As you might have heard, Ween broke up since this Top 10 list was originally posted (August 2012). But maybe they're talking again? Only time will tell...
"Transdermal Celebration" from Quebec (2003)
I think it's funny that the album's Wiki page says that "Music critic Mark Prindle named Quebec the best album of the 2000s (decade) in an interview." Mark Prindle interviews on Fox News, talking about Ween, referenced in Wikipedia?! Wild. Also, this Pitchfork review is completely ridiculous. I still don't have The Caesar Demos.
Here's all of Quebec. It will be difficult not to talk about almost every tune, but not quite so difficult to skip a couple of them.
"Zoloft" from Quebec (2003)
I like the mötorspeedthrash ("It's Gonna Be a Long Night") as much as anyone else, but it is just more goodness in the vein of White Pepper's "Stroker Ace." Z.O.L.O.F.T. is "an antidepressant of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class..." Serotonin reuptake inhibitor would make a good Ween lyric... maybe with some wordplay on serotinal (late summer). Just spitballin' here.
I started off disliking this song, then a friend said she loved it, then I listened more closely, now I dig it a lot more. Not perfection, but I'd overlooked the greatness within. Seein' it live a few times sure didn't hurt neither.
More sadness... and more psych-prog. There's so much different happening on this record, still true but a bit less so on the more theme-style albums. But much of it's kind of a downer - which can be cool too. And sometimes majestic.
Won't go too deep here - you can listen to All (of) Request Live streaming. It was a live webcast, with setlist by request.
"Where'd The Cheese Go?" from All Request Live (2003)
I'd actually say 2012 was kind of a mess for Gnod overall. But it was an interesting year, though maybe the last that I'm fully into... But no tellin' for sure!
"Genocider" from Chaudelande, Vol. 2 (2012)
If you've been following Gnod closely, you've probably heard this old-school tune quite a few times. Maybe even have a few live recordings of it. Volume II eases in spare & slow with "Man on the Wire," switches up to a Buttholesque double-drum tribal segment, then cools out smooth for the drone-disco final third. And the party ends with another live staple "Entrance" (last 10 minutes of silence optional). Most of it's comprised of jammed-out berserkr drones and anguished howls. Typical.
Check out the combined V.1/V.2 CD-edition over at Bandcamp. Also includes a different-version bonus track of...
"5th Sun" from 7" single (2012)
Then there was the ltd-ed ["very"], now-OOP surprise single from Ireland's Trensmat Records. A label worth closely watching... Plus I think I like the trippy b-side version even better!
Innerspace Broadcasts, Vol. 3 by Black Gnod [Gnod + Black Bombain] (2012)
Further, there was a super-ltd-ed [of 160], now-OOP surprise livejam collaboration with Portugal's Black Bombain on Leeds' Cardinal Fuzz. That's the whole CD right there!
Wow. I'm a little surprised to find it, but there's Rocket Recordings' own ltd-ed [of 1,000], now-OOP split-EP with $hit + $hine. Just don't find myself listening to this one all that often.
"Visions of Load" from Chaudelande, Vol. 1 (2011)
O yeah, and there's a 2013 official video for "Visions of Load" off Chaudelande, Vol. 1 (part of #3, 2011). That tune appears on the only live Gnod tape currently downloadable from their SoundCloud.
O yeah, good ol' Rudyard's on 7/19! The next night - at Austin's Delta Lumber & Millworks - also features Brown Whörnet and Gorch Fock... plus Pocket FishRmen, Tim Kerr's "Freedom" piece, MIGAS, and more.
Can't wait for the DVD of the show! (They also played a couple of shows in Louisiana afterwards, but I can't find any evidence...)
"Bullshit" Ed Hall - live 2003
Further back were the previous reunion gigs, one of which I actually made it to. These were 2 nights back 10 years ago, at the dearly departed Room 710 in Austin. Check out "White House Girls" (again), and "Reading" (again!)...
Can't wait for the DVD of the shows!!
Live in L.A. - 1993
Hey, I'm gonna pick just some live videos for each year I can find...
Time to do some blog Spring Cleaning, cleaning house, house-cleaning... on the old leftovers.
According to Facebook, "Ryan of Taifas and JT of The Escatones decided to start a label." Behind this link to Fayetteville's Taifas Bandcamp is some ***NSFW*** cover art, but on a free album download!
Southern Surf Punk and Roll Vol. 1 (2012) is a Free Download from the label Bandcamp. Description & tags would indicate "Texas (Houston), Arkansas, Oklahoma (Tulsa), Nebraska, and Kansas" - which is pretty wide-ranging!
"Open Up Your Mind" from Bad Things Don't EP (2012)
Ft. Smith, Arkansas' Pagiins do the third track, and they have Bandcamp, with a couple of free 2012 EP's.
"All of my friends are Wolfmen" on Chic-A-Go-Go (11/20/2012)
Omaha, Nebraska's Snake Island! seems like a fun band, and I'll rarely pass up an opportunity to feature the Public Access legend Chic-A-Go-Go.
"Politician" at 3rd Squirrel Records (Georgetown, TX)
Video description calls them "Houston based punk/rock/comedy-core/Carlin-core." Art Institutes official media profile is pretty hilarious:
In 1976, Art Institute were getting regular work playing clubs on Houston's Sunset Strip. It was here that they came to the attention of KISS frontman Gene Simmons, who was so impressed with the band that he paid for their first demo tape. In 1978, their self-titled debut album was released, becoming one of the most successful debut albums ever and bringing hard rock into the musical mainstream.
I think I heard they'd recently broken up. Drag...
I think I'll just push this one out now - grab the free comp & see what you like!
Whenever someone crosses me (or a friend just disagrees about something minor), I occasionally react with at least the thought of "you're one of them."
"My War" by Black Flag, from My War (1983)
A recent invocation of this reminded me of this SPIN profile of QOTSA John Homme...
O yeah, and also after-hours laser tag with the crew.
After doing all the holiday season (oct/nov/dec), I almost slipped up & forgot New Year's Eve.
I think here is literally how this year's series got started, all leading up to this one video:
"Happy New Year" by Shockabilly, from Heaven (1985)
Love that tune! And honestly a lot of Shockabilly...
I'd posted "Pile Up All Architecture " (another classic) on Facebook while on vacation, but I don't think it made it onto the blog itself - until now.
"Congratulations - A Happy New Year Song" by Pink Martini, from Joy To The World (2010)
I dunno. How about some Chinese lounge jazzfolk? A local record store owner was suggesting Pink Martini to me not that long ago. Not sure if that's my thing.
"New Year's Eve" by Tom Waits, from Bad As Me (2011)
Was trying to make it to "Auld Lang Syne," so that works out well. Final cut on the last Waits album, just last year (or 2 years ago, if you're reading this from 2013). Heard it was good, but I've not been keeping up.
This was so fun when we did it for Hallowe'en, let's do it again...
Happy (U.S.) Thanksgiving!
"Turkeey" by Ed Hall, from Love Poke Here (1990)
I never quite figured out why there are cat noises on a song called "Turkeey" [sic]... Ed Hall reuniting this weekend in Austin - so maybe I'll ask them. I expect to be talkin' about this album soon enough.
"Milking the Turkey Jam" by Grateful Dead, live at Kezar Stadium, San Francisco, CA (live rehearsal, 3/21/1975)
Or "Stronger Than Dirt," per the Blues for Allah album (1975). Jazzy, jammy holidays. David Crosby in session apparently.
No, not "Cold Turkey"... Can't find "Turkey Shoot"... No Sandler, nor that recent click-bait crap... Wow, what else is there?
"Ağlarsa Anam Ağlar" by Üç Hür-El, from 7" single (1973)
Yeah, because Anatolian garage-prog psych comes from Turkey! As usual, I'm thankful to Beyond the Wizards Sleeve for this one.
That was harder than expected...
Too late, I realized my mistake: I was focusing too much on the main dish. Where were the songs by The Cranberries? ... using green-bean casserole as a metaphor? ... on the Cornucopia [image above]?
"Thank You, Friends" by Big Star, from Third (1978)
Who needs a jazzy, jammy, Grateful holiday when you could have a sneering, sarcastic Thanksgiving? In the spirit of the season!
"Run to the Hills" by Iron Maiden, from The Number of the Beast (1982)
And/or??
Not sure if advertisements and Vevo are going to make or break YouTube - not cool...
Whoa, I can't believe this wasn't my first post back in the music!
I mean a 3-way reunion of Trance Syndicate alumni? That's really big news. Two of these bands were very central to my regional tastes in the late-'80s & early-'90s (the salad days), and the third was peripheral but definitely there. Let's start at the top...
"Pleasures of the Flesh" from Born in Blood (1990)
In case you didn't click that historical Trance Syndicate link, that was King Coffey's independent record label. And King Coffey was drummer for Butthole Surfers (#1 of 1988, #2 of 1987, #8 of 1993, #3 Live of 2010, #11 Live of 2011) - and his label was really good. Pain Teens ruled the roost in certain Houston circles during that heyday, taking it to the next level.
Discogs: The Pain Teens were formed in Houston, Texas by Bliss Blood and Scott Ayers in 1985 although it took them two years to get around to gigging and putting out an album. Originally a punk band with metal leanings aligned with Houston's punk scene, they soon mutated into something else altogether -- a chaotic and sinister hybrid of punk, noise, tape loops, found sound, samples, exotic instrumentation, and pure unbridled creepiness.
Pain Teens are also gonna be playing the night before, as part of The Axiom 25th Anniversary parties:
Fitzgerald's, Houston, 11/23, tickets @ $10!!
Wiki: The band emerged from the music scene based in and around the Dong Huong, a Vietnamese restaurant-turned-punk club whose proprietor Phong encouraged and hosted loud, obnoxious bands too raw and/or unknown for established clubs. The Dong scene was documented on a cassette compilation called The Polyp Explodes (see Crust), which ultimately brought Ed Hall to the attention of Boner Records owner Tom Flynn and to the unwanted attention of Jim Adler (The Texas Hammer) when a class action lawsuit was filed for loss of hearing and mental anguish of many of the band's fans.
As mentioned above, Crust was instrumental in documenting the emergence of a new generation (post-BHS) of Austin weirdos. I'd say they leaned more abstract on the rock-weird spectrum, but who's to say anymore?
Haven't covered ol' Sebadoh too much here given what a once-upon-a-time favorite they were for me: list appearances at #7, 1993 and #8, 1987, plus some free live stuff.
And they've got a new EP out (well, a few weeks now)! According to the secret EPBandcamp page:
$5 for download, "a taste of our upcoming 2013 album, but, NONE of these songs will be on that album..," "this is our first new material in 14 years ( wtf! )...," and it's got 2 of the classic line-up - Barlow & Loewenstein!
I would say that certainly sounds like Sebadoh! Definitely nice to hear they're back in action, and seems worth a sawbuck to me... Looks like they've been touring pretty regularly for a few years recently, even with Gaffney. Don't remember them ever coming through Texas though.
"On Fire" live at Rudyard's, Houston, TX (ca. ????)
Ha!! Not what I was talking about, but I didn't know about this one & that's just a few blocks from where I live (now).
Per another video's 2006 description from the same poster:
This is from the acoustic tour Sebadoh did a couple of years back. It was Jason lowenstein, Lou Barlow, and a boombox...
Sooo... around 2004 maybe? Looks like they did play Emo's Austin on 02/19/2011. I also live a short distance from the site of the original Emo's Houston, which no longer exists (now). I believe this 1994 show was the only time I saw them live... at the Abyss, on 10/5? Think so.
No, wait!! Lollapalooza 1993, at some dusty paved raceway. Saw Lou walking back to the 2nd stage area in time to miss Dinosaur J. He was wearing a t-shirt with a drawing of Bigfoot with big deer antlers, I said hello, but he seemed kinda in a hurry.
I didn't realize until I read this Slate article on the San Diego Comic Convention, that it is now Love & Rockets' 30th anniversary...
LOS BROS!!
The TCJ's 90's range of 20th Century comics didn't contain any Love & Rockets, but at higher rankings they start to show up. (I really need to resume that series.) Hey look, I used a relevant L&R panel in the TCJ intro/index post. This one:
Arguably the best comic book series of all time, I would almost certainly put it in my personal Top 5. While we're on "Locas" and Jaime, I need that brown La Llorona shirt. And I also found this Hernandez tribute post, part of a 30th celebration series there...
No cartoonist has ever captured the spirit of rock and roll - listening to it, watching it, performing it, defining your life with it - like Jaime Hernandez. Vanishingly few have even come close; most attempts are cringeworthy. Jaime not only nailed the style, and the intensity, and the specific idiom of his punk milieu (the graffito "NO CLASH, SEX PISTOLS OR THE RAMONES IN 1987!" in the panels below is worth more than entire critics' bodies of work), and the nuts-and-bolts stuff like the body language of people playing music on stage, he also chronicled the lives of the characters involved long enough to be basically the only cartoonist ever to explicitly examine what it's like when you grow up and grow older and discover that you no longer look and act and think like someone in the pit at your favorite band's show.
Whereas Jaime's artwork is simply amazing and his story-telling is really, really good (punk rock love in the barrio), his brother Gilbert's artwork is really very good with completely amazing story-telling (ensemble drama in small-town Latin America).
Breaking news! Just yesterday, BoingBoing reported that "Fantagraphics will publish comics in digital format." Love and Rockets: New Stories #1-4 are available now through Comixology.
Young Mammals (Best local debut release of 2006, non-Top 10) are playing tonight at Walter's... no longer On Washington. 7" single release party!!
They used to be called The Dimes back around high school - at the time that self-titled debut was out (2006). It's been awhile since the last release, Carrots (2010). And they're still playing the power- noise-pop -thing.
Guess you'll have to pick up a copy to hear the B-side, or buy the download from Bandcamp...
This was the 'single' off that first album, 2007 video! In a convenience mart!!
"Delilah" from The Dimes (2006)
And ~
"Dragon Wagon" from Carrots (2010)
That's from the second album, once they'd changed names - probably after realizing the number of Dimes out there already...
See you there.
"Gag Reflections" from new 7" (2012)
O! and while I have the "Local Music, "Pop Musik" and "New Release" tags handy, Wild Moccasins also have a 7" out just recently.
"Fade" by Farflung, from White Hills split-EP (2012)
I think I failt to mention this one before, because it sold out so shockingly quick. So yeah, it's a split-EP with one longsong from each band, on a vinyl edition of 1,000 only. Isn't Farflung groovy? [FB]
I can't find the magickal drone-out "To Find the Secret Door" by White Hills [tumblr] anywhere online, but you can get 3 WFMU live-on-radio sets at Free Music Archive instead. So definitely do that!
Just in case you didn't click some of those links, here are the videos that you missed!!
"Pads of Light" by White Hills, from Frying On This Rock (2012)
More recent White Hills...
"Endless Drifting Wreck" by Farflung
About A Wound in Eternity (2008)... how have I not yet written??
Coming to Austin Psych Fest 5: Thee Oh Sees are from San Francisco, and the main singer had been in Coachwhips (who were noisy punx). Sometimes they're still a little noisy & sometimes prettier. The songs don't come off as especially druggy, but the people sure do!
"Contraption/Soul Desert" [live] from Carrion Crawler/The Dream (2011)
That's live at Seattle's KEXP, and you can actually download the MP3 here. Second part is a CAN cover - so bonus points!
"I Need Seed" from Castlemania (2010)
A lil' more jaunty there's.
"Gilded Cunt" from Thee Hounds of Foggy Notion DVD (2008)
On Friday, new Austin Psych Fest info was released. (Blogging news delayed due to being in Las Vegas...) Full line-up announcement is coming on March 27th.
"Orange" from Lollipop (2011)
Some leakage occurred, though - and it looks like The Meat Puppets will be playing too. That's some badass news!! They opened up the #2 Live Shows of 2010, and were really really great.
"Up on the Sun" from Up on the Sun (1985)
Of course they are legends and underground royalty, still going strong. Visit them at their website. And consider picking up some kind of Up on the Sun re-issues. A great one from their ultimate classic period.
New album by Maserati bassist's other band, Vincas.
"Saw Her" by Vincas, from Blood Bleeds (2012)
Stream the whole thing below, and buy it from Bandcamp. Vinyl edition is limited to 100 copies, for $12+ (plus d/l). There's also digital-only version for $5...
It's called Blood Bleeds and clearly sounds nothing like Maserati. Totally rockin' in a sorta-retro garage-punk way!
Just heard about this and flipped through the stream - wanted to pass on the vinyl limits post haste! Now I plan on flat-out diggin' on this... now.
Awhile back, I was looking at something (possibly Hookworms' S/T), and I noticed the name Carl Saff. I knew it from somewhere, but couldn't remember why it was familiar... So I checked around and found 15 PAGES at Discogs!! And that's where it all fell together.
There on the first page, a name from my long-ago past: Pencil.
A post-punk band with an ever-shifting lineup of late 80s-early 90s Indiana University students, Pencil originally consisted of high school friends Carl Saff (guitar) and Matt Wagner (drums) and fellow students Chris Morgan (vocals) and Karl Desch (bass). Pencil rapidly evolved over the course of numerous gigs in the Bloomington, IN basement show scene...
When singer Morgan and bass player Desch left the band post-graduation, singer Rob Davidson and bass player Tyler Tribby joined and the band recorded a self-released seven-inch EP in 1992 which garnered the attention of NYC-based Grass Records.
I have that 7"! (Apparently 2 copies...) And also their debut full length Skantron (1994) on CD.
According to this interwebs page, it was a ltd edition of 300 - and handnumbered. Okay, I had to pull this one out (took awhile to find)... As the internet and plastic sleeve both say, "Comic & Sticker Inside!" Also correct: "clear green vinyl." Comix by Dan Vebber (Two Felipes, The Onion, Futurama, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Daria), and I have numbered #'s 14 and 290 (of 300).
Pencil live, 1993 Bloomington Street Dance
Still with me? So yeah, Pencil was a local Bloomington post-punk/math-rock quartet while I was there. So massive in their impact that they have 1 total video on the entire web. But I liked them enough to buy multiple copies of their 7" EP, and even a CD of their album. (Here's a most idiosyncratic History of Bloomington Music video.)
Anyway, around this time I disappeared from Bloomington, IN. Pencil would soon break up, and Carl Saff would go on to play in the more successful but shorter-lived Neutrino...
"Back to the Map" by Neutrino, from Motion Picture Soundtrack (1999)
They continued in the same soon-to-be-post-rock vein, just a little bit tighter now. And in Chicago. Being back in Texas again, I was unaware of all this history being made. Right now, their second and final album is available at the recently-restored Indiana Musical Family Tree. Also check out the band page at the newly-resumed Epitonic:
Well, like the subatomic particle, the band is definitely hard to pin down. The Chicago trio makes predominately instrumental rock dominated by dark strange chord progressions and minor keys. It's kind of dark, like Slint, and kind of bizarre and mathy, like Sweep The Leg Johnny, but it possesses a language all of its own which you need to hear in order to remotely understand.
Next comes the surprise reveal, where I know this Carl Saff name from...
"E.D.G.A.R." by Emperor Penguin, from Mysterious Pony (2000)
That's right. Emperor Penguin (#4 of some year)! Emperor Penguin, with Bill Cameron!! If you read that Bloomingtonian history, you might see the parallels: the long-forgotten self-released non-cd EP, the later better-remembered releases, the move away from Bloomington to Chicago, ending up as bandmates in Emperor Penguin? And then the later switch to something completely different.
I really like this act a bunch. Since the Family Tree is back... just go to their Emperor Penguin page, for almost the entire discography. Now including Extreme Gaming (1999), which hadn't been there before. You can still get Emperor Penguin CD's on the internet, which wouldn't be a bad idea. (iTunes and Amazon downloads too.)
"Theme from Moon Base" by Emperor Penguin, from Shatter the Illusion of Integrity, Yeah (1999)
Just one more from E.P., before we move on. The most recent musical project from Mr. Saff appears to be The Warmth, which I have just now discovered.
Making albums through at least 2009. Streaming music and purchases at their website. You can also preview or download multiple albums for free at the Musical Family Tree, if you want to check them out.
But none of this is why Carl Saff has 15 pages of Discogs...
No, it's the Technical category, all because of Saff Mastering.
Just an endless stream of albums, really picking up in the mid '00s - around the time Saff mastered Grails' Black Tar Prophecies, Vol's 1, 2, & 3 (2006, and on reissue #19 of 2010). Lots of Grails and Starless & Bible Black, some stuff for Important Records and Temporary Residence Ltd., even some Houston releases. But the one that really freaked me out to see was Forest Swords' Dagger Paths EP (#21, 2010)... Unexpected!
Mastering, with Carl Saff!!
If you'd like to learn more about Audio Mastering, here's the relevant Wikipedia page. And be sure to buy every single album listed under "Clients" on the Saff Mastering website!
