The Fresh and Onlys to Do Spring Tour

Rising post-punk, garage, pyshc, everything rockers The Fresh and Onlys are touring. Again. After releasing approximately a billion 7 inches and LPs last year, across about as many labels, the band is hitting the road to bring utterly great music to everyone. And it's not some simple 10 date tour. Oh no. This is a month-long trek across the US with soon to be label mates King Khan (this time with the Shrines). All this after they just finished recording their third LP, due out on In The Red sometime early this year. Don't not ask me how they are managing all this. They're either going to collapse from exhaustion, or turn into pure energy. Which ever comes first.

(mp3) The Fresh and Onlys-Peacock and Wings (via CHOCOLATE BOBKA)
(mp3) The Fresh and Onlys-Invisible Forces

Tour Dates:

02/24 San Francisco, CA Rickshaw Stop (Noise Pop)
03/12 Goleta, CA The Hard To Find Showspace #
03/13 Los Angeles, CA Spaceland #
03/17 - 03/20 Austin, TX SXSW
03/23 Tallahassee, FL The Engine Room %
03/24 Orlando, FL Backbooth %
03/26 Tampa, FL Crowbar %
03/27 Atlanta, GA The Earl &
03/29 Carborro, NC Cat's Cradle &
03/30 Asheville, NC Orange Peel &
03/31 Chattanooga, TN JJ's Bohemia &
04/01 Nashville, TN Exit In &
04/02 Memphis, TN Hi-Tone Cafe &
04/03 Birmingham, AL Bottletree &
04/05 Austin, TX Emo's Alternative Lounge Outside &
04/06 Dallas, TX Sons of Hermann Hall &
04/08 Denver, CO Bluebird &
04/09 Salt Lake City, UT Urban Lounge &
04/10 Boise, ID Neurolux &
04/11 Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom &
04/12 Vancouver, BC Venue &
04/13 Seattle, WA Neumos &
04/15 San Francisco, CA Bimbo's 365 Club &

# = w/ Wounded Lion
% = w/ Woven Bones
& = w/ King Khan & The Shrines

Links:

The Fresh and Onlys on Myspace
Woodsist Records (semi-current label)

Single Review: Carrie Nations-Self Titled

First the bad news; Carrie Nations formed in the early 00’s, recorded an apparently legendary album for Plan-It-X Records, and then broke up in 2004. This 7 inch collects all their single output, a split with This Bike is a Pipe Bomb, and another split that never came out. And I’ll be dammed if it’s not some of the best pop-punk out there.

What’s great about Carrie Nations is how they’re willing to stretch the boundaries of the genre and come out as original. The lyrics are based on self-deprecation, hating the world, and girls as usual for pop-punk. However, there’s a Pavement influence on them, warping them into cryptic puzzles for you to solve over the days. There is also a late 80’s collage rock/ early 90’s alt rock influence on the guitar work, making the riffs more angular and buzzy than normal. Plus the band isn’t afraid to stretch out the songs, exploring the great sounding outros into hyper, mini-solos. This very prominent on the A side with tracks like “Mangum” which reaches Ergs level of perfection.

This is a great tribute to a fallen band and more of these should be put out, along with the sick cover art. This is absolutely essential pop-punk in my mind. Only 500 copies, so go get it now.

(mp3) Carrie Nations-TriCounty Vampire

Links:

Carrie Nations Myspace (Deficient)
Buy it Now, At Stankhouse Records

EP Review: Benjamin Shaw-I've Got the Pox, The Pox is What I Got

I kept finding it harder and harder to write the review for this EP, and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why, until now of course. In the simplest of words, ignoring all the expected critic-ness that is sometimes contained in these reviews, this is just a great debut that I am utterly happy to have stumbled upon.

The best way to describe this EP is that Benjamin Shaw literally took sections of his life and turned it into this album. Every sound and noise was created only by Shaw himself (which is pretty unbelievably), along with the EP art, and even the horribly scrawled (in a good way) lyric page. Heck, he probably put in the staples to the cover sleeve. But this is all done for a specific reason, that being to teleport you into the mind of Benjamin Shaw.

Like most acoustic-based music, there is a level of sadness and longing in the record. Ok, there is a HUGE level of sadness and longing, but that doesn’t make the EP any less great. It’s sweet, it will make you laugh, it might bring a tear to your eye, and will tap into a magnitude of other emotions that you may or may not have experienced in your life. And it’s not just the lyrics, but the instrumentation that adds to the uniqueness of the EP. No other folk record in recent mind has had this level of fuzz or experimentalism to it that this one has. Take the opening track "Thanks for All the Biscuits" which opens with a sound collage of sorts of people’s voices under a humming sound effect before opening to a sweet sounding guitar and a song about wanting to be with your loved one before diving back into the sound collage for the ending. However, it just gets worse for poor Benjamin from there. He is separated from his love on "12,000 Sentinels" with just a wobbly piano keys to guide his tale. The tale told on "Chocolate Girl" is just deeply sad and few songs transfer the longing of the author as well as this one and the brass that comes in rises it to unbelievable heights. "When I Fell Over the City" is the comic relief song . . . for the listener. For Shaw it’s pretty brutal self-deprecation with the line "there’s a fine line between talented and me" being the song’s course, with a jangly and uplifting guitar and melody to keep it partly hidden. The centerpiece of the EP comes at the very end though with "I’ve Got the Pox, the Pox is What I Got". A 10 minute opus it contains Shaw’s best twisted lyrics about longing and loving yet in the first part before flowing into a sea of static, and emerging later to a new depressing song at the other end. Shaw is so good though, it goes by in a mental 2 minutes.

In this internet age, it’s hard for someone to come out of just about absolutely nowhere and pull something like this off right under the noses of everyone. It balances sadness with humor, bleakness with hope. Shaw may be laughing, but it’s with a mouth of blood, and I think he likes it like that.

(mp3) Benjamin Shaw- Thanks for All the Biscuits

Links:

Benjamin Shaw Website

Buy it Here, At Audio Anti-Hero

Year End List: Top 10 Underappreciated Blogs of 2009

In a world of Brooklyn Vegans, Kentucky Blogs, and Gorillas against Bears, it’s easy to forget there are tons of other blogs, run by people who have day jobs, who are trying to get their musical thoughts out, and the hidden bands that they want the whole world to hear. And usually they wind up going unnoticed because they can check Pitchfork or Stereogum and go on with their day. Well no more! These blogs helped me discover so much music over the year, and they deserve everyone’s recognition. And no, I did not rip this idea off from Pop Tarts Suck Toasted.

A Few Side Notes: I am sucking up to no one in this post. All these blogs are great and deserve to be read by as many music fans as possible. Also, I only considered BLOGS for the post, so that ‘s why great candidates like Off Tempo or Daytrotter aren’t listed. Finally, this is the first of many upcoming 2009 end-of-year posts, so expect more on the way.

10. CHOCOLATE BOBKA-True, everyone in NYC probably either reads this blog or goes to one of their many hosted shows. But for those outside that magical realm, start reading now. CHOCOLATE BOBKA is not only great because of how ahead of the curve they are on practically everything, but all the different genres they cover as well.

9. Look at Me, I Made a Blog- Yes, there hasn’t been a post in almost three months (I hear she got a radio show that’s keeping her busy), but while it was posting, I Made a Blog made some really great posts. The name alone should tell you how uncoincide the author was. Her concert reviews were/are always something to look forward to and I can only hope she come back soon.

8. Weekly Tape Deck-The only Texas blog to make the list, but it made the list for good reason. It's really, really good. A few short posts a day is all it takes for this site to guide me to my next mp3 obsession or insanely bizarre music video they manage to dig up. There track record for finding great 7 inches is also almost unmatched on the web.

7. The Unblinking Ear- And you thought Pitchfork was elitist. For three years, Unblinking has obsessed with a fine-toothed comb over every garage/punk release, both famous and utterly obscure, and tearing anything that did not meet his standards to shreds. He’s like a slightly nicer Steve Albini. The worst part is he’s usually right. Now if only he would post more often.

6. The Devil Has the Best Tuna-I have yet to see another blog like this, probably because how hard it is to pull off. Almost everyday this UK based writes about one obscure band, filling the post full of info, mp3s, and videos. Everyday! Not even Pitchfork can match that rate. Even better, because the author’s tastes are so varied, it’s hard to go a week without discovering a new band from this site.

5. Raven Sings the Blues- Raven Sings the Blues is just nice to look. The presentation, format, everything is just nice to look at that. And when you spend as much as I do staring at a computer screen, that winds up mattering. But it’s more than that. The writing is short, usually no more than a paragraph, but in it they manage to capture everything that needs to be said. Plus, what they cover usually is some very addictive shit.

4. Expressway to My Skull- AKA The Unblinking Ear’s older, more consistent brother. Really, next to Terminal Boredom, this might be the premiere site for all your garage and punk rock needs. Not only is this guy constantly digging up new bands, he’s also putting together some very wicked podcasts. And of course, the mountain of 7", 12", and LPs can get you selling out $50 per post. I mean who else has a monthly posted dedicated to reviewing cassettes?!

3. The Tape Is Not Sticky-The Tape is Not Sticky is everything I hope to be as a blogger. Nice look, timly posts, short yet good reviews of albums. *sigh*. Well, all I can for now is that’s it is really good, especially for it’s willingness to blog about so much more music than most blogs would willingly cover. And for that, The Tape Is not Sticky, deserves an award. Now can someone explain the name?

2. Get Off The Coast-At first glance, Get Off the Coast may come off as a Gorilla vs. Bear rip-off. The same short posts about one band followed by a few mp3s. The same obsession over drug and lo-fi infused songs. But look closer, and you’ll see Get off the Coast really is all it’s own. While Gorilla sometimes feels like they have no passion left, Coast’s posts always have that spark of caring about the music that means everything. Plus have you seen the blog art?! How can you not love it?

1. The Great Pumpkin-Full disclosure: The Great Pumpkin’s blogger is probably my best blog friend. We constantly chat back and forth and music is constantly exchanged. However, I can say without any fear of regret that The Great Pumpkin is probably one of the best blogs on the web. Everything posted has a nice touch of love to it, everything from singles, hidden LPs, concert reviews, plus some actually well down columns to boot. And he has even started recording the concerts with a dinky camera now, adding a nice lo-fi feel to the blog and bringing some new songs to the masses as well. If I had my way everyone would read this blog, but for now, this is all I can do.

Album Review: Various Artists- Messthetics: #107 D.I.Y '78-81 London III

Wow. Just bloody wow. Those thoughts entered my mind more times than I can count while I listened to this compilation. And really there is no better way to describe it. This a true testament to everything independent, D.I.Y., and post-punk music stands for, and I can't believe I just discovered these CDs now.

Messthetic is a CD series started by Hyped 2 Death records, with this series attempting to collect and compile the thousands of singles, LPs, and cassettes released in the UK between 1978 to 1981 with each volume being dedicated to a certain section of the UK, this one the third dedicated to London. Working perfectly in the CD format, this obviously is a true act of musical love. The label heard probably spent months tracking down all these release that about 500 people probably knew about, tops. Heck, they even pull out live recordings for bands that probably played less than 6 shows. And it's not just find these releases and bringing them to light that's so impressive. The thick liner notes give detailed accounts of every band. Interviews are conducted with old band members, how they were connected to the scene, where they are now, and even photos of the bands have been managed to be pulled up, along with pictures of the long forgotten releases. One of the best parts of these liner notes is actually a history of Dining Out records, one of the first D.I.Y. record labels that was started by and helped members of the London scene. Really engrossing stuff for a music nerd like myself, and it is an extremely well written snap shot of the scene.

This comp. would not work if the music on it was bad, and thankfully almost everything on this release is a lost gem rediscovered. these were the band's opening for the Desperate Bicycles and Young Marble Giants. They had absolutely no outside influences beside themselves and the other scenesters, and as such every element of lo-fi or weirdness is proudly incorporated in the mix. Jelly Babies' "Roller Skate" is pure 77 Talking Head nervous energy sped up to 45. Six Minute War's "Weatherman " is a great guitar driven synth-pop track. Demon Preacher's "Royal Northern" is pure post-punk greatness, akin to Mission of Burma at their catchiest. Methodisha Tune come off as bored or sparse Beatles, and that is meant in a good way. Multiple horns pop up from Stepping Talk, 49 Americans, and Occult Chemistry with varying degrees of success, but still are very neat. Flags preview no wave, while the songs Steppers and Jangletties have are just plain super catchy post-punk meets slight new wave tunes for the ages. 49 Americans have a song based on Newton's Laws and experiment with every instrument under the sun on another. While not everything works, Pattern's "The Bishop" a self-indulged, free-form, nonsense piece that had to be edited down for the comp, still manages to add to the feel and warmth of the CD. Every element and subgenre of post-punk, both in style and lyrics, is represented here and it is just great. This is what every music nerd hopes find under their Christmas' tree, and I can't wait to see the next volume.

Links:

Hyped 2 Death Records

Buy the CD Here, at Hyped 2 Death Records

Note: If you wish to contribute knowledge of or were in a forgotten '78-'81 D.I.Y band, and which to contribute to a forthcoming volume, contact chuck@hyped2death.com

Los Campesinos! Premiere Video, Announce Single, Stream

The always, and I mean always, great Los Campesinos! have been kind enough to offer their fans a stream of their entire new album Romance is Boring on their Myspace page, more than likely to combat the recently leaked album.

Also, the band has announced the details for their second single from the new album, properly the the title track from Romance is Boring. It will be released on February 15, with the b-side titled "Too Many Flesh Suppers", which was inspired by B.S. Johnston and based around repetitive drum beats and bass lines. All the a-side is also a wonderfully Los Campesinos! track, jangle guitar riffs with pure energy vocals and some increasingly evil lyrics from Gareth. They also premiered the video for the song, the story of a bad marrige, a crazy and ignored kid, and being beaten by a baseball bat.

Romance is Boring 7" Single

1. Romance is Boring
2. Too Many Flesh Suppers

Links:

Los Campesinos! Website/Blog
Los Campesinos! Myspace

Single Review: Jeans Wilder/Best Coast Split

I was so excited to hear about this split. Not only was it another excuse to hear/blab about Best Coast, but spilts almost always lead to great band discoveries, usually sounding similar to the artist you bought the single for in the first place. And Jeans Wilder do not disapponit. They are what Grizzly Bear would sound like if they decided to listen to Joy Division and moved to California. Dark and forbidding, all based around a repetitive piano riff, drum beat, and thumping base line, with the perfectly timed distorted drum machine thrown in at the right moments. It’s the layered harmonies that get really define the song though, starting perfectly insync before the female singer’s voice becomes more and more distorted and high pitched while the male's stays steady, all the while both wailing out the line “Such a motherfucking tough guy” over and over again. Just great.

Will I ever shut up about Best Coast? Probably not. Pop Tarts Suck Toasted have The Antlers, I have Best Coast. That’s why I was so excited to learn she was releasing yet another song/single to the world. Admittedly, this song has been floating around since last year in a demo form, but now it has been perfected, and with what I believe is another added verse. It has a great Where the Boys Are cassette feel to it i.e. little percussion and just Bethany singing and strumming her uber-distorted guitar to lo-fi surf pop perfection, which is something I’ve missed slightly from her newer releases. This is just a great single, and with the rate the pre-orders went by, I don’t expect this to last. Wait at your own risk.

Links:

Jeans Wilder Myspace

Best Coast Myspace

Buy it Here, at Atelier Ciseaux

R.I.P. Jay Reatard

What needs to be said? They guy was a bloody genius. So sorry to hear he died. My thoughts go out to his friends and family.

Jay Reatard is dead. Long live Jay Reatard.

Spoon to Tour with Deerhunter,Micachu and The Shapes, and The Strange Boys

Possible tour of the year alert! Spoon, who will be releasing their 7th album Transference on January 18 on Merge, of course decided to kick off their upcoming in where else but their home town of Austin. Specifically, for South By Southwest. And they're bring some really fucking great bands with them. Austin's own snotty punk kids The Strange Boys for the first half of the tour, pint-sized electro twichers Micachu and the Shapes for the second half (please come to Austin!), and the legendary shoegaze masters Deerhunter for the whole tour. Get those wallets ready for when you have to buy 100 dollar ticket from a guy outside the club due to the whole tour being sold out.

Spoon Tour Dates:

02-14 Glasgow, Scotland - King Tut's
02-15 Manchester, England - Academy 3
02-16 London, England - Electric Ballroom
02-18 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
02-19 Cologne, Germany - Luxor
02-20 Berlin, Germany - Frannz Club
03-17 Austin, TX - Stubbs (NPR SXSW showcase) %
03-18 New Orleans, LA - Republic %@
03-19 Birmingham, AL - Workplay Soundstage %@
03-20 Atlanta, GA - Tabernacle %@
03-22 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club %@
03-23 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club %@
03-24 Richmond, VA - The National %@
03-26 New York, NY - Radio City Music Hall %@
03-27 Boston, MA - House of Blues %@
03-29 Toronto, Ontario - Sound Academy %@
03-30 Royal Oak, MI - Royal Oak Music Theater %@
04-01 Chicago, IL - Aragon Ballroom %^
04-02 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue %^
04-03 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue %^
04-05 Denver, CO - Ogden Theater %^
04-06 Denver, CO - Ogden Theater %^
04-07 Salt Lake City, UT - In the Venue %^
04-09 Seattle, WA - Moore Theater %^
04-10 Seattle, WA - Moore Theater %^
04-11 Vancouver, British Columbia - Orpheum Theater %^
04-13 Oakland, CA - Fox Theater %^

% with Deerhunter
@ with the Strange Boys
^ with Micachu and the Shapes

Links:

Spoon Website

Deerhunter Website

Micachu and the Shapes Website
The Strange Boys Myspace

Album Reivew: Nana Grizol-Ruth

Aw yes, the sophomore album. The album which proves whether a band can live up to the glory that was their debut. Nana Grizol’s task was even harder than most bands, having to create an album as sweet, catchy, and as much as an emotional roller coaster that was the horribly underrated 2008 mini masterpiece Love It, Love It. But of course, Nana Grizol being the wonders they are, manage to pull it off with great folk-punk and Elf Power influenced riffs, blazing horns, and some of Theo’s best song writing and story telling to date.

The easiest difference between the two albums is the lack of horns, at least compared to Love It, Love It. Many of the band’s horn players left after their early 2009 tour, leading the horns to be more scattered through the album. While this just plain sucks, there are upsides to this. Namely, improved song-craft and writing.

Not that Nana were slouching in either department previously, just that it leads to a newer sound. The riffs are more up front as well as Theo’s punk influence. Multiple songs are less than 2 minutes long, and the crunchy riffs of “From Here “, as well as its guitar solo are something you would have never expected Nana Grizol to produce. Nana Grizol’s sweetness is still well in tack though. “Atoms” is just as tender as “Motion in the Ocean” and the instrumental “Alice and Gertrude” has a wonderful Beirut quality to it, complete with French sounding horns (I didn’t say they were all gone).

But just like their first effort, it’s the way everything mushes together that makes the album work so well. Love is still what’s on everyone’s mind, but in a new light. To view past loves as wonderful events in their lives, getting past them, and living life to the fullest. “Blackbox” incapacitates this perfectly starting off as a tale of two ex’s still being upset at each other, one still liking the other, and ending with the realization of how short life is by listening to old blackbox recordings. All incased in a post-power pop style, impeccable horns, and a wonderful piano riff at the end. “Cynicism”, a bittersweet little tune, is proof of their lyrical genius with the line “Cynicism isn’t wisdom, it’s just a lazy way to say that you’ve been burned.” and by the end of the songs you may think they’re right . . . in a nihilistic type of way. “For Things That Haven’t Come Yet” might give “Everything You Ever Hoped or Worked For” competition for catchiest song Nana Grizol has written. Scott Spillens’ horn playing really shines through, and the jangly riff is more infects than swine flu. It’s paired perfectly with the lyrics, an oral representation of the mind rushing from a breakup and if it’s worth caring so much for. Try 500 Days of Summer in 3 minute song form.

Naysayers might say this isn’t Love It, Love It, and really it isn’t. There is less tweeness, the short songs will through you off, and you will miss the horns even though they are there. But for a band that went through internal changes, to a merge more mature on the other end isn’t surprising, and Nana Grizol aged very gracefully. At the end of the day, Ruth is a grower, and that is meant in the best possible sense.

(mp3) Nana Grizol-Galaxies
(mp3) Nana Grizol-For Things That Haven’t Come Yet (via The Great Pumpkin)

Links:

Nana Grizol Myspace
Buy the CD/LP of Ruth Here, At Orange Twin Records

New Year's Resolutions For The Creative Intersection

I know many, many people make these every year without pulling of any of them, but I am dead serious with these. Not only on my sake, but to make this blog more readable/enjoy able for you folks as well. So make sure I keep up with these. Pestering me and constant emails are recommend for this. So without further ado, what I can do make this blog better:

• Include more of my voice in the posts (thus the parenthesis).


• Work on my spelling, grammar, and missing words. (Thankfully no one has complained about this yet, but it does make the blog less professional).


• Review a lot more music (so many records reported on, so many not covered).


• Make more a lot more news posts (who knows what I could have turned readers on to if I had reported on it).


• Make the blog look nicer (at least put in a bloody logo picture in the top).


• Go to/cover more shows in Austin (always a plus on my side).


• Start setting up shows in Austin (anyone with tips on this, PLEASE email me).


• Do more of my "regular" posts (only 2 "Lost Gems" and 8 "Bands To Care About" this year? Pathetic).


• Start posting posts on time for once (like this one, which should have gone up two days ago)


• Discover/listen as much music as possible to make 2010 the best year for music yet (but can it bet up any year from the 00's?)
  

Still, despite all this evident self-deprecation and work it is to keep this blog working, I have heard so much great music, made great friends, and gotten on stage more times this year then in the last 10. Plus I have 13 people reading this blog, which is about 13 more than I ever expected to have. Can't wait to see what I can pull off in 2010!

P.S. Feel free to submit your own recommendations to improve the blog. Their probably a lot better than mine.

Nana Grizol January Tour Dates

The always great and underappreciated Nana Grizol have yet another tour going on, this time hitting all the mideast, midwest, and west coast spots they missed on their November tour. Plus, the tour is to back thier brand new album Ruth, something I've been excited about since October. You know honstly have no excuse to not seem them no. So go, this blog can wait.

Tour Dates:

1/02 - Athens, Ga. @ 40 Watt Club (Album release party) w/ The Awesomelies, New Socks, Black Mold Lightning
1/08 - New Orleans, La. @ Allways Lounge
1/09 - Austin, Texas @ Club 1808 w/ Geoff Reacher
1/10 - Las Cruces, N.M. @ Train Yard
1/11 - Tucson, Ariz. @ The Parasol Project
1/13 - Los Angeles, Calif. @ The Smell
1/14 - Santa Barbara, Calif. @ Biko Garage
1/15 - Berkeley, Calif. @ 924 Gilman w/ The Max Levine Ensemble
1/16 - Ashland, Ore. @ Diversions w/ The Max Levine Ensemble
1/17 - Portland, Ore. @ Satyricon w/ The Max Levine Ensemble
1/18 - Olympia, Wash. @ TBA w/ The Max Levine Ensemble
1/19 - Seattle, Wash. @ Vera w/ The Max Levine Ensemble
1/20 - Missoula, Mont. @ Zootown Arts Center w/ The Max Levine Ensemble
1/21 - Salt Lake City, Utah @ Kilby Court w/ The Max Levine Ensemble
1/22 - Denver, Colo. @ TBA w/ The Max Levine Ensemble
1/23 - Omaha, Nebr. @ TBA
1/24 - Lawrence, Kans. @ Replay Lounge
1/25 - Saint Louis, Mo. @ Antarctica

Link:

Nana Grizol Myspace