Special Places.
While not at all short on the sexums,
Special Places is a lot darker and angrier than
The Trill Life. “Freaky Secret” and “Cop Killer,” which more or less bookend the disk, are sort of a matched set of songs about revenge killings. And “Dead Men Don’t Rape” is singer Jenital Candies getting back at a father who molested her by putting him in a cage and making him “eat his own poop.”
The music is slow groove, synth-based hip-hop, sort of along the lines of Prince’s old protégés from the 80’s, Apollonia 6. Something you could grind to in a club, maybe.
Check out this track, then click over to Chalant’s
MySpace, where you can download
Special Places for free.
Dead Men Don’t Rape.mp3Labels: hip-hop, new stuff
'Praying to the God of Giving Up'
Today’s music is a great, fun band out of Portland, Ore. And, really, how often do you hear that?
The Taxpayers are a four-piece whose music ranges from folk-sounding punk to hardcore and pretty much anywhere in between. “Probably the best aspect of The Taxpayers is that it's damn near impossible to tell what they're going to do next,” the Free Music Archive said in a review.
I don’t know much about these guys; they’ve been together a few years I think, and they’ve released a couple of albums. The latest,
A Rhythm in the Cages, is out on
Quote Unquote Records, a purely donation-based record label (take
that, you corporate weasels!).
The Taxpayers remind me much of early Against Me! in their full on, mostly acoustic and percussion punk assault. Singer Rob Taxpayer also sounds more than a little like Tom Gabel.
Check out these couple of songs, then click over to the Taxpayers
MySpace, where you can find the download links for their albums and some older, live stuff.
No Lodging for the Mad.mp3 Cuyuahoga Canal.mp3 Montana.mp3 Labels: acousticness, punk
'Click, Click, Bang, Bang'
I have had an old song from Miss Derringer on my iPod forever it seems like. I love the band’s combination of blues, country, 60’s girl-group, and noir. There’s something that gets me every time I hear that kind of dark music sung in a voice as smooth as Liz McGrath’s.
A little earlier this year, Miss Derringer released their third disk,
Winter Hill. The album is based on the
true story of an Irish gang war in Boston. The 1960’s setting for the album’s tale lends itself perfectly to the lead single, “Click, Click, Bang, Bang.” That song – and a lot of the others on the album – combines the rock-a-billy of the Detroit Cobras with the pop of early Blondie, bands who also draw / drew big time from 60’s groups.
While still steeped in darkness,
Winter Hill is, musically anyway, a lighter album than its predecessor, 2006’s
Lullabies. There’s nothing remotely like the latter’s title track; despite its subject matter, the new album seems altogether much more upbeat.
Click, Click, Bang, Bang.mp3 Labels: new stuff, rockabilly
'All I Want is Beer and Damage'
It has, apparently, been nearly a week since I’ve posted anything here. That’s probably my longest unplanned, non-ISP-caused absence in recent memory. And there’s no reason for it – I just felt like taking a break from posting.
During that time, I’ve found or been sent a fair amount of really good music and I’ll try to get that up here over the next few days. But today I want to go back about 30 years to the halcyon years of Los Angeles punk rock.
A couple of nights ago I watched
What We Do Is Secret, a biopic about Darby Crash and The Germs. The movie left me impressed at the influence The Germs had over the LA punk scene. I’ve written
ad nauseum about being such a fan of the LA punk bands of the late ‘70s, but for some reason I never really got into The Germs. I was familiar with them, of course, and I knew the song “Manimal” from The Decline of Western Civilization soundtrack, but I never owned the
(GI) album. I guess I just didn’t
get The Germs.
What I got out What We Do Is Secret is that not listening more to The Germs has been my loss. After watching the movie, I located a copy of
MIA: The Complete Anthology, a 1993 Rhino Records compilation that features most of the band’s studio output. I’ve listened to the disk pretty much nonstop since and I have come away amazed. For being such a volatile mess of a live act, in studio The Germs were phenomenal. They pack the musical power of the Stooges and, Darby, as he describes himself, really is a “lexicon devil.”
I’ve pulled a handful of songs from the
MIA collection: The first song, “Forming” was originally the A-side of the 1977 “Forming / Sex Boy” 7-inch, the single widely regarded as the first LA punk single. “What We Do Is Secret” and “Lexicon Devil” both originally appeared on the
(GI) album; “Caught in My Eye” is an outtake from that album; and “Lion’s Share” was from the band’s only other studio sessions – six songs they recorded for the Al Pacino movie Cruising. “Lion’s Share” is the only one of the songs to appear in the movie.
Forming.mp3 What We Do Is Secret.mp3 Lexicon Devil.mp3 Caught in My Eye.mp3 Lion’s Share.mp3 Labels: punk
Music from My Mailbox
I actually started this post yesterday, but I got sidetracked by the NFL’s opening weekend. I’m not a major fan of the Dolphins, but they are the local team, so I had to get out and show my support for what turned out to be a pretty
sorry effort. By the time I got home, the only thing I was thinking about posting was my ass in my bed.
So, to pick up where I left off, this harvesting of the mailbox yielded some decent stuff. I was a little surprised to see emails from three pretty big bands that are plugging records through the blogosphere. I think this really attests to the power bloggers can have. Well, maybe not my little blog specifically, but all of us together.
The Flaming Lips, The Raveonettes, and Wolfmother all sent me music, urging me to help spread the word about recent or upcoming releases. Since government radio has become such a shit show, really, the Internet is the only place you’re going to hear about new music. I know I’m preaching to the choir, but when was the last time your local “alternative rock” station played the Raveonettes?
A couple of other things worth bringing to your attention: The kinda groovy, 60’s vibe of “Coffee in the Morning” by Drug Rug; and “1-2-3-Go!,” which is the kind of song that should have come out at the start of the summer, not in these dog days. But it’s fun and stupidly catchy anyway. And completely out of left field is jazz singer Rochelle House. Check out her version of the old Roberta Flack song “Feel Like Makin’ Love.” There are actually several good things here, so don’t be afraid to give them a listen or two.
As always, follow the links for more information.
RaveonettesOther / Other / Other
From: New York City & Los Angeles, Baby!
United States
Band
MySpaceLast Dance.mp3Drug RugSoul
From: Boston, Mass
Band
MySpaceCoffee in the Morning.mp3
Tim WilliamsIndie / Alternative / Acoustic
From: New York, N.Y.
Band
MySpaceI Hit Another Wall.mp3
WolfmotherRock
From: Australia
Band
MySpaceNew Moon Rising (Fontan version).mp3 Stricken CityPop
From: London, U.K.
Band
MySpacePull the House Down.mp3HopewellSoul / Psychedelic / Religious
From: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Band
MySpaceStranger.mp3
LadyhawkePop / Classic Rock / Electro
From: Wellington / Sydney / London
Band
MySpaceMy Delirium.mp3U.S. RoyaltyAmericana / Idol
From: Chinatown, Washington DC
Band
MySpaceEvery Summer.mp3The Flaming LipsExperimental / Psychedelic / Rock
From: Oklahoma City, Okla.
Band
MySpaceSilver Trembling Hands.mp3 
HottubPunk / Crunk / Funk
From: Oakland, Calif.
Band
MySpace1-2-3-GO!.mp3CalypsoPunk / Grunge / Tropical
From: New York, N.Y.
Band
MySpaceCasually Sad Mercedes.mp3
Rochelle HouseJazz / Neo-soul / Other
From: Seattle, Wash.
Band
MySpaceFeel Like Makin’ Love (Roberta Flack cover).mp3 ~~~~~
(
pictures, top-to-bottom: The Raveonettes, Wolfmother, Ladyhawke, Hottub)
Labels: "alternative", alt.jazz, covers, funk, indie, pop-punk, remix, rock
9/11
Wish You Were Here.mp3 Limp Bizkit Feat. John Rzeznik ~
from
America: A Tribute to HeroesLabels: covers, current events
So this is who Visqueen are
The new Visqueen album,
Message to Garcia, is out today. I’ll tell you the truth – until a few days ago I had no idea who the hell Visqueen were. But they were nice enough to send me a copy of the first single from their new album, so I thought I’d check it out.
“Hand Me Down” is a pop rock song, but it’s the good kind of pop rock: more rock than pop and with a chorus that reminds me a lot of Cheap Trick. The song also has big rock ‘n’ roll drums, which I dig a lot. And I gotta also say I'm digging this song a lot.
Message to Garcia is Visqueen’s third album, and their first since 2004’s
Sunset on Dateland. The band took a lengthy hiatus so front woman Rachel Flotard could care for her father, who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Rachel’s father, who passed away in April, would ultimately prove a major influence on her writing for this album.
“He was our unrelenting hero for 35 years and never let us drop,” Rachel says about her dad. “These songs are my friends. I wrote them through a long ride of self-conscious anguish and joy. They are braided with sunny, ubiquitous problems and snare drums. They reflect the part of me that wants to be happy and make out with Bad Company.”
So, now that we all know who the hell Visqueen are, I’ll suggest you check out the first single from
Message to Garcia, then get to your favorite e-tailer and get the whole album.
Hand Me Down.mp3 Labels: new stuff, pop-punk
‘Sad Songs Swinging In My Whiskey Head’
I ran into something kinda interesting a couple of days ago and I thought I’d share it with you good people. I’ve never heard of a German band called Madstateworld, but apparently their singer, Tom Mess, went solo last year.
Like I said, I wasn’t familiar with Madstateworld, but I have listened some to Tom’s solo stuff, which is pretty interesting. Mess’ gravely voice and songs of heartache and drunkenness bring to mind a little bit of Tom Waits, if Waits had a near indecipherable German accent and was loaded on whiskey.
Mess has released a couple of albums in Germany, the most recent being
The Krämer Tapes. He was with Madstateworld for seven years before deciding to go it on his own. And on his own he is: it’s only Mess and his guitar now. “I have tasted new blood,” he says about his solo career.
You can check out some of Mess’ music on his
MySpace page. From there you can also get to the link to download
The Krämer Tapes, which I encourage you to do. You can also bounce over to the Madstateworld page. In the meantime, though, try these songs on for size.
Whiskey and Water.mp3 Already Done.mp3 Labels: punk, unplugged
'Last Rose of Summer'
I’ve been on a posting dry spell of late – struggling to find things that are interesting not only to me, but things that I think will be interesting to others. And then find an interesting way to present them. I’ve been at this a couple of years now and I’m wondering if maybe it’s not time for a short break. If I decide to do that, I’ll let all of you know – I promise I won’t just disappear. And I’m not saying I’m going to do it, I’m just thinking I need to recharge. We’ll see.
On that note, happy Labor Day. A friend of mine from outside the U.S. asked me the other day about Labor Day, and what it meant, etc. After I explained, she asked me about the tradition of not wearing white after Labor Day. As I sit here wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, I can assure you I am no fashionista, but I hazarded a guess that it had something to do with east coast debutantes and upper class families and bore no relevance to my life, particularly since I rarely wear white anyway.
It turns out I may have been somewhat correct. The tradition might actually have started in the South, though, where it is said “Southern girls know bad manners when they see them,” and a clear sign of bad manners is wearing white shoes before Easter or after Labor Day. Others say it started as a way to teach societal rules to the
nouveau riche.
These days, I believe most agree it’s an obsolete tradition. One local newspaper columnist even wrote, “Here in Florida, where we wear flip-flops and shorts on Christmas Eve, avoiding white seems silly.”
All of this is apropos of nothing in regards to today’s post, which happens to be “Last Rose of Summer” from Judas Priest’s 1977
Sin After Sin album. I’ve just always thought “Last Rose” was a cool end-of-summer song, and since Labor Day is an end-of-summer holiday, it seemed to come together neatly.
Last Rose of Summer.mp3Labels: classic rock, holiday, metal
Perfect 80's Metal
I finally saw The Wrestler last weekend. If you’ve seen it and if you paid attention, you probably noticed there’s a decent soundtrack’s worth of 80's metal in movie: Quiet Riot (The Ram’s theme song), as well as Ratt, Accept, and a couple of others. Where I’m going with this post, though, is one song in particular: The Scorpions’ “Animal Magnetism.” For the life of me I can’t remember the scene where it played, but I was impressed as hell Darren Aronofsky (or whoever) decided to use this particular song.
The Scorpions had a brief period, before they lapsed in Spinal Tap-like self-parody, when they were one of the best metal bands around. Between 1979 and 1982, they released
Lovedrive,
Animal Magnetism, and
Blackout, three classics of the genre. Without a doubt, 1980’s
Animal Magnetism is my favorite Scorps album and arguably, one of my favorite all-time metal albums.
“Make It Real,” the opening track, may have been the first Scorpions song I ever heard. It was on a live Castle Donnington album that I got when I was in high school, so would have been the song that put me onto the band. The last song on side one, “Lady Starlight,” has the kind of classic guitar solo that was once a trademark of the Schenker brothers. Just past the halfway point of the song, everything comes to a stop except Rudolf Schenker’s electric guitar. It’s cheese power ballad, but damnit, I love it! And I loved it when Michael Schenker did it with UFO.
The two songs that really make the album for me, though, are “The Zoo” and the album’s title track. Both are near perfect metal songs, with heavy riffs and Rudolf Schenker back for the hard and dark version of the earlier power ballad solo.
It was “The Zoo” that made me want to see 42nd Street in New York before I’d ever been there. Picture my disappointment when I arrived 10 years later and found it Disney-fied. And it was “Animal Magnetism” that I shared with the first girl who broke my heart. Here’s to hoping she’s living in a singlewide trailer and is miserable. Ha!
Here are my two favorites from the album. No hard feelings.
The Zoo.mp3 Animal Magnetism.mp3 Labels: hair metal, metal
Those of you who have been around for a while will remember almost two years ago when I first posted about Alabama hip-hop trio Chalant. That post remains one of my most popular, not only because the songs were great, but because one of the songs I posted was “Suck My Pussy,” which seems to attract a lot of random Googlers. 
