My friend Angela linked to this Seattle band today on Facebook, and their sound is retro and spare, like the Dum Dum Girls, but more so.
This tune reminds me of the Burt Bachrach tune, Baby It’s You, though it isn’t quite as exquisitely structured. But it has lots of air and reverb and good taste. The rest of the EP is similarly smart, though of course it’s just a tease until they put it all together and make a sound of their own.
But until then, this will do. Cause baby, it’s you.
Well, a happy Independence Day to you all, especially in these times of political strife and angst.
Being the progeny of immigrants who fled Germany with what little they could drag with them, leaving fortunes and family behind to perish at the hands of the Third Reich, I find it frustrating these days to see the perverted way in which the Tea Party and right wing have somehow co-opted the ideas of freedom that the then left wing Sons of Liberty–the bulk of whom were Deists, not Christians or Puritans at all–represented.
For the conservative faction of this country does not understand that during the revolutionary war they would have been Torries, embracing the edicts of King George (as the Bush family, who actually date back that far did, actively supporting the crown during the war of 1812), opposed to the path of independence chosen by Samuel Adams, his cousin John, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and George Washington.
Similarly, that same right wing does not seem to get that one of the reasons the American Revolution worked was that it was indeed a guerrilla war, fought on our own soil, against a potentially more dominant foe (England), but an absentee one. Meaning every time we think of invading a foreign land, like Iraq or Iran or Viet Nam, we should remember the three points the home field advantage affords in football.
In other words, it is tough to win an away war.
That said, I am a seriously patriotic and freedom loving first generation American who believes in liberty and justice for all, and that indeed all men are created equal, despite the initial success of our country being rooted in the slavery of African Americans and the genocide of the Native Americans.
For the truth is we all have our dark side: the problem emanates from denying that fact.
Which brings me to the great LA punk band X, founded by John Doe, DJ Bonebroke, and Exene Cervenka, who work a side project with Blasters founder Dave Alvin, and Jonny Ray Bartel of the band The Red Devils.
That band is The Knitters, who released a first album of roots music, Poor Little Critter on the Road in 1985, and then followed up with a second disc in 2005 entitled Modern Sounds of the Knitters.
When asked about the 20-year gap between albums, Doe deadpanned, “The Knitters, like their music, don’t do anything hasty. Since our last record’s been out for a while and it did pretty good, we figured it was just about time to put out another.”
What is better is the song I chose to acknowledge our Independence Day is not on either album the Knitters produced, in fact I could not even find a youtube of the band performing this great song, so I had to stick with this version by Doe and his cohorts, which I like a lot better than the couple of more countrified versions out there by Alvin and his mates.
The recording is a little rough, but I suspect just like our revolution was sort of a rag tag affair at its inception, and one that gathered momentum as it continued, so is the song.
It is also a standard of the Biletones set list, and if we had a video of us cranking it out, then I would have happily posted it.
But, we will have to stick with Doe, for he and mates do it justice despite the funky sound.
A safe and wonderful holiday and holiday weekend to all: just, as you enjoy BBQ and fireworks and savoring our freedom, remember the notion came from progressive (though admittedly imperfect) men who had a vision. Let’s stay true to that, and not the idiot demagogues who preach their vision of freedom, but dismiss any other.
UK
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US (old)
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It wasn’t an accident that I was holding Toots and the Maytal’s Funky Kingston in my modeling debut. It’s an amazing album and an amazing song, and totally in line with the Mono Brothers ethos to intimidate the winky Meeks into moving on from whatever weak stuff he liked to the good stuff. He would have thanked us, but it was only an ad, and we were only models.
In any case, maybe you haven’t heard Funky Kingston. Please do:
The last two Dum Dum Girls albums show an evolution toward a more reverby chiming sound, the rock solid mid-tempo drums and pulsing bass prop up the echoing rhythm guitars and delicate fills which serve as harmonies for the vocals. This isn’t music that swings really, or shows much in the way of dynamics, but it sounds as nice as a pretty non-precious jewel in a clever setting.
They were playing in the park tonight, so we went over and caught their set. I like the sound, I like their serious approach, but there is a sameness from song to song on elpee that plays a little more lively live. But they’re still drowning in the reverb and I think that’s a mistake.
This is their best recent tune, I’d say, though I’m far from an expert. It sounds a little classic, because you can hear the rumbles of Blondie, the Pretenders, Belly, Mazzy Star and no doubt others. That’s not great, but that’s okay, and still I miss the old stuff, which included a little Garbage, as well.
Here’s a throwback cut from the Pretenders’ last elpee in 2008.
Until about 20 minutes ago I didn’t know this was a thing. Two characters rap against each other, two characters from history tell their stories competitively, and then an expressive announcer asks us all to vote.
This video has more than 9,000,000 views. The John Lennon versus Bill O’Reilly battle has more than 30 million. Lady Gaga versus Sarah Palin? More than 34 million.
This is big business, and has obviously touched a chord. I’m not sure which one that is. There’s cursing, bad costumes, historical facts spouted too fast to absorb, and bad music.
But once I started I had a hard time stopping. We’re doomed.
Stay up all night, there are a lot of them. Here’s the Gaga Palin smackdown.
I read a good review of this band’s “punky” new record last week and waded in. These guys are from Scranton PA, and the band’s name is the phonetic spelling of the German word for troubadour, which is kind of what gives here. You would hope that the sons of coal miners and refinery workers would be clawing (or digging) like mad to escape the brutal lives their parents lived as they struggled to get their little honeys into college and away from a life of Walmart and picking scabs off the inside of their various orifices. Kind of like Steve, who hails from around those parts, but no.
This kind of punk is really singer songwriter pop bleating catchy tunes above some well struck drums and jangly-hard guitars. I listened to a bunch of Menzinger’s songs and this one is the best I heard, but if you like it you might find something you like more in their catalog. If that’s the case, I’d suggest you try harder. There’s no reason to settle for competent fake punk.
By the way, I tried to be grumpy about the video but I couldn’t. Perfect.
Hmm, Menzingers, kind of like telling jokes about men. Kind of like that video. Brilliant.
Peter posted last week on the ever-fun Lee Michaels (sigh, no relation unfortunately) and his biggest hit, Do You Know What I Mean?
I was a big Michaels fan back then, and I think I saw him at Winterland and Sound Factory and various little northern California venues four times with my childhood friend Stephen Clayton.
I never saw him play with anyone but his great and behemoth drummer, Bartholomew Smith-Frost aka “Frosty.”
Further, I always remember he was barefoot, and from what I could see, his feet were really dirty (even back then, he was a stoner after my own heart).
I remember loving Michaels’ first pair of albums–Carnival of Life and Recital–after which he released Barrel, the work the artist insisted was his first real album. That is because Barrel was just Michaels and Frosty whereas the first two efforts featured the likes of studio-men Eddie Hoh and Hamilton Watt and friends.
The problem is as much as I liked Michaels and Frosty live, similarly I thought those first two albums were full of great tunes and some decent crunch and psychedelia.
The song I picked here is Streetcar which was my fave on that first Carnival of Life album.
As I was searching for Michaels information to assemble this little ditty, I did come across his website, which is kind of a hoot in a “peace and love I am a bit of a scattered stoned out hippie but that doesn’t mean I am stupid or anything” way.
Here is the link:
http://www.leemichaels.com/LeeMichaels.com/no_war.html
As they say at Penny Lane, “very strange.”
All the Japanese pop some forced this song into my head, and, to quote Lucinda Williams, I Can’t Let Go.
Not that I wish I could.
Kyu Sakamoto was sort of the Masanori Marukami of pop: Sakamoto the only Asian to log a #1 hit in Billboard history, and well, this is it. And, though he was a one-hit wonder here, though “Mashi” (the Giants nickname for Marukami, the first Japanese born in the Major Leagues) was kind of like that too, they at least both paved the way.
I guess it is pleasant enough, and when the song came out in 1963 it was indeed a huge hit (sold 13 million units overall). But, this song is certainly not pop as I think of it, and it is as far removed from rock and roll as Percy Faith and Mitch Miller and even Pat Boone’s obnoxious cover of Tutti Fruiti.
Not sure why it was such a big hit, though? Sort of muzak with words none of us knows, and as I thought about it, I thought about compiling a Steveslist of the six songs not sung in English to hit #1 on the Billboard chart.
But, as I looked at them, they were all really so awful–and I get they may evoke fond memories in some–that I just couldn’t do it.
However, they are:
I just don’t get any of these songs, save La Bamba, which is really a treatment of a Mexican folk song, being hits at all. Not that I am trying to be xenophobic, but in general the music is cheesy and most really cannot understand the words. Meaning if we were on Bandstand, and doing “Rate a Record,” we couldn’t say, “I give it a 73, Dick. It had a nice beat and I liked the lyrics.”
OTOH, I don’t get I’ve Never Been to Me or Abba songs (maybe tuneful, but so what?) or even Snoopy Versus the Red Baron (which I hated at the time as much as I hated Incense and Peppermints and In the Year 2525.)
BTW, this video of Sukiyaki is the official publicity one Sakamoto released. And, sadly, in another shot at fame, Sakamoto was killed as one of the fatalities resulting from the JAL air crash August 12, 1985 the worst air disaster in history.
So, on that sobering note, enjoy if you can. If you dare.
