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For Your Ears
Jam Packed Wednesday with Scott & Charlene’s Wedding, Daughn Gibson, Dirty Beaches and Lace Curtain
First off, there's no Scott and there's no Charlene in Scott and Charlene's Wedding. It's just NYC via Melbourne, Australia songwriter Craig Dermody. Also of note, Dermody is a slacker in the Malkmus tradition. On the surface it seems he ain't even tryin' -- One can hear the chuckle of a man unprepared for the tape at the start of "Fakin' NYC," the guitars are conspicuously out of tune, and Dermody isn't particularly concerned wi...READ MORE
Do Not Think About Diarrhea Planet, Listen to Diarrhea Planet
Diarrhea Planet is a horrible name. Horrible. Try to look up one of their videos on YouTube and YouTube's secret algorithm may suggest you want to watch a video of a kid with explosive diarrhea at a swimming pool. It happened to me and I did not click. Understandably, I avoided Diarrhea Planet for a very long time. I put them in the same category of bands as Wampire, Tunabunny, and all of those all caps missing vowels bands. Life'...READ MORE
Play Me: “Sonic Pearl” by Destruction Unit
Destruction Unit's "Sonic Pearl," is the type of track which got all stoked about these noisenik punks in the first place. It sounds like breaking things, with rhythm and guitars. Their album, the Void LP released earlier this year, unfortunately, was only half about breaking things and half about wanking to feedback. My message to Destruction Unit for the new album they have planned on Sacred Bones later this year is a simple on...READ MORE
Play Me: “Glam” by The UV Race
UV Race hail from the same Melbourne, Australia scene which has produced The Eddy Current Suppresion Ring, Dick Diver, Total Control, Boomgates, Bits of Shit, and probably a whole mess of other bands cooler than American bands. Considering ECSR's Mikey Young was an early supporter of UV Race, a frequenter producer of UV Race, and a collaborator with Dan Stewart of UV Race in Total Control, it should be no surprise that they share...READ MORE
Play Me: “Nail Polish” by BAMBARA
BAMBARA's approach to punk rock is like an everything bagel -- Keep throwing more and more stuff into the recipe and see what sticks once its cooked. The noise on a track like "Nail Polish" is relentless. There's the unhinged guitar screech and industrial clatter of A Place to Bury Strangers and the mad professor array of electronics used by the likes of Parts and Labor. The drums are big and booming and played at a breakneck pac...READ MORE
Play Me: “It’s In You It’s In Me” by Sloan
The last time the long-running, Canadian power pop act, Sloan, came through Cleveland, they were celebrating the 20th anniversary of their 1992 album, Twice Removed with a two set show which included the album from front-to-back and a second set of their greatest hits. Inspired by how well the anniversary tour was going, they mentioned how they'd record a new album and then do a similar event for the follow-up to Twice Removed, O...READ MORE
Top Jam: “I’ll Be Gone” by Oblivians
Rolling Stone says its been over 15 years. Pitchfork says 16. Pitchfork likes to be exact. Either way, it's been a long fuckin' time since the Oblivians released their last studio album, Play 9 Songs with Mr Quintron, a rough-edged set of punked up southern soul, gospel, and rhythm and blues music which should be required listening for any rock artist who thinks they have soul. Nobody, neither an established act like the Black Ke...READ MORE
Jam Packed Wednesday with The National, Laura Marling, Hebronix (ex-Yuck), and Pure X
As of this afternoon, approximately 712,000 people have listened to The National's new single, "Demons," on Youtube. I was not one of them. I may have sampled a few seconds here and a few seconds there, but I never really settled in with it. The National need your time, like that. "Demons," from their forthcoming album, Trouble Will Find Me (4AD on 5.12), like much of their best work, isn't the type of track to awe on a sample or ev...READ MORE
Play Me: “My God is the Sun” by Queens of the Stone Age
"My God Is the Sun" may not provide us with any breaking insight into the mind of Josh Homme and his Queens of the Stone Age, but six years on from their last release (2007's Era Vulgaris) it is refreshing to have this hard-charging front man and band back. Granted, your idea of refreshing has to be of the relentless kind. And, a love of speedy, blues guitar helps, too. Yeah, your refresher probably needs some pummel in there, wh...READ MORE
A Jam Packed Wednesday with Weekend, BEAK>, Pharmakon, and Savages
As the lead track from their second full-length (Jinx is due out July 23rd on Slumberland), Weekend's "Mirror" sets the stage for a another round atmospheric post-punk and shattering screech delivered in equal measure. On record, song is never sacrificed for the sake of the noise heathens for this is a band who knows their craft and knows their place. ------ Conventional wisdom dictates covering a classic is never easy. Geo...READ MORE
Top Jam: “Monomania” by Deerhunter
While revisiting some of the press upon the announcement of Deerhunter's forthcoming album Monomania (May 7th on 4AD), I encountered references to Bo Didley, The Ramones, and Ricky Nelson. The phrase "nocturnal garage" popped up a lot, too, whatever that means, as did the words FOG MACHINE / LEATHER / NEON. Basically, Deerhunter put out a cryptic press release and oddball write-ups followed. And now, that we have the ti...READ MORE
