Category Archives: Music Reviews

Saturday Music Club Reviews Part 3 – BBQ’d Foi Gras and Texas Deep Dubstep

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Le Vent Du Nord – Les Amants Du Saint-Laurent – You know, I’m thinking the world of art has been hit with a post-post modern sensibility in the fact that yes, everything has been done, even in popular art, and so, you can do whatever the hell you want because if it works, you’ll get an audience, and if it doesn’t, well, you’ll be alone in your MySpace account. However, even though you’re alone, you have art that is near to your heart and screw the rest of the world. This song is celtic Canadian homespun and I love it. This is music to listen to while you eat your BBQ’d foi gras and watch hockey. It’s a beauty, eh.

Daniel Lanois – Under a Stormy Sky – Okay, it’s French downhome music. You don’t get an apple pie. You get a tarte tatin. What is that? Google it, bastard, and you’ll see a picture but you won’t get the same culinary wonderment that is French cooking. But I like the mix of French, English, and 50’s guitar and that little bluegrass beat. Is that a steel guitar? Why yes, it is. Sign me up. Love that happy little lilting rift.

Clawfinger – Wonderful World – These guys. This is bliss. That stupid break in the music works for me and it shouldn’t. This song shouldn’t work. But again, they are so ardent. They commit fully. And you know, that’s hard to do because in the world of art, NO ONE BELIVES YOU HAVE ANY TALENT UNTIL YOU ARE POPULAR. And yeah, Clawfinger never hit it big, but I like their passion and their originality. And any song that ironically praises this sad old planet I gotta like.

DJ Fresh – Gold Dust (Flux Pavillion Remix) – Oh, this dubstep makes me believe in God again. And I love the lady singing it out across the top of that deep thud. Oh, it is so delicious. Ryan said he was like a teenager just discovering energy drinks, all amped up and nowhere to go, but he has a place to go, SMC, to spread the deep magic. It’s not dubstep, it’s deepstep. And it’s hard. Like oak, baby. Hard.

Emmylou Harris – Shenendoah – You know, I’m pretty sure Emmylou Harris could cover a Clawfinger song and it would still be amazing and touching and haunting. She is something else. And this song, it’s a classic, though I think the first time I heard it was on the Bruce Springsteen Seger Sessions. Wasn’t this on that record? I reckon so. This could go on the soundtrack of my epic steampunk sci-fi western novel. Yeah, I believe I shall put it on that. Thanks Jeff!

Freestylers – Cracks Flux Pavillion Remix – Love that break, “And the cracks begin to show”. You know the deep dubpstep sound is really electric guitary in a strange, electric guitar type of way. You know what I mean? No, really. They underscore the drama of the music, and I love dramatic music. God bless you, Jim steinman, where ever you are. Would love to hear a Jim Steinman dubstep song. Oh, Meatloaf meets the Freesylters. Oh, yeah, I have to ajust my pants now. Naughty, naughty.

The John Butler Trio – Revolution – You know, I once called the John Butler trio the future of the alt country movement. I said they were popular 16 Horsepower. Yeah, I was wrong. I can be wrong. I will strive to be wrong as often as possible. But I got all excited because their sound was so raw and alty-country-y. But you know, there is something passionless in their music. well, not in every song. Some songs have some fire, but in some of their songs, it’s like Data from Star Trek:The Next Generation when he paints. The music all works. It’s good, but it’s not going to fire me up and make me overthrow my country. Rush flirted with being so cerebral as not to have a soul, but in the end, the music did have passion. I’m not saying the John Butler Trio is bad. I like them. I like them a lot. They are infinitely listenable. Can you say that? Just did. But I will say that in order for them to really hit me, I need more heart and soul. I’ll keep the song, but fellas, I gotta fever, and the only cure? More cowbell. More heart. More Clawfinger!

The New Pornographers – Moves – Bottomline, I’m getting older, and I’m not hip no more. All the young people are using words like FAIL and PAWNED or POWNED or some such nonsense. Or even P*WNED. Goddamn kids not usin’ letter no more. This brings us to the New Pornographers and I gotta say, I like ’em. Very Cold Play-y but not a complete rip-off of U2. Ouch. I’m catty today. Meow, meow. I like the heavy guitar and the pianer and the general feel of the song. It’s new and old. But it exemplifies how I am slowly losing touch. Never even heard of this band and Rolling Stone magazine thinks they are best band ever. Rats.

David Lynch – Pinky’s Dream – I am a big fan of David Lynch. No, really, huge fan. I like his darkness, surrealness, cherry pie and coffeeness. And I liked this song. It’s very David Lynch and very all the things I just said. Even to the singer, some chick with a voice as sweet as splenda in my coffee. Surreal. And I like the feaux drama of the bridge. I don’t buy it. Am I laughing or am I crying? Maybe both. Maybe neither.

David Lynch – The Night Bell with Lightning – David Lynch did an album. This song is just Angelo Badalamante and I’m not even going to look it up. I mean, I like David Lynch and Angelo Badalamante whose name I have mispelled, but it all sounds the same. I already have the LOST HIGHWAY soundtrack. Don’t need another song which didn’t make the cut. Um, I’m liking the trippy guitar thrown in and tip-toeing tentatively through the song. Or gnashing. Or goin’ all Texas. I’m reading the PREACHER comic books, which are brilliant, dark, bleak, violent, heretical, blasphemous, and Texan. Don’t mess with Texas. Nope, the guitar couldn’t save the song for me. It has been deleted. One last thought, and I like this from Becky, “‘The Night Bell With Lightning’ is the sound my shadow makes at high noon.” I think that is so pretty.

Breathe Carolina – Blackout – Dang, some alt rock dubstep from Kize. I think I heard this song on the radio, that good 93.3 radio station that works my soul and heart into a frenzy, frenzy. I like that dub step little tricky riff, or can I use all those words together? It sounds like this: buzzybuzzybuzzbuzz. He’s only gettin’ started. Like the disco-ness of this song. Yeah, man, I’m tellin’ ya. This works for me. Probably my favorite submitted in November. Yeah. I won’t blackout. I promise.

Saturday Music Club Reviews Part 2 – Surreal David Lynch Vampire Movies

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Foster the People – Pumped Up Kicks – I gotta say, I think we’re having a rennaisance of music, new music, music for the masses, music for crazy kids who can still dream. I find myself turning off my satellite radio, yeah, I got it, yeah, but I turn it off to listen to 93.3, Area 93, denver’s “alternative” radio. You want alternative? Listen to Munley. You want corporate pop rock that dresses up as cutting edge, listen to alernative. Sheesh. However, all that said, there are some wicked cool songs on that there radio station. And commercials. Love commercials. I heard this song on the radio and liked it. I like echoeyness of it. Echoes. Echoes. Echoes. It has that big reverb sound, like the kids are watching a Sergio Leone movie. Or listening to Primus. Don’t know if the lyrics mean anything. Maybe that the kids are smoking and like guns? Pumped up kicks? What the hell does that mean anyway? And dumb name for a band. They should have called me. I would have named them something like Thirsty Circle, or The Symphathies, or Dirge Jungle. Ah, kids these days.

Bassnectre – Bass Head – Normally, when artists go silly, especially electronica artists, the silliness doesn’t work. This song, though, Bass Head, is silly. It’s a stupid attempt, and it’s because it’s stupid is why it works. If you tried to take this song seriously, you’d have to first get a lobotomy. This has that whole tweeker beauty heavy thing going on. Worked for now. A little long, I gotta say. And I’d prefer a more intenese flavor, but it’s a dumb fun kind of song. Well, when I say long I mean about twice as long as it should have been. I’ll keep it. I might cut it, but I’ll keep it. For now. It wasn’t the genius that Timestretch was, and for that, I’m dying a little in my desire.

Tanya Tucker – The Man That Turned My Mama On – Dang, I like this song. I’d like to hear the Kasey Chambers cover for this song. I like how it has that 70’s electric guitar thrown in. Kinda like a nerd at a honky tonk, at this stage. but I have a soft spot for 70’s country. Reminds me of riding in the back of trucks, believin’ in Jesus, and mama’s biscuits and gravy. I like the story aspect of the song because funny thing about women, especially the lady-type of women, it’s all about timin’ and a certain atmosphere. Any other time, the lady in the song would have slapped that travelin’ man in the face, but not that night, not right then. That’s why I could never pick up women. I was too self-absorbed and not senstivie enough to intuit that vast complexity that is women.

Tanya Tucker – San Antonio Stroll – 70’s country-story songs. God, I love ’em. However, this was a repeat. This was classic SMC from the aught’s. Love how Tanya Tucker squeals the word, “blue” and the rhyming, “through”. Dang it all, this is real music, I’ll tell you what.

Tom T. Hall – Faster Horses (The Cowboy and the Poet) – My dad used to sing the lyrcis of this song, but he’d always get ’em wrong. You know, here’s the thing about this song. Oh, before that, the horns. Oh yeah, those 70’s horns. Or where they 60’s? Love the horns. Totally unnecessary. Dagnabbit. In the end, yeah, I was a writer, and my soul was all on fire. Now? Well, more and more, I’m seeing life in terms of the sensual and the senses. Maybe I’m moving from poet to cowboy. If only I were so lucky. But I love pretty girls, cigars, a good meal that is bent on killing me. And money. Lots of money. And yet, if I go down that route, no girl is ever pretty enough, no cigar is smooth enough, and the food is never all that good. I always want more and more and more and more. So in the end, gotta have more. But maybe that’s because my life, in a lot of ways, is so horrifically comfortable. As a cowboy, livin’ hard, maybe you appreciate things a whole lot more. Ah, my new book is all about cowgirls and country music and biscuits. The working title is “Dandelions, Guns, and Little, Lost Souls” and yeah, it’s epic. Gonna be work for me to keep it under 100,000 words.

The Five Blobs – The Blog – 1958, The Blob came out. Another SMC classic from the aughts. You know, I bet there is some guy who scored with the ladies by saying, “Yeah, the saxophone at the beginnning the The Blob song? Yeah, that’s me.” I remember the scene where the blog rolls over some hapless jack and all is left is bone. I have image indelibly imprinted on my head. This song? It’s fine. It’s musical kiche. Did I spell that right? It’s a knick-knack with a saxophone from the 50’s. Dang, how do you spell kiche? Google has let me down. Damn you google? Here comes the blob. Happy Halloween.

Dwight Yokum – Johnson’s Love – This song is about a ghost? I thought it was about a Texan who loved a girl, but she loved her dog more than him, and so he got sad and drunk and got hit by a train. Just kidding. I always liked this song, and funny, I’m generally ALL about lyrics, but this song, I guess Dwight Yokum tricked me with that lonesome whine. And for the record, I love whiny country music. I love whiners. ‘Cause I is one.

Bright Eyes – Devil Town – Dang, this is all so very Violent Femmes. No, really, or old timey Paul Westerberg. I got me a little drawl on account of my new book I’m workin’ on, my epic steampunk girly-strogen story. So bear with me. I really dig this raw, echoey sound, and the repititive lyrics totally works for me. Hold on, I gotta check if this is some variation of the Violent Femmes. Nope. Conor Mullen Oberst is the guy. Again, this is derivative, but is that bad? It must be a pejorative because Christ, if you said my books were derivative, I’d be hunting for Drano and a razor blade. But in the end, I like this because it is so very Violent Femmesy. And echoey. And raw. I’d love to see this song in a surreal, David Lynch vampire movie. Prolly never gonna see that, I reckon. Shucks.

Saturday Music Club Reviews Part 1 – From Steampunk Trenches Cool to Indian Summer Pollution

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Okay, for those who are just joining us, every Saturday, or Tuesday, or Saturdayish day, some of my friends, and some people I don’t know from Sweden, send out music. A song. Just what we’re listening to at the moment. It’s a great way to be exposed to great new music. It’s also a way of spreading the news about bands that need more airplay. And it’s about friends. Here’s to good friends. At some point, I started reveiwing the songs. The SMC’s own Simon Cowell. I’m wearing a black t-shirt. There will be blood.

Kasey Chambers – Pony – My new favorite song. Love Kasey Chambers when she does alt country. When she does her whiny-indigo-girls type of stuff, I hit the next, next, next. But when that girl is on her game, she is unbeatable and haunting. Love the weird, little girliness of this song. Eery. Like Drusilla in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Adore this song.

Clawfinger – Truth – Love this gnashing guitar, rap, Red Hot Chili Pepper cursing fest of sound and delight. Gonna keep this one. However, I gotta say, at one point, the lyrics, the song, hit me like something Michael Scott and Dwight Schrute would have put together. It’s paper, it’s Dunder-Mifflin paper, m*****F*****. Don’t count the asterixes. You’ll be disappointed. Wanna write a book that captures this. Its very ardent. So good, I had to listen ot it twice. Explicit lyrics. They say the “f” word.

Camera Obscura – French Navy – Wow, retro breakfast with a side slender bacon. I felt like it was the 1960’s again, and I was about to sweet talk a hippie chick into my van. But then, I realized, it was 2011. No more vans. No more hippie chicks. Just the distant dream of a cool little song. Very Vampire Weekend.

Butch Walker – Trash Day – Oh, is this Tom Petty and the Delaware Destroyers? Was that Tom Petty’s band. Is this Butch Walker or Paul Westerberg and the Replacements? This is total college band radio nicety with better production values. It’s not bad. I like it. It’s trash day in Atlanda, GA. It’s just, um, derivative. But is that bad? It’s good. The songs it’s derived from are good. It’s all good. And catchy. And nice. I’ll keep it. I’ll recommend it. But it won’t win prizes for newness.

Stone Sour – Zzyzz Rd – Nice piano opening. Isn’t there a literary magazine called Zzyzz. No, I think the literary magazine has a “v” in there somewhere. Lies and promises. Okay. Waiting for the hook. Okay, the drums hit, and I’m hooked. This is a song, after time, that I would either love, or hate, or love to hate, or hate to love. Love that angsty, piano, sing-song, fade away stuff. Nice bridge. Again, nothing new here, it’s the old, done really well. This is my song. Too tired to care, and I gotta go. I would add, gotta go home. Tired and I don’t want to go home. Nicely done. It’s a keeper. Gotta go home. He never says it. Man, that pisses me off. Why won’t he say gotta go home? Why, Spock, why? Okay, I’ll stop. Angsty. Love it.

Six Feet Under – Lycanthropy – Very guitary at the start. But I like the name of the song. And now a demon is about to start screaming. Better get more interesting. I can only death metal when the right mood hits me. I mean, the exact right mood. I mean, it has to touch me like a werewolf’s paw. This wasn’t screamy or demony enough for me. Speaking of lycanthropy, I’m gonna write a novel with were-mules. Yeah, old west, steampunk, weremules. Lots of Braying. “You’re one of us! Carniverous!” That’s funny. But not in a good way. Need more. And then it just fades away? Come on, guys. Come on.

Gordon Lightfoot – Sundown – You know, I used to like Gordon Lightfoot until I realized people called him Gord. His greatest hits was called Gord’s Gold. Gord. Stupid. Yeah, I am that petty. Seriously. This is a great song, and it’s about a girl who was bad, bad news. You know, those kinds of women I could never deal with. I know, I know, the femme fatale, the danger, the mystery, the erotic heights of the unattainable. Those kinds of women don’t mess with me because they know, instinctively, I could never keep up. So like in most areas of my life, I’ve avoided pain by being a wussy man. Next life.

Bassnectar – Timestretch – OMGosh. Please, this song is killing me with cool. I have cool leaking out of my eyes. Cut me? I’d bleed cool. This song is so deep, so entrenched. It’s a World War I fight song. It’s steampunk on acid. It’s so thick and juicy, you couldn’t cut it with a steak knife. You’d need a saws-all. I think dubstep might be the music of my soul. I am going to keep this and pray for more. Arguably, the best song I’ve ever heard. And just when it gets too deep, it then veers off into a wimpy perfect bridge. Last two minutes, variations on a theme. A cool theme. Kick it. Ha, comment on youtube = “If I was the leader of a country this would be The National Anthem!”

Maplewood – Indian Summer – Yeah, is the year 1976? No. This song sounds dated. And not in a cool, steampunk, world war I entrenched cool fight song cool sort of way. Cool. No, this song brings up extra footage from BILLY JACK and the kids have long hair, and flowers in their air, and they’re running across a field, with golden speckles in the sunlight. And then you see an Indian man, crying. One tear slides down his cheek. Pollutions is wrong and makes Indians sad. If I have to hear this guy say ‘Indian Summer’ one more time, I might have to kill him. If the 1970’s Indian Pollution Man doesn’t beat me to it.