Armageddon Amuse Bouche!

September 24, 2015 by peter

Listening to Def Leppard I was not reminded of these two great songs, but both come to mind when I’m in an armageddon frame of mind.

There is a 12″ cover of the Willie Williams song, by the Clash, which I own, that goes beyond beyond. It doesn’t make me want to smoke pot, it makes me feel like I’ve smoked pot, and while the 7″ version that I found on YouTube is pretty great, it isn’t the best. While the original, which I have the 7″ of, too, is very very fine.

Patti Smith, of course. Though she screws up the armageddon line. But they’re in Sweden in 1976. Sweet.

Rihanna, “Stay”

September 23, 2015 by peter

I may have posted this song when it came out, because Sophie Muller’s video is so clear.

But in the many months since, I’ve grown attached to this slow song simply because it is a very simple song about longing. Similar to some of the tunes on Adele’s monster hit collection, this isn’t devoid of production, but it sounds like a tune.

The song was written by the falsetto-voiced dude, Mikky Ekko, who you have to assume is Scandinavian. That’s cool. It’s not rock ‘n’ roll, at all, but I like it.

Yuck, “Get Away”

August 8, 2015 by peter

More than most of my friends here, I’m a fan of 90s indie rock. I think Pavement is major, I dig Beck, have a fondness for Bettie Seveert and the Pixies and many others.

Yesterday I read about this English band called Yuck. Good name!

And not exactly bad music, but just outright copying of music that was made 20 some odd years ago. If you are 15 years old now and into rock and heard this, I can’t argue against that. This is indie rock that sounds pretty great and fuzzy.

But on the other hand, this sound is all about marketing. It sold once, it will sell again. It peddles nostalgia to those who aren’t old enough to realize that this stuff was all done before.

In fact, you can Google Yuck and find their songs. Here’s a Bettie Seveert song instead.

The Raconteurs, “You Don’t Understand Me”

August 1, 2015 by peter

Pardon me, but this is one horrible song. Please rebut.

Luther Ingram, “If Loving You Is Wrong, I Don’t Want To Be Right”

July 31, 2015 by peter

I think I drove my mom to the hospital to see my step great grandfather who had just had a hernia operation. Or she drove and I got to go back out to the car after the perfunctories, which is where I heard this pretty much perfect pop song for the first time. (And I mean that the poetry is right on, meaning the ambiguity wins.)

This Guy Hates Jack White…

July 20, 2015 by peter

And he explains why. He doesn’t go on too long about it, either. And I think he nails it, though he could have said more and been even more right. Like, how come all those White Stripe tunes have all those tempo changes, which mean they’re not much good for dancing or getting down to it on the bedroom floor? But this guy says enough.

Not sure it makes sense to blame Jack for this (which is growing on me after a few listens):

Hanno Janssen/Erich Selheim, “Zwei kleine Hitlers”

July 16, 2015 by peter

Love this cover, which seems just a bit dangerous in German. It only had 136 plays when I found it, so chances are you haven’t heard it yet.

New Tunes From Hans Condor

July 9, 2015 by peter

The boys from Nashville have recorded two new songs, at 3am and drunk, they say, after a raucous gig in June. The production is muddy, the vocals are shouted, there is no reason to love these the way I do, but then again here are all the rock moves you could possibly want in a beguiling package that manages to be fresh and classic at once.

Some of it is the awesome upfront bass playing, some of it is the way guitar solos suddenly pop up majestically, and some of it is the amazing thrash they put together. But the incredible part for me is the way all of this lands at the junction of influence of so many great bands, from the Stones to the Pistols to the Replacements, without sounding like any of them particularly.

I gave them a buck for each track, and suggested they come to New York. I’ll let you know when they get here.

Hans Condor on Bandcamp