No crap post from me today! Nosiree! I've been up to my eyeballs in some good old-fashioned punk and it's got me out of my Saturday funk. Lucky you!

Someone please tell me, why are the Dead Kennedys still so completely a propos? Hmmm, ten bonus points for naming the country Bush will invade by January!

Kinky Sex Makes The World Go Round Dead Kennedys Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death
Macho Insecurity Dead Kennedys Bedtime For Democracy

Buy the Dead Kennedys!

When I Was Cruel has plenty of gorgeous pop songs, but one in particular, "Tart", will have you sweating and crying, as Costello's voice rings out the emotion in your body, and the pretty melody brings out the joy in you.

Well, I am not one for music reviews, but I found this track to be so completely awful that I went searching for validation. Alas, I may be alone in my opinion. God, I hope not.

Tart, Elvis Costello When I Was Cruel

I know this is supposed to be serious Gothic Rock music, but listening to these tracks cheers me up somehow. Maybe it's the whiplash effect of justifying the "gothic" image of this group with their "retro" sound, (I mean how can I not think of "You Spin Me Round" by Dead or Alive?), especially as heard on these two tracks.

Anyway, "Assassinate Me" is incredibly catchy, and well, "Nowhere Girl" just makes me laugh. Go figure. xoxo

Assassinate Me Jesus On Extasy Holy Beauty
Nowhere Girl Jesus on Extasy Holy Beauty


J.O.E. MySpace
Buy Holy Beauty

Jeane The Smiths Troy Tate Sessions, 1983 - the original.

Jeane The Smiths Hand in Glove (Sandie Shaw version), 1984 - Sandie Shaw, a great pop singer of the 1960s whom Morrissey and Marr idolized, makes a guest apperance on this track. You can hear Morrissey doing awesome, howling, back up vocals.

Jeanne Billy Bragg The Peel Sessions, 1991, or earlier as this is a collection of performances up to that date - fast paced, straining on the high notes, but for Bragg it's surprisingly in tune. This is my favorite version, although I hated it at first listen.

Jeane Billy Bragg Reaching To The Converted, 1999 - a slow, out-of-tune-starting version. Classic Bragg, he made this song his own, all full of angst, strongly accented with his Cockney inflection. Bragg says,

The Smiths cast a long shadow over this compilation, either in the person of Johnny Marr or in the influence on my songwriting. I felt they were my comrades in a struggle to bring the focus of songwriting away from production and videos and back to good tunes and great lyrics. They stopped playing this song so I picked it up and looked after it for a while.

Jeane Billy Bragg - unknown source
As far as I can make out, this track came from the great blog, This Recording, but I can't find any tag information for it. Do any of you know? It's labeled as track 18 but that didn't help me at all. Maybe it will you. Of course it doesn't help that I've found the title spelled as both "Jeane" and "Jeanne." It sounds like an older Billy rather than a younger one, so I'm guessing it's a late 1990s or early 2000s recording. It's in a lower key, with less angst, and more resignation to the delivery. Bragg's songs become less regional sounding as he ages, and yet still he gives us a gorgeous tune.

Nope, no hidden meaning in the lyrics of this one for me. I just loved playing around with the different versions this evening and seeing how Bragg, a favorite artist of mine, took something and gradually molded it to his own style.

buy The Troy Tate Sessions... well, keep checking here, you might find one!


buy Billy Bragg from his website!

One of my favorite words, "trajectory," ... I love tracing the sometimes non-linear, evolving nature of a thing, be it peoples' biographies, cultural entities like organizations or groups, or simply the sound of a band from one era to another. My latest assignment in the Tart's musical education, Joy Division and New Order. So, you can see why I'm thinking of trajectories right now. Plus, the concept of a trajectory is much more pleasing than that of a descendant or of a derivative which can be very judgmental. Trajectory just implies that something shot off in a direction, not naming the direction or even the force or extent of it's range. Keep that in mind here.


I hadn't listened to New Order's Substance probably since it first came out. The popular tracks were all the rage at parties and in clubs. To be honest, I never knew who the artists were behind "Bizarre Love Triange," "Shame of The Nation," and "Blue Monday." We just danced our asses of to them.

Now, as I listen to Joy Division for the first time, without even knowing the connection between it and New Order, I'm tempted to just turn it off. I can't get through it, I skip ahead in the songs, hoping for something bright. It's not there. My ears hear The Doors all over it. (Oh god, don't fling dead things at me, it's what i hear, ok?!) Without belaboring the point, I'll just throw out my observations to you dogs and see what happens (sorry Pup, I'm desecrating JD with Morrison as we discussed!).

• Obviously vocally, Ian Curtis in the later years of Joy Division took on a very similar baritone drone.
• Imagine the organ in The Doors music as two separated components, the upper register covered by the the guitar bits of Joy Division (and the synthesizer, obviously), the lower tones covered by Peter Hook's bass. So that you have a layering in Joy Division's sound over the more simplistic and yet "messy" sound of The Doors.The roots are still exposed however. I totally agree with Puppet Show; The Doors meander while Joy Division is clean and boxy and tight, as any post-punk band should be. But the skeletons of so many tracks are so aligned with each other.
  
• Ian Curtis' tragic death and that of Jim Morrison while of course not connected linearly do have a kind of cosmic loose affiliation, no?
  

Honestly, not having heard Joy Division before, I would place "Colony" as a derivative track, directly in the musical trajectory of The Doors, updated for a 1980s sound. Yes, I'm being judgmental in the case of "Colony." It's too close for my comfort level.

Colony Joy Division Heart And Soul
Means To An End Joy Division Heart And Soul
Strange Days The Doors Best of The Doors

But the real question of the day is how did we get from a song like "Colony" or "Means To An End" to the real pop-flavored stuff on Substance? Obviously there is a huge amount of carry-over, but the change is shockingly abrupt. Or is it just the context I heard it in initially? These are questions a blogger has to ask, our interpretation of music is so very much influenced by our past, is it not?

Call me crazy if you will, but as a new listener to this it's all I got for you today!

True Faith New Order Substance
Blue Monday New Order Substance

Hey buy all of these great songs, just follow the links!

Yeah, no mp3s for you either, apologies. I'm trying to keep as much RIAA stuff off of this blog as possible. Let me know if the allmusic links work for you, hopefully you can play the songs there, xoxox

At some point last night, my sweetie turned to me and said, "It's like they're up there, just ecstatically happy to be doing what they love to do and they can't even believe they're getting PAID to do it!" And that is exactly what going to last night's Holy Fuck show was like. Four guys, jamming on stage, bouncing like little kids on a trampoline and banging on their mom's pots and pans for the simple pleasure of the chaos. Except, in this case, add some incredible musical talent, of course ;) photo credit: neil365

We arrived about halfway through the second supporting band's show. I'm glad we got a chance to hear them, from the local review of their EP I'm not sure I'd want to have heard them.

The previous Poison Arrows EP, Straight Into the Drift, was dissonant avant-rock cloaked in a matte-black mood, simultaneously claustrophobic and desolate. The Casual Wave EP isn’t exactly a happy-go-lucky record, but the band has lightened up a little.

We walked into the Subterranean (one of the nicer, inexpensive venues here in town) to the sound of heavy drumbeats and strong bass work, the guitar riffs were almost a throwback to the classic rock of the 70s, just a small, sideways step from that psychedelic sound we associate with the time period. My itunes slipped onto Whole Lotta Love by accident while listening to this EP and in some odd way it just wasn't that far of a leap. However, vocally, The Poison Arrows are a whole different kind of group. For as retro as their guitar sound is, Justin Sinkovich's vocal style is understated, subdued even, right in step with so many contemporary indie bands. It's almost as if he's imitating the synthesizer featured predominately on the EP tracks. Hearing them live, I found the band to be less synth heavy and solidly guitar driven, but perhaps that was a function of our lateness. In any event, The Poison Arrows are not to be missed, surely a rising star, and an excellent warm up for the main attraction that night.

Trailer Park The Poison Arrows Trailer Park EP
Lockaway The Poison Arrows Straight Into The Drift EP
The Poison Arrows on MySpace
The Poison Arrows website



Holy Fuck came out to much applause, and although I'd heard about their loyal following it was a trip to see them in action. This band has carved the perfect niche out of the indie scene -- part heavy handed guitar and bass, a solid rock underpinning, and part rave, awesome improvised synth and vocal manipulations that you have to move to. The scene was awash with bouncing and head banging and if someone had tried to ride the crowd, I'd have not been surprised. And that sound in between songs? At first I thought it was the music from the club below, then perhaps the elevated subway (I know, it's an oxymoron, but it's what it's called here, get over it, it's the "El"), going past... but no, it was simply the roar of the enthusaistic crowd. In sociological terms, collective efferevescence was everywhere. photo credit: jalapeno

They played for an hour or so, and no, I can't tell you one song except Lovely Allen because I really think they made all the rest up as they went along. Honest. They do that. It's DIY indie style and it's amazing to see. That's why I wanted to go in the first place. There's only so much you can get from playing their CDs loud in your car. It's the kind of experience you need to feel, ... hot, sweaty, pulsing, the bass pounding up through the core of your body, hands swaying in the air, loud annoying woman behind you talking throughout the show (oh wait, that wasn't necessary, was it?), and most of all... your lover's body pressed up agaisnt yours.

I was worried that Meatpocket, aka, the little woman, the wife of mine, would hate it. But the minute they took the stage she was in motion. And a Meatpocket in motion is a thing of beauty. Holy Fuck has impeccable timing, their show ebbs and flows at almost all the right times, rarely do you wish for a creshendo when they're full on engaged in the downside. The whole show seemed to build up to the "hit" Lovely Allen and when it began, the crowd roared CHARGE in one giant gaping voice. They left the stage to a chorus of HOLY SHIT repeated over and over until they returned to perform a calming encore. We left exhilirated and exhausted into a swampy, dank night, -- drenched in sweat and washed by rain on the way home. But not before being sold the new CD, confusingly titled "LP," by the bass player himself! I'd had my eye on him all night, it's always about the bass for me.... And he was delicious looking, indeed. xoxoxo


The Pulse Holy Fuck LP
Tone Bank Jungle mp3 Holy Fuck SXSW 2008-3-14 - KEXP @ ACL Studio

Holy Fuck on MySpace
Holy Fuck's website, buy directly from them!
photo credit: INDEED

Get To Work (On Me)Post Honeymoon Between The Two. I missed them, but I'm liking the EP quite a lot, good low-fi, post punk goodness.
Post Honeymoon on MySpace