The Real Roky

Roky Erickson is a legend. There will be more on him here soon. But for now, prepare your ticket-buying fingers if you're in the Dallas area.
More information in the Dallas Observer.
Here is the link.

Big who, you ask? Bigloo, I answer

Full disclosure: I've known the guys in Bigloo for a long time. Ranging from 7 to 22 years. And I've been a fan since they first formed 10 years ago and played only a handful of originals mixed with a shitload of classic rock covers.
So I've had a ringside seat to watch them evolve into the pleasant, 70s AOR rock band that not only takes me back to the simpler time of my childhood riding in my mom's car as she smoked pot with her friends, but it also brings me to the place I want to be right now. I'm just into my 30s, and I still want to go out and hear live music. But I don't want to stand up, and I don't want to be around college kids who think they can hold their liquor but can't or old fucks who think that Texas music means Stevie Ray and Stevie Ray impersonators. I want something that speaks to who I am. Whoever that is. But these guys are looking, too, and I appreciate the company.
These guys aren't trying to fit a Texas-shaped mold, and thank god. They feed on their influences, digest them with their own enzymes so that the mixture is wholly theirs, and then they regurgitate it up into the baby-bird mouths of their audience. I know that sounds disgusting, but think about how delicious that would be if you were a baby bird.
Sidewinder is the new album. And I think you'll find the name apt. There is no single direction in style. Maybe the cohesiveness of the album suffers because of that, but I prefer a little variety. Unless I'm listening to AC/DC.
I'm no music critic, so I never do an album justice with my silly words. I'm going to attempt to include some MP3s for your listening pleasure. But if I can't, you can hear and buy some songs here. And if you come out to a show, I swear on my deadbeat dad's future grave that you will have a good time.

No soothsayer be I

Don't let the other guy scare you off of some good bands. The Decemberists, for instance, are fantastic. They're main weakness is how literate the lyrics are. Which can be off-putting when you're ready to settle down to some fuck-a-bitch hip-hop or we've-got-big-balls rock. But sometimes you (meaning "I") want to feel smarter than you are (meaning "I am"). And the music itself is very accessible.
However, he's got a point with the current state of hip-hop, though I'll add that it takes a lot of digging to find the still-existing good stuff. There was a time toward the end of the 90s when I thought we were entering a Renaissance of rap. I was discovering Mos Def, Talib Kweli, The Roots, Common, The Coup, Dead Prez, Rawkus Records, etc., and imagining radio stations crammed with songs of substance. Gangsta rap would wither and die (sorry for the Judas complex, Snoop), and the bling, liquor and weed songs would seem trite to fans craving something real, something with a message to lead us to social revolution. But I've never been able to predict the future of music.
I also thought Beck's Midnite Vultures would be huge and give people something to fuck to for years. And I said that defunct Dallas band Chomsky with their XTC tendencies would be the blueprint for hip, intelligent 21st century radio rock and subsequently lay waste to all the crappy pop-punk bands.
So I'm an idiot.

Kicking and Screaming

I'd like to compare this to being forced to listen - and attempt to enjoy - groups like Frog Eyes, Xiu Xiu, Beck, the Decemberists or Mars Volta.

NEW PORT RICHEY, Florida (AP) -- A woman forced an 83-year-old housemate to smoke crack cocaine so she could steal personal information to get a credit card and run up more than $3,000 in charges, authorities said.

Pasco County sheriff's investigators accused Theresa M. Stanley-Morgan, 41, of getting the older woman to smoke the drug at least twice to make it easier to exploit her financially.

Stanley-Morgan was arrested April 28. She admitted to investigators that she used Shirley Hathaway's name, birth date and Social Security number to open the account, a sheriff's report said.

Hathaway and a witness told investigators that Stanley-Morgan forced Hathaway to smoke a lit crack pipe, the report said.

Stanley-Morgan was in jail Monday on $23,000 bail, charged with criminal use of personal identification, use of another person's ID without permission and retail theft, according to jail records. Records did not indicate if she had a lawyer.

The sheriff's office said more charges were pending and asked the court not to reduce her bail.

It's really just not worth the effort.

Wilco add...

Anyone interested in the new Wilco, titled Sky Blue Sky, can watch a live clip of one of the songs on Amazon. I would add it here if I could, but you have to link to it -----> HERE

Rap is Dead?

I've pretty much become a believer that rap is dead... at least the gangsta/thug/slapaho/ice version that the labels, radio and all those stupid award shows try to cram down buyers' throats. It's totally like what happened to 80s hair metal. While the first 2 Van Halen records were great, Warrant's Cherry Pie, White Lion's Wait and Whitesnake's Is This Love, not great.

Like all trends, people get sick of getting force-fed Crap, and that's what's happening once again with Black Eyed Peas, Young Jeezy and whatever else is blasting from the ear buds of pizzafaced teenagers in Omaha (I suppose).

To make (or not to make) my point. Check out this badass Ratatat remix of a Notorious B.I.G.'s Party and Bullshit [Click here, listen to song] It's a great example of why rap is dead -- because the new stuff can't hold its ground next to the old stuff.

Here's their awesome mix of Devin Da Dude's The Mule to round it off. Anyone else think Rap is dead? Or at least will be forced back to its roots?

Steady She Goes

While I did say The Hold Steady kind of remind me of Springsteen, but that's probably only because of his storytelling style. Now, I kind of think they're more what it would be like if Randy Newman did more drugs, had more friends and fronted the E Street Band. But that's all good, and they're great in doses... But man, the stories in their songs make me feel old sitting here at my desk.
Somebody put a straight jacket on that man!

Am I the only one here?

I used to have a writing partner for this site. Where did he go? If he were here, he'd tell you that we're going to see The Hold Steady in June at a tiny, tiny club in Denton, Texas. And he'd tell you that they remind him of peak-era Springsteen. And upon listening to them right now, I don't disagree. I realize some of you cling to that awful joke, "if Bruce is the Boss, I quit." But you're missing out. And you're missing out if you haven't tried out the Steady yet.


Things to anticipate over the next few months:
Wilco
Spoon
The New Pornographers

All have new albums, and I would bet that all will be worth a listen. I've heard the new Wilco, and I fell in love instantly. But I probably would have anyway.

Like lichen

They're growing on me, the Arctic Monkeys. I'm listening to the new disc released earlier this week. It makes the drive home from work better and gets me fired up to do what I do best once I get home: drink. I wouldn't say it's drinking music, though all music can be drinking music, especially music about drinking. But the Monkeys just kinda get the blood pumping a little.
Now if you're music budget is small, you probably want to wait for the new Wilco, and later in the year, Spoon and the New Pornographers. It's going to be a good year.

People Funny Boy

Speaking of Lee Scratch Perry, the recently released The Upsetter Selection: A Lee Perry Jukebox is awesome. 2 discs' worth of sunshine bliss. From what I've read, Scratch himself selected all the songs on this compilation, which includes about 12 tracks of his solo work, 6 songs he produced and mixed for Bob Marley and various tracks he mixed for other Jamaican artists like Peter Tosh, the Heptones and Prince Jazzbo.

But, a note of warning here, if you want to feel sad, pissed or suicidal, this will ruin your mood. I realize most of you would read the words "feel good music" and immediately turn the other way, but this is one you'll finally be happy with, you sad sappy sucker.

Check the video links out

I added a cool new video feature to the right sidebar on this page. It pulls footage from Google Video and from YouTube randomly of various artists I list. What makes it better is that the video you click on will play at the top of this page, it won't link you to their stupid sites. If you don't like the artist featured, hit refresh and a new artist will be up. If you don't love the Replacements' Bastards of Young, you will, dammit, oh you will. Let's just hope my coblogger won't add Steven Perry to the mix....
So far, I nominate Lee Perry - I am the Upsetter and Band of Horses - the Great Salt Lake. Any others?

TVOTR show

I realize that it has been awhile since my last post here, but I've been on a NyQuil binge that peaked April 4 in Dallas at TV on the Radio's Granada Theater show.

The show started perfectly because we got to our spot about 5 rows from the front, to the left side, just in time for the band to kick things off. A UK group called The Noisettes opened, but I wasn't too upset about missing them because I've never heard any of their stuff.

TVOTR sounded absolutely perfect. The only thing that I couldn't hear clearly was the mumbling banter between the songs. I was surprised at how they were able to exactly duplicate the sonic structure of their music. I wasn't sure if the wall of feedback was being duplicated onstage or if it was looped, but it didn't matter to me. The show was pretty uptempo all but for a few songs in the middle of their set, which I'd guess lasted just over an hour, including the encore. If any of you have listened to their stuff, you'd probably agree that TVOTR are usually melody-driven, yet it's usually hard to decipher exactly what the words are, so you're left to ID the songs by either the vibe their music conveys on that particular track or the chorus. They ended the encore with Staring at the Sun, easily their most addictive song.

The band itself was a show itself. After reading what I just wrote to describe what it was like watching them perform, I decided you'd be best served to look at the photo here.

TV and TV on the Radio

I could be writing about the TV on the Radio concert I saw this week, but my blog partner should do that. He's been going ga ga for those guys, and I think he would do a better job. I will say that they were great, loud, rocking and energetic from start to finish.

However, I will spend this time talking about how long it took for the third season of Entourage to come out on DVD. I missed a few episodes last season, so I was counting on the DVDs to catch me up before the new season started. But it just came out this past week, and the fourth season starts on Easter. The thing is that I don't have HBO and would need to coordinate with someone to see the new shows. But I can't do that if I haven't caught up on the old. I don't want to make any threats to HBO, but... But nothing. HBO is in good with the Soprano crime family, and hey, I'm just a guy trying to get by. So it's all good. I will take it how they dish it and ask for more. God bless you, HBO.

More than meets the eye

The best thing about Lou Reed's "Transformer "is the guitar work of Mick Ronson and the vocals of David Bowie. OK, that's two things, but they go together as one, especially during that time period.
Apart from that, you have some good songs despite Reed's overrated, often silly lyrics and, of course, his very unmusical voice. His singing works on a lot of his songs but doesn't work as consistently as other "bad" singers (e.g., dylan, coyne). It's just sort of bland. I didn't notice it as much with the Velvets because that music is sort of bland in an anti-Beatles way. And I love VU. But on "Transformer," you have all of this glam Bowie production and you feel the need for over-the-top vocals to match the music.
But it's still all very Lou Reed and a really good album. The VH-1 Classic Albums episode shines a spotlight on all the hidden gems within each song. So it's got that going for it.

Wolf Parade revisted but in a non-sophisticated way

I haven't listened to my Wolf Parade disc, Apologies to the Queen Mary, in a while. Partially, because I lost the disc not terribly long after I bought it back when it was first released. Luckily, I had the foreskin to upload it into my iTunes (when I was sure I was going to be addicted to my iPod; instead I developed an addiction to alcohol; just kidding... I already had that).
But listening to WP today reminds me of how I listen to them differently than I listen to other bands who were hitting around the same time (the arcade fire, clap your hands say yeah, etc.)
I feel like Wolf Parade is constantly crashing down on me from an overhead cliff. It's like boulders raining down on you and you can't get out of the way. It must have something to do with the big drum sound. The opening track immediately starts sledgehammering you over the head with the snare drum, and it's fucking great. My favorite track is still "I'll Believe Anything." That song also kicks the heaviest of heaviest snares at the beginning. Then it builds to an angry crescendo that always makes me stand up and throw my computer chair through the wall. Apartment deposit be damned.

Not by the hair of my shinny-shin Shins

I'm a little late in reporting on this, but here it is anyway. The Shins performed last week at the Palladium Ballroom (aka Gilley's) in Dallas and naturally made a joke about a mechanical bull that I didn't see (though I did look for it upon entering the building). And that was the best of their stage banter. Luckily, they didn't talk much and crammed a million of their 3-minute-or-less pop songs into the set. They opened with several off the new album, Wincing the Night Away, then delved into Chutes Too Narrow before going back to the first album, Oh, Inverted World. They rocked pretty well but didn't stray too far from their recorded arrangements. However, an added bandmember who played keyboards and guitar added some extra depth.
What could have been the real story of the night, openers Viva Voce (a husband-wife duo from Portland), started sour and ended the same due to technical difficulties. Sounded like a bad mic or a faulty guitar cord. Just when they'd get to rockin', the audience's ears would be raped by static. Still, the Vivas made the most of it and turned in a determined performance, despite the drummer/guitarist/singer's unfortunate Luke Wilson in The Royal Tenenbaums headband. His wife, the lead guitarist and singer, couldn't have been any sexier knocking out her sonically swelling solos.
But as it goes for GA shows for those of us over 30, my knees and back took a beating. It's hard to go to shows for new bands because they're probably going to be playing these kinds of venues. Thank god for Elvis Costello and Steely Dan -- old bastards whose audiences like to sit and even nod off halfway through the show. Or maybe that was just me.

Cover bands

I bought Of Montreal's "Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?" and Dr. Dog's latest, "We All Belong," with the intention of reviewing one or both discs in this space. But I've yet to find my way past the packaging of these albums.

Dr. Dog's was nothing too out of the ordinary, constructed mainly of cardboard with a hard plastic inset tray. Great! The artwork is probably too busy, what with their apparent dollar and tobacco theme, but I can forgive that, too. The problem I have is the accompanying 14"x19" fold-out lyrics sheet/poster. Only 1/3 of the sheet is taken up by lyrics. The rest is a large drawing of a Southern belle with a moneybook and an apparent duck in a basket on her back. Oh, and her head is actually the head of George Washington from the $1 bill. Cute. Symbolic. Unnecessary. To their credit they include dotted lines around the drawing so you can cut it out and display it in your office cubicle, I guess. But for those of us who don't want to put out that much effort (like me) and who like to keep all of their CD pieces together (also me), this sheet, when folded up and slid back into the sleeve, causes too much thickness and heft. I mean, I'm not getting sore from carrying it around or anything, but...

Turns out, Dr. Dog ain't got nothin' on the elaborate packaging tip. That gold medal goes to Of Montreal. I guess it's supposed to be a kaleidoscope theme of some sort, but jesus fuck, you should see this thing. First of all, you remove a plastic slip cover. Immediately, the folded-down side flaps partially open. Then a kaleidoscope-colored piece of paper falls out. That piece has the recording info on the back. But you can't close the CD case because the four flaps stay semi-erect at all times. Soooooo... to store this disc, you put the roundish liner notes on top of the CD. Then you fold down the flaps. Then you put the clear plastic slip back on it. Now you've got a perfectly dangerous disc to take along on a drive, and you'll definitely run off the road trying to get the CD out and in your player. (Am I the only one who still listens to CDs in my car?)

All I'm saying is that upon purchasing these discs, upload them to your iTunes post-haste. Or just buy the albums online. Or my co-blogger would tell you to get them free through file-sharing. But I recommend buying them outright because they're new bands and the odds of them becoming the next Wilco or Arcade Fire are unlikely. Possible, but unlikely. Assuming the music is good, anyway.

Dr. Spock's Revenge

Click here to read about today’s nominee for Worst Mother of 2007. She apparently coached her children to act retarded so she could collect thousands in government aid.

This mom follows last year’s Mom of the Year candidate who was arrested after repeatedly forcing her son to stay in her car’s trunk while she went into a bar. It was her birthday, after all, and she gave him a sleeping bag and a pillow.

Feel free to submit any other 2007 nominations.

One-punch knockouts

Just trying to think of some of my favorite album-lead-off tracks. Stuff that just really launches an LP and sets the standard the others songs either have to match or surpass to be respected. Hip-hop albums run the risk of being underrepresented as the list grows because a lot of their lead-off tracks are sketches. And rules are rules (the rules are: no anthologies, no compilations, must be actual track 1, etc.). Feel free to add to the list.

So far I've got:
"Luv n' Haight" Sly and The Family Stone There's a Riot Goin' On
"Billy Jack" Curtis Mayfield There's No Place Like America Today
"Jimmy James" The Beastie Boys Check Your Head
"Race for the Prize" The Flaming Lips The Soft Bulletin
"Excursions" Tribe Called Quest The Low End Theory
"Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" The Arcade Fire Funeral
"Gone" The Black Crowes Amorica
"Welcome to the Jungle" G'n'R Appetite for Destruction
"Thunder Road" Bruce Springsteen Born to Run
"I'm Bad" LL Cool J Bigger and Deffer
"Revolution" Los Lobos Colossal Head
"You are a Runner and I Am My Father's Son" Wolf Parade Apologies to the Queen Mary
"Exactly Where I'm At" Ween White Pepper
"And It Stoned Me" Van Morrison Moondance
"Singapore" Tom Waits Rain Dogs
"Mambo Sun" T.Rex Electric Warrior
"The Beast and Dragon, Adored" Spoon Gimme Fiction
"Love Having You Around" Stevie Wonder Music of My Mind
"Have You Seen My Baby?" Randy Newman 12 Songs
"Let Me Drown" Soundgarden Superunknown

Lucinda Williams West

I made a mistake before listening to West - I recently listened to Williams’ out-of-print self-titled Lucinda Williams. By comparison, West sounds like a tired collection of diary entries that you probably won’t listen to twice.

Of course it’s not fair to compare releases. What if she’s trying to do something different here? But the difference isn't enough. Her songs are still about bad relationships and faded memories. But this time, it’s just not nearly as beautiful, regardless of the song's pace.

As with her previous stuff, this record is about the lyrics, but very little about the music. Too bad, for the most part, the lyrics aren’t that interesting. Take, for instance, Wrapped my Head Around’s INXS-like (gravitate, love your mate) rhyme/talk sequence that really goes nowhere:
I can’t believe I believed you
When I found out where you at
A fallin’ out when you’re too much
Try to wrap my head around that.
All that would probably be OK, but not for over nine minutes.

There are a few good songs worth searching for:
Learning How to Live has a comfortable piano line in place of the normal blues guitar, a good illustration of the differences in this album and Car Wheels.
Lyrically, Unsuffer Me is exactly what you were looking for if you bought this record:
Take away the pain, unbruise my body, wash away my stain, anoint my head with your sweet kiss.
My joy is dead, I long for bliss. I long for knowledge whispered in my ear. Undo my logic, undo my fear, unsuffer me.

Presenting the news like my name was Huey Lewis

My 2 favorite stories of the day:
1) Man thankful he can't remember 16-story fall--He was drunk, of course. And he said that while he's thankful to be alive and he's become more contemplative about life, he doesn't know if he will drink less. That's the kind of stick-to-it-iveness I can get behind.

2) The brutal life of the kids who hit you up for magazine subscriptions--The kids on these traveling magazine crews apparently do a lot of drugs, have a lot of sex, and take a lot of ass-beatings when they don't meet their quotas. They're lucky to see any of the money they make. There are some positive magazine crew stories... but you know, we're building schools in Iraq, too.

Ditto on CNN

I clicked on the SI swimsuit photos for about 30 seconds last week at work to see Beyonce. But I panicked and shut it down until I got home. I even felt guilty looking at Jennifer Love's ample Hewitts on a cnn.com story today. But because there was more copy than photo, I think I got away with it.
To cool off, I made a list of new/newish music I need to check out before I can, in good conscience, post again.
Here it is:
the new Arcade Fire
the new CYHSY
Of Montreal
Menomena
The Besnard Lakes
Vietnam
Deerhunter
Rock Plaza Central
Oh No
The Good, the Bad & the Queen
Sparklehorse
Subtle
Lupe Fiasco
Li'l Cap'n Travis
the forthcoming Dr. Dog

I like lists.

Damn you CNN

It sure is getting more difficult not to click on SI's new swimsuit photos while I'm at work, which surely would find me in violation of some office policy I have yet to read. Shouldn't CNN's Web masters be banned for looking at those pages too? THEY MUST keep those teasers off CNN's Web page? Come On! I'm only human.

The End is Nigh

I don't know how this blog knows it's me, but I just logged on from work by only clicking "sign in". I didn't type in anything, but by god, this is Earwig2 alright!

Anyway, not to bring the conversation back down to a sophomoric level after C.'s right-on rant about the lack of leadership in this seemingly godforsaken country, but I'm starting to wonder if the only way to get through these terrible times is to drink and/or otherwise elevate your mind. Meditation might be a healthier means or doing so. But for now, I think I'll drink. I'm afraid that the course of the nation and the world has already been set. I can protest war; I can stand in front of a Salvation Army kettle and ring a bell at x-mas; I can write letters to my senator about genocide in the Sudan; I can avoid driving through mud puddles and splashing old people and invalids on the sidewalk. But what does it all matter? We have a short time on this planet, and it may be a lot shorter than we think. So why not have a little fun? All I really want to do is watch movies, listen to music, have some beer, cook some food, read books, do crosswords, blog a little, and occasionally get laid. And right now, it takes all of my efforts to make that last thing happen. I don't have a lot of energy left for caring about things.

Disgraceful

I’m only seeing two bad choices being debated about Iraq: 1) put the clamps on the budget and pull out and 2) let’s see if the surge will work.

This is ridiculous. Neither of these choices is acceptable. Thousands of lives are at stake as is the future of many countries and the only options we’re left with is quit or keep losing. The lack of leadership and vision of Bush and Cheney are to blame, not the Sunnis, not the Shiites, not Iran, not the insurgents and, yikes, not the terrorists. If we hadn’t waged this unnecessary war, our country wouldn’t be forced to witness this awful exercise and be subjected our lawmakers' pandering to our worn-out conscience. Of course this is the beginning of the end – the end of what? – and it’s shameful.

It’s going to be a long time before our country can recover from this. Let’s just hope there aren’t any more wars started for anyone’s pipe dream/grand vision or for oil. But, in the meantime, we get to hear about catastrophe and hyperbole from our "lawmakers" scraping the bowl of this mess for the sake of their political futures.

Everybody's working for the weekend

Here's what some folks in my office (including me) have been rockin' this week:
Curtis Mayfield
Wolfmother
MC5
The Isley Brothers
The Sword
Lou Donaldson
Ghostface
MMJ
and...
Dramarama?

Hmmm... Sure. Why not?
Much better than, say, Loverboy.

Zykos free MP3s

Go here to discover Zykos, a band out of Austin, if you haven't already. They have 4 songs in the media player that you can download (look for the Download link under each song title). Three of these are unreleased 2007 demos and the other is from 06. The first track is great... don't be fooled by vocals that sound like Kings of Leon, nothing against KOL.
Make sure to rename the tracks when you save them.
There's some more info on them in the new Austin Chronicle.

Firedoglake in NY Times

There's a great article in the NY Times about Firedoglake's coverage of the Libby trial. You can find it here. It's a great blog. I've included a link to the right along with the growing list of links. It's a great example of the new journalism (firedoglake, not our list of links).

Oh, so Lonelyland

Yes, my friend, you will receive some flak for your love of this sap. He needs a hug.

Kickoff

To comment on the previous postings, Southern Man is a great song, Skynyrd has a whole lotta bad shit (but goddamn, I love Tuesday's Gone), and you know the type of crush a relatively young yet quickly aging guy might have for a middle-aged, craggy, haggard, foul-mouthed, rode-hard-and-put-away-wet redneck lady? That's what I've got for Lucinda Williams. I'd drive my car wheels down her gravel road any day. And she gives the impression that it's seriously gravelly down there for her.

I'm listening to the latest Bob Schneider, who is a guilty pleasure. I've always tried to hate him because when I was in college, he was known for getting wasted and nailing hot freshman chicks in Austin. And there none leftover for me. But some of his songs are catchy and some are rockin'. Some of this new stuff sounds a bit dated to me. Which in turn makes me feel a bit younger. So if I get slammed for digging his music, I'm not going to defend myself. It's indefensible. But go to hell.

Lucinda Williams West

I'm looking forward to checking out the new Lucinda Williams record, titled West. I think I attached a link to an overly gushy review in the Austin American-Statesman.

I do agree that she's one of the most talented - if not the most talented - songwriters making music that matters today. The sad thing is that the future of songwriters is looking pretty bleak, especially those that can reach a broad audience.

John Mayer and Jack Johnson? Puhleese.

Sorry Southern Man

It's cold and cloudy here in Dallas, perfect weather for some Neil Young. I really dig Standing on the Beach, Walk On is a great song. But, after listening to Southern Man, I'm convinced that song is crap. It's a melodramatic joke. I just don't see how it got the airplay it did.

On the opposite side of that argument, I listened to some Skynyrd yesterday. Once in my top 5 all time rock bands, I'm starting to seriously reconsider. They have some great songs, for sure. But, man, they fall flat a lot. And what's with Ronnie Van Vandt's whistling? God, that's annoying.

Get the Party Started

OK
Looks like we're set to start this thing. Not sure yet exactly what we'll be talking about, but most likely the same topics we waste countless hours emailing about at work. Music, politics, movies and the daily grind.
Geez that list is short and sad.