ULTRAMODS-Underwear Party
Let’s get one thing straight–I don’t buy that your name is really Bunny Ultramod. For one thing, you’re a guy, and I don’t think any parent would be that cruel. But I will say that The Ultramods debut record, a crude collection of profanity, whining, musing, ranting, and internet-leering, is fucking awesome. Recorded on a iPad, it sounds raw and DIY, but not amateurish.
I generally post music, not videos, because I think the sound should stand without an image. Video killed the radio star, and all. But their video for Civil Tongue is hilarious….
Actually, all their videos are damn cool. Here’s the one for Fuck You You Fucking Fuck.
BLACKWATER JUKEBOX-Banjos and Breakbeats (EP)
Satan’s favorite country rock band’s EP begins with a take on Gallows Pole, the song made famous by Led Zeppelin. But unlike Plant and Page, who sanitized the song into one about how the doomed man was such a stud that all the girls wanted to rescue him despite his crimes, Blackwater Jukebox make a grimy, rough bounce and the end is never in doubt: This guy’s gonna die. On the very next cut, That Voodoo Shit, the album takes a left turn at breakbeat and does a dusty rap. Kind of. It’s something that sounds like Junior Senior on brown acid.
Then there’s the pirate song, below, “Heave Away.” I love this song.
And it keeps going like that. Is this really an EP, or is just a showcase for Geordie McElroy, a self-proclaimed “DJ and folk archivist turned banjo-and-drum-machine-slinging troubadour?”
Don’t know, don’t care. It’s fun and it’s awesome and it’s free.
Get it free here at Bandcamp.
Heave Away (aka The Scrimshaw Blues)
Download Blackwater Jukebox Heave Away (aka The Scrimshaw Blues)
THE CARS vs. THE RAMONES a.k.a. New Releases by SHONEN KNIFE and KRIS DELMHORST
I had a discussion recently with my wife about the 1980s. We were watching VH1’s “One Hit Wonders” show—a guilty pleasure—and the focus was on 1980s movies. The themes to both Dirty Dancing and St. Elmo’s Fire made their list, and I was reacquainted with how incredibly awful those tunes are. My wife was prompted to say that the 1980s sucked, but I had to disagree. The argument can be made that so much of what hit the charts back then was treacle—but there’s a reason why so many of today’s pop artists seem to be structuring their tunes as if they were created thirty years ago. And when else could you find a chart shared by a three-chord punk band of screamers like The Ramones and a synth-driven, hyperstructured band like The Cars?
What are the other similarities between these two titans? Both bands had a string of top 40 hits that are as indelible today as they were when they were created. Both featured incredibly ugly, gangly and tall lead singers. Both knew, more than anything, how to market themselves—even if Joey Ramone professed to eschew commercialism, his appearance in the brilliantly campy Rock and Roll High School shows his true colors. And both have tribute albums released this year.
Hit the cut for the reviews…
LAS KELLIES-Kellies
When was the last time you listened to an album and immediately thought, “Holy crap, are those guys having a blast or what? For me, it was the last time I listened to Las Kellies’ second album, “Kellies.”
Let’s get this out of the way right away: The lyrics are clunky (when they’re decipherable), largely consisting of chants and silliness. The vocals aren’t harmonies, they’re more like three girls who happen to be shouting the same thing at the same time. It’s not even rap. Overall, it sounds amateurish. With lots of cowbell.
Now that we’re done with that, we can get past it and focus on the positive: These chicks can the play the hell out of their instruments. This is some of the truest post-punk—no, fuck that—the truest PUNK I’ve heard in years. It’s all hooks and D.I.Y. and power and … Fun.
Hailing from Argentina, The Kellies are a power trio with each girl having the last name Kelly, much as the Ramones were each named Ramone, but instead of calling themselves The Kellys, they’re The Kellies. They don’t care about spelling, grammar, or context: These grrrls just wanna have fun. Sorry about that. I know that was cliché. I bet it’s been used in dozens of reviews of the band, too. But it’s true.
And perhaps the best part of the album are the instrumentals. Don’t skip them or miss them. Oh, and they even cover their foremother band, ESG, doing a solid version of Erase You.
I love this record more every time I hear it. Go get it. Now!
For fans of: Early Beastie Boys and Luscious Jackson, Gang of Four, Le Tigre, The Coathangers, M.I.A., ESG.
Download Las Kellies Bife Dos
Las Kellies Bife Dos
Download Las Kellies Erase You (ESG cover)
Las Kellies Erase You (ESG cover)
LADYBIRDS-Shimmy Shimmy Dang
These days, garage rock bands are a dime-a-dozen. But it would be a shame to write off The Ladybirds as just another retro act. This fivesome kicks serious ass.
This is their second album.
Tour dates:
August 3 – MOTR Pub – Cincinnati, OH
September 9 – Headliners – Louisville, KY
September 29 – The Vollrath – Indianapolis, IN
September 30 – The Brass Rail – Fort Wayne, IN
October 15 – Lemmons – St. Louis, MO
BONUS: A FEW FREE ALBUMS UP FOR GRABS!
Diamond Family Archive-Seven Song Covers EP (follow link)
Religious Girls-Open Your Heart to Fantasy (follow link)
AND A COOL COVER!
AGENCY OF RECORD-The Purchase Of Time And Space (EP)
I like hardcore pretty much. I dig your Black Flag, your Butthole Surfers, your Fear. Your screaming and shouting over heavy drums and blazing guitar. Your soft then loud then soft. It’s cool. But too often, the screaming is just a substitute for being a drunk with no voice and a sense of urgency. And too often, the music turns into something clean and poppy, like Blink 182, completely soulless.
Enter: Agency of Record.
I think this is supposed to be ’90s punk, a la System of a Down, but it’s got some more classic elements as well–very Fugazi.
Clocking in at five songs, I think this an EP. But it’s not billed as such.
Anyway, if you dig what you hear here, go support the band at Bandcamp.
MAN THE CHANGE-Weather the Storm
MAN THE CHANGE ARE LOUD. Raucous fucking hardcore with pithy, wise, SHOUTED hooks and lines. Unsigned NYC punk!
Catch them live:
MAY 10 – Brooklyn, NY @ The Acheron w/ Such Gold and Living With Lions
MAY 24 – Staten Island, NY @ Warriors Warehouse w/ Tomahawk Chop
MAY 29 – Brooklyn, NY @ Lonestar Bar and Grill
JUN 22 – Asbury, NJ @ Asbury Lanes w/ The Reveling
JUL 01 – Staten Island, NY @ Warriors Warehouse w/ Half Hearted Hero and Kids
2FER 2DAY: DEAD KENNY Gs & BLUE EYED SHARK EXPERIMENT
I’m dipping into the mailbag today for two cool submissions from two bands with two of the coolest monikers I’ve heard in a while. Let’s start with The Dead Kenny Gs.
First of all, I hate jazz. Truly. But this punk jazz thing–part Fugazi and part chaotic Miles Davis and part Morphine? I’m diggin’ it. Plus, they didn’t do the annoying thing of putting an apostrophe after the G in their name. Too many bands don’t know grammar. Check out The Dead Kenny Gs‘ new release, Operaion Long Leash, on Royal Potato Family records.
Black Truman (Harry The Hottentot)
http://player.groovebat.com/player.swf
Devil’s Playground
http://player.groovebat.com/player.swf
Blue Eyed Shark Experiment are, ironically, a more traditional-sounding band. But compared to the above band, that’s not saying much. Their new one, The Fluffer, is a collection of disparate, cool-sounding songs that I dug, separated by weird clips and samples. Neat stuff.
On Sidewalk 7 records.
RUN WITH THE HUNTED-s/t
How to sum up RWTH‘s debut? It’s a lot of yelling. And there’s some chainsaw guitar and mad, mad, mad drumming, too.
The band is five guys who go by first names only, making hardcore in what sounds like the basement of a Chicago slaughterhouse. Seriously, though, it’s actually recorded pretty well. You’re able to hear the influences in the guitar of Metallica’s early stuff, but also 1980s headbanger “punk”–that music that crossed the lines between The Sex Pistols and Guns N Roses. Good, hard stuff. Stream the whole thing here.
On Panic records.
Occam’s Tazor
http://player.groovebat.com/player.swf
I Will Make This World Without You
http://player.groovebat.com/player.swf
ANNABEL-Here We Are Tomorrow
Annabel have released an EP, Here We Are Tomorrow, to follow up on their 2009 debut album Each And Everyone. It’s a lot of fuzzy noise, like all the good alt-rock out of the 1990s. It’s much less accessible than the band’s earlier work, and I mean that in the best way possible. Prior releases were catchy, but bordered on simplistic. On this one, Annabel aren’t afraid to get dirty. Dirt looks good on this band. They should stay grimey.
On the Tiny Engines label.
