Review: Jr. Juggernaut - Ghost Poison
Posted on 27 August 2008 | 1 Comment
Filed Under: Album Reviews, Americana, Just Plain Rock
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Is it just me or has Suburban Home seriously become one of the best record labels around? Another of their excellent recent releases is Jr. Juggernaut’s Ghost Posion. Full of hard-driving but twangy country-tinged rock that makes you want to put the top down and drive fast down a dusty gravel road Jr. Juggernaut has a sound that is equal parts Buffalo Tom and Drag The River. Or maybe Husker Du and Uncle Tupelo. Whatever the comparison, Ghost Poison is filled with red-blooded muscle car music but not in the testosterone-filled way you might think. This is the soundtrack to the lives of guys who get up early on cold winter mornings before the sun is even up and head out for a day at the mill or the construction site. With boots and coat on and waiting for the pickup truck to warm up and the frosted windows to clear. Just waiting for things to finally work out.
Ghost Poision is an affecting album with both it’s power and it’s melody. Also striking are the blisteringly violent (almost J Mascis like) guitar solos full of catharsis and release. Sounds like Boston meets the Front Range if you ask me and that can’t possibly be anything but a good thing. It is a loud rock album with more than enough melody and hooks to satisfy your sweet tooth and enough roots that you won’t forget where this comes from.
MP3 | Jr. Juggernaut – Lit By Winter Ghost Poison
MP3 | Jr. Juggernaut – Coming In Backwards Ghost Poison
It came from the nineties (Vol. 33)
Posted on 26 August 2008 | No Comments
Filed Under: 1990's, Mixes
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I was never the biggest Superchunk fan. I’m still not. I do (however) remember that one of my friends from high school (I think it was Darren?) was a huge Superchunk fan. Yeah. And even though I’m including Blur’s “Song 2” here, the self-titled Blur album is such a good record of which Song 2 is actually a pretty good misrepresentation. I also saw Swervedriver open for the Smashing Pumpkins at the Aragon back in 1993 or something like that. That was a long time ago. I think my dad drove us there.
MP3 | Blur – Song 2
MP3 | Janes Addiction – Been Caught Stealing
MP3 | Superchunk – Slack Motherfucker
MP3 | Swervedriver – Duel
MP3 | The Nixons – Sister
Review: Natalie Portman's Shaved Head - Glistening Pleasure
Posted on 25 August 2008 | 2 Comments
Filed Under: Album Reviews, Electronic, New Wave
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Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head plays idiotically bouncy disco-dance-pop that reminds me a lot of The Rapture at their least serious or at least a little of Black Kids without any of the “we’re the hottest shit around” pretension or hype that has accompanied everything that band touches. I’d bet money that Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head is made up of young hipster kids from New York City who (I can only assume) totally act and look the part. This is urban youth music that I bet kids breakdance to. But what’s with the horrendously terrible name? Easily one of the worst band names of all time. This is synth-driven hipster-dance-pop that is actually (for all the ridiculousness) pretty hard to ignore. Glistening Pleasure Catchy hook-laden songs, memorable synth lines, and rhythms that will keep you up all night.
Sweaty hipster kids drunkly dancing into the wee hours or the morning in some dimly lit club. But as good as this is within its genre, it still feels like tomorrow’s trash. I understand the buzz and can appreciate these tunes but I’m so far removed from the target audience for Glistening Pleasure that I can’t even pretend to understand this for more than it is. A song called “Beard Lust” does (however) make me proud to be rockin’ a sweet beard myself. Well done Mr. CYSTSFTS, well done.
MP3 | Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head – Me & Yr Daughter Glistening Pleasure
MP3 | Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head – Beard Lust Glistening Pleasure
The dog days of summer
Posted on 25 August 2008 | 5 Comments
Filed Under: Blog
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Oh that dog. They say that a dog is a man’s best friend and I think it may just be true. Perhaps that is why I cry like a little baby every time I see My Dog Skip or Old Yeller and why I’m crying now. That dumb dog. That dog is the dog you see with my daughter Hailey 4 posts before this. That dog was Kleo and now she’s gone. My parents got Kleo as a tiny little German shepherd puppy in 1996 during the summer before us kids went to college. I remember her giant ears and giant paws that were five sizes too big for her body. I remember when she crapped in the hall of a Cornell University dorm the week we took my sister to school. I remember when she terrorized the pizza guy and ripped up Aaron’s shirt at the front door. I remember so much about that stupid, rowdy, and rambunctious dog. Mostly I remember how sweet she was, especially as she got long on dog years. She was as gentle as could be but ultra-protective of her pack; her family. She was one of the family. Kleo was a wonderful dog but just this week couldn’t really move or get up to go outside anymore. She will be missed tremendously. For all my fond memories of that dog, the hardest part will be explaining to Hailey where her buddy Kleo is when she just isn’t there.
It came from the nineties (Vol. 32)
Posted on 24 August 2008 | No Comments
Filed Under: 1990's, Mixes
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These posts will be coming a bit more frequently for the forseeable future since I’ve got all sorts of good stuff lined up for y’all. Now, interestingly enough (or not) the first CD I ever owned was Jesus Jones’ Doubt which featured “Right Here, Right Now” and was quickly followed by albums from EMF (embarrassing, right?), Nirvana, Metallica, and then boom… the rest is history.
MP3 | Temple Of The Dog – Hunger Strike
MP3 | Digable Planets – Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like Dat)
MP3 | Jesus Jones – Right Here, Right Now
MP3 | LL Cool J – Mama Said Knock You Out
MP3 | The Cardigans – Lovefool
It came from the nineties (Vol. 31)
Posted on 22 August 2008 | 3 Comments
Filed Under: 1990's, Mixes
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Oddly enough the first time I ever hear “The Freshman” was at an open mic night at the UIUC Courtyard Cafe back in the fall of 1996. Some guy was playing the song when I commented to Kris, “That is a really great song,” only to hear him reply, “It’s a cover.” That doesn’t change the fact that the song is good. That and I really hate Lenny Kravitz. Really.
MP3 | The Verve Pipe – The Freshman
MP3 | Joe Public – Live & Learn
MP3 | Lenny Kravitz – It Ain’t Over Til It’s Over
MP3 | Squirrel Nut Zippers – Hell
MP3 | Prodigy – Firestarter
Almost Wordless Friday
Posted on 22 August 2008 | No Comments
Filed Under: Blog
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Well, not really. So we’re heading down to Indianapolis this weekend to visit family. Hailey will be super stoked because she’ll have 5 girl cousins ranging in age from 16 to 6 months to hang out with. That is a whole lotta cousins and probably more than I can handle. I might just have to spend my time with my brothers-in-law watching baseball and/or drinking Budweiser.
I haven’t made a playlist for the three-and-a-half hour trip and I don’t think I will. Maybe some Inquisition, Matt Pryor, Lowlights, and Ra Ra Riot or perhaps just silly kids songs. Hell yeah either way. Which brings us to the question/statement, “Weston was so much better with Chuck in the band, weren’t they?” Amy and I were watching old Weston videos on You Tube last night and it totally brought the memories flooding back.
And in way more important news, have you seen the lineup for The Fest 7? I’m not sure how official this is, but if it is even remotely close, I’ll see you in Gainesville for Halloween!
Wordless Thursday
Posted on 21 August 2008 | 3 Comments
Filed Under: Blog
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Review: Young Hearts - The Fight EP
Posted on 21 August 2008 | No Comments
Filed Under: Album Reviews, Punk
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So I remember seeing Saturday Supercade back in like 1998 with the Broadways somewhere just across the river from Louisville. I think it was way back in the woods of Jeffersonville, IN and I think that Pinewood Derby may have also played. I even have there album A Study In Adult Contemporary Punk Rock lying around somewhere. Those were the days, huh?
Anyhow, Chip from Saturday Supercade is now playing in a band called Young Hearts and they play some of the most amazing pop-punk you’ve ever heard. They have an EP out called The Fight that is gritty, shitty, technical, and melodic. It is just about everything you could possibly want from a pop-punk record. Amy thinks they sound like Digger but a little beefier and more raucous and I think that sounds about right.
The only issue I have with the EP is that at only 4 songs, I have to play it over and over and over. Evidently Young Hearts also features ex-members of Dear Tonight. I’m not familiar with ‘em, but they were supposedly pretty good too. Whatever the band members’ pedigrees, on The Fight Young Hearts dishes out hella impassioned hardcore-influenced pop-punk that will appeal to fans of bands like Broadway Calls and Latterman as well as Digger, Bouncing Souls, and Weston. Cheers!
MP3 | Young Hearts – Backs To It The Fight EP
MP3 | Young Hearts – Caught Up The Fight EP
Review: Left Lane Cruiser - Bring Yo' Ass To The Table
Posted on 19 August 2008 | 1 Comment
Filed Under: Album Reviews, Americana, Blues
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Fuck man, this is awesome. I think I probably heard about Fort Wayne, Indiana’s Left Lane Cruiser from the good folks over at Nine Bullets (a great site you should check out BTW) and once I picked up a copy of their latest album, Bring Yo’ Ass To The Table, I haven’t been able to turn it off. Their swampy Mississippi ghetto electric blues just rumble like an earthquake inside my head. I’m not even sure how Joe Evans and Brenn Beck (yeah, a two piece) can actually coax this much ferocious noise from their instruments. I love it.
If you can’t tell what I think of Bring Yo’ Ass To The Table from the few sentences above, here are a few more to convince you. Evans’ blistering electrified slide guitar, his whiskey soaked vocals, and “Sausage Paw” Beck’s thumping are raw like broken, blistered, and bleeding hands splintered and holding a fifth. This shit is greasy, gritty, grimy, and un-fucking-real. I mean, the sweat just drips off this this record thick like motor oil. Left Lane Cruiser is the real deal folks so tap yer toes, stomp yer feet, nod yer head, or do whatever it is you do and go get a copy of Bring Yo’ Ass To The Table.
MP3 | Left Lane Cruiser – Set Me Down Bring Yo’ Ass To The Table
MP3 | Left Lane Cruiser – Porn N’ Beans Bring Yo’ Ass To The Table
