It's A Revelation: September 2010

It's been a few weeks since I posted one of these, and the other day I found this CD under the car seat and got all inspired and shit. It was all scratched and yellowed and titled "It's A Revelation." It had a bunch of rambling ADD-inspired moments that I cut out, and all that is left is a bunch of songs made of uncut innocence. I made this mix for a girl a few years ago, and she liked it enough to let me go there. Yeah, there! At least that's what I think happened. Of course, I made a horrible mess of things in the end, but man oh man, the anticipation! It really is the best part. That moment where the heart shoves the head aside and is all like, "shut the fuck up dude, I got this!" God knows there's enough rock n' roll songs talking about all the waste and hurt feelings and sleepless nights and such. It's like sitting outside on a perfect night and dividing your attention between the ground and the sky, hoping for a rainbow up above and expecting a car crash down below, and just looking away because you don't really know. Do you?! This one just sounds like joy. It sounds like happiness, confusion, angst, and vulnerability. It has 13 lucky tracks of bit lips, awkward, nervous pacing, and hard won smiles. If you're a girl, I sincerely hope you enjoy it. If you're a dude, take some notes.

It's A Revelation: September 2010

1. Elvis Costello - "Welcome To The Working Week"

2. Smoking Popes - "Rubella"

3. High School Sweethearts - "Cherry Hi-Way"

4. The Posies - "Flavor Of The Month"

5. The Light Wires - "Belly Of The Beast"

6. Rhett Miller - "This Is What I Do"

7. The Fastbacks - "I Found The Star"

8. Visqueen - "My House"

9. Len Price 3 - "The Last Hotel"

10. Generation X - "Ready Steady Go"

11. Descendents - "Coolidge"

12. Screeching Weasel - "99"

13. The Detroit Cobras - "Boss Lady"

Download it HERE: http://www.mediafire.com/?ga1ddxg1tx3t9da

The Greenhornes @ The Comet, 08/20/2010

Man, oh man, am I fucking EXCITED! Why, you ask? Well, for one, I've been doing a bunch of record buying in the last week or so, and I'm busy divvying up some hot tracks for the next episode of Random Old Records Podcast in about three weeks. Just gotta say the new Grass Widow LP on Kill Rock Stars is a KILLER! It's loaded with spooky all-girl harmonies and hazy hooks, and you need to get it soon. Also, literally days after I "leaked" a track from the Greenhornes mysterious unreleased LP Little Horse, all the blogs reported that it was FINALLY getting a proper release on Third Man Records, all buffed and shined and cover-arted and given the title of Four Stars. Serendipity! Even better, the band announced a short series of shows to drum up support for the record, which was manna from heaven to the lucky few Cincinnati folks who got to see them light up stages and barroom floors in Cincinnati on a regular basis back in the day (a FEARSOME twin bill with fellow Cincinnati garage rock icons Thee Shams on Christmas Day 2005 at Covington, KY's Mad Hatter, which might be the best show I've ever seen, comes to mind), and even more exciting for out-of-towners who only know the band for contributing the rhythm section of Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler to various Jack White side projects. Within a few weeks, a date at Cincinnati's most beloved dive bar, The Comet, was set, and you better believe I was there with bells on!

Considering the Comet holds about 63 people, I attached my bells and scrambled to the Comet around 9 PM, roughly three hours before the scheduled start time. Soon after I commandeered a table and hunkered down like a soldier in a trench. Not a few minutes later, I ended up in a conversation with Patrick Keeler himself, and I sighed a hearty sigh of relief that he not only didn't want to clean my clock for posting "Saying Goodbye" from the upcoming LP, but seemed rather pleased with the whole thing and kinda nervous about playing his first hometown show in over four years. He's a stand-up guy, and that's all I gotta say about that. As the minutes creeped by, the bar line got longer, and the crowd turned from asses-to-elbows to "HOLY SHIT, is this a fire code violation?!" I nipped outside for a smoke, and I swear the same cars circled around the block four or five times trying to find a parking spot within a mile of the place. So many people descended on the Comet at the same time that the show ended up starting way early, so I went in low, put my elbows up, and made my way to the general proximity of the band.

OK, so I'm gonna be honest. I couldn't see a goddamn thing but raised fists, headstocks, and lights from my vantage point. Yeah, I could have made an ass of myself and fight my way forward, but whiskey and humanity were a formidable opponent, so I just closed my eyes and LISTENED. Remember what I said about reunion shows last month? It's beginning to sound less like the rantings of a crazy person and more like established fact. Frozen in place, I could only marvel at how a band could sound so totally locked-in after such a long break. Is it any wonder why Jack White took the baddest rhythm section in the Midwest away when he had the chance? The Greenhornes gleefully ripped through classic jams like "High Time Baby," almost hit "Pattern Skies" from their mid-2000s heyday, and even their TORRID cover of the Yardbirds' "Lost Woman" as the crowd inside shaked and sweated like lucky, gluttonous pigs.

Meanwhile, the Comet's usually locked doors behind the band came open, and a throng of fifty or more spilled from the sidewalk to the street, not concerned with being cool or making the scene or any such bullshit, just there to LISTEN to Craig Fox's white boy blues howl, augmented by keys and guitar by Andrew Higley and Reuben Glaser from another sadly defunct Cincinnati band, Pearlene (and for those who haven't heard Pearlene's classic For Western Violence and Brief Sensuality LP, get it NOW!). The sound was mighty, and days later I'm still high and EXCITED from the rock n' roll laid down that evening. They say a picture speaks a thousand words, so I'm just gonna shut the fuck up and let this do the talking:

The Greenhornes @ The Comet, 08/20/2010

Photo: Scott Beseler, Take The Day Photography

I Wanna Jump In The Water: August 2010

So, yeah, occasionally I make mixes, post them on the internet, and tag some of my friends on Facebook for whatever reason, mostly because they are the folks that listen intently and really get IT every once in awhile. Really, these things have no meaning, and exist to keep me entertained on the drives to work, the bar, the grocery store, and other such mundane places. It sucks though, because when I'm waiting at red lights, drive-thrus, plane gates, and public restrooms, I think about this shit way too much. I attach all kinds of random meaning to each and every song, until it becomes a suite of hectoring voices that takes me down when I'm in a suggestible mood. These SONGS, simple silly songs, they have the power to eat at a fellow's soul when you just get off work and you really have nothing else to think about. This simple soul can get all caught up in the knotted harmonies of the Living Sisters until it's ready to answer the siren's call and just jump in the fucking water already. Eh, but then there's Lush, telling you that the best course of action is to keep those heroes you love safe, sleepy, stupid, and sound. Right now, I bet there's a sad bastard singing along to that gently mocking chorus. "I love you, I don't wanna meet you."

But there's still the Splinters, a little older and wiser, or maybe younger and more informed, singing "I don't want you to go away, and I don't want you to stay. I don't really know!" Woah, there's that ambivalent moxie! I didn't intend it to be that way, honest! Still, this mix evokes the pitched battle between the sexes and means a lot more than when it was simple ear candy to soundtrack the minutes before and after I get my energy drink to start the day. I'm really proud of this mix, but it has lots of stupid harmonica, lots of misplaced frustration, and lots of unintentional meaning. It does feature a KILLER version of "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone" by Paul Revere & The Raiders, and that has to count for something, I suppose. They really do have the best cover of that song, with all respect to the Monkees.

Anyway, here's 14 songs intended to soundtrack the last few weeks of summer, which will hopefully stretch on longer than anticipated. Hopefully you'll find at least a little bit of truth and/or enjoyment in them.

I Wanna Jump In The Water: August 2010

1. Judee Sill - "Jesus Was A Cross Maker"

2. The Loose Salute - "Turn The Radio Up"

3. Mary Lou Lord - "Helsinki"

4. The Living Sisters - "Double Knots"

5. Lush - "Heavenly Nobodies"

6. The Splinters - "Splintered Bridges"

7. The Ettes - "Walk Out That Door"

8. Holly Golightly - "Wherever You Were"

9. Tommy Roe - "Jam Up Jelly Tight"

10. Paul Revere & The Raiders - "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone"

11. Compulsive Gamblers - "I'm That Guy"

12. Harlem - "Friendly Ghost"

13. Bare Wires - "Romantic Girl"

14. The Exploding Hearts - "I'm A Pretender"

Download it HERE.

3 Random Records You Need To Hear!

2010 keeps trucking right along, and like last year it's a stellar year for rock n' roll music, as the bitter taste of the millennium's decade washes away. 2000-2008 is the worst stretch of recorded music in rock history, so I'm super-glad to actually get excited about music again. Here's three more releases that have been melting my face as of late, and it is in your best interest to check 'em all out!

The Unwed Teenage Mothers - If That's Love 7" EP

(Tic Tac Totally, 2009)

So, I ordered this record way back in March, and it didn't show up in the ol' mailbox until a couple of weeks ago, so I was ready to write it off and deride Tic Tac Totally Records as a bunch of shameful rip-off artists and hucksters, but this is so goddamn good that all is forgiven. Besides, the dude has been putting out killer shit by the Test Patterns, Bare Wires, Moonhearts, and So Cow for the past couple years, so he's got better things to do, obviously. He threw in a free record to boot, some awful droning noise rock from France or some crap, but it's the thought that counts, right?! The Unwed Teenage Mothers have a fantastic name, are from Oxford, Mississippi, and feature a keyboard player, though I'll be damned if I can even hear anything he's playing over the fuzz and guitar noise. If anything, this record proves that the last 60 years of rock n' roll has given the modern band so many points of reference that it's easy to write catchy songs by wantonly copying and pasting all the best bits of everything that's come before and beating it around in a basement for a couple of days. I'll gladly take recycled rock n' roll over looped and monotonous bedroom laptop dance-pop garbage, though. All the greats started out by picking up guitars and emulating their heroes, and that youthful energy and joy of discovery carries through these four tracks. "If That's Love" steals it's main riff from "Sweet Jane," speeds it up and twists it around, and adds some sloppy harmonies. "(I'm Gonna) Blackout Tonight" takes a tale of championship drinking and runs it through a 50s rock n' roll template, then filters it with early '80s hardcore rage. "Teenage Brain" channels the classic Canadian punk of DOA and the Subhumans effortlessly, and "Stick Around" apes the sugar-sweet bubblegum garage punk of Nobunny with enough handclaps and dirtbag white kid doo-wop "wooo-ooohs" to keep it stuck in your head for days. They just put out an LP called Blonde Girls on Play Pinball Records, and on first listen, it's a must-have as well. Tic Tac Totally just changed their mailorder over to a different outfit, so hopefully when you buy this (and you should), it won't take so goddamn long.

Bare Wires - Seeking Love LP

(Castle Face, 2010)

Speaking of Tic Tac Totally, I wrote about the first Bare Wires album a few months ago, and before I could fully absorb it's punky power-pop genius, here's another album from this Oakland trio, released on John Dwyer's stellar Castle Face label. Ever since I heard Artificial Clouds, I've been OBSESSED with Matthew Melton's stripped-to-the-bone rock n' roll tunes, all power-chord buildups and breathy, insta-classic hooks, and this one offers up more of the same. A word of warning for those who purchase the LP (and you SHOULD!), it spins at 45 RPM, which threw me for a loop at the beginning. I was convinced that my beloved 17 year old turntable had finally taken a shit, and it was only after playing a few other records and having an existential meltdown that I realized that everything was A-OK, and the Bare Wires just move a little bit FASTER than the rest of us! Now, this is the type of minimalism I can get behind: 10 tracks, 24 minutes, and none of it spent fucking around. The band aired out most of these songs on WFMU's Evan Funk Davies show back in April, so I knew what I was getting into, but this is still a treat. The title track kicks things off in an epic, reverb-soaked haze that recalls his former band Snake Flower 2, snarling like vintage Hawkwind with a serious Music Machine fetish, stretching things out to nearly three (?!) minutes and pointing to the band opening up the sound a bit, but it doesn't last long. If anything, Seeking Love sounds TOO familiar, with a few tracks sounding eerily similar to the opening riffs on Artificial Clouds, but Melton always throws in a new wrinkle to keep things fresh until the next perfect chorus comes around. "Romantic Girl" is the bonafide power-pop jam of the summer, with a little bit of "hey girl, can I get your name girl" lyrical come-on that gives way to a stomping beat that's a little too fast for glam and a little too slow for punk, and the whole thing ends up sounding like a vintage '78 single that would trade on eBay for hundreds if anyone could find the damn thing. Melton seems like he's hitting the stride that Bob Pollard of Guided By Voices captured in the mid-'90s, effortlessly pulling hit after hit out of his ass in a lazy yet determined fashion. This is real-deal, lightning in a bottle shit, and I'd gladly buy four or five more LPs that come from this same well of wicked creativty and inspiration. Closer "The Last Thing On My Mind" rides a sleazy SoCal 1965 pachuco doo-wop soul groove into some angsty pre-psych Rolling Stones Brit-beat, and suggests that the Bare Wires have more up their sleeve besides compact rock n' roll gems. If the next album comes out in 6 months aping Frank Zappa's Crusin' With Ruben and the Jets, I'll be all ears!

Ty Segall - Melted LP

(Goner, 2010)

Ty Segall has been everywhere in the last couple years, putting out two fantastic solo albums, drumming for super-fun surfpunks The Traditional Fools, singing for The Epsilons, guesting with Sic Alps and Thee Oh Sees, and teaming with Moonhearts guitarist Mikal Cronin for the wonderfully drug-damaged Reverse Shark Attack LP on Kill Shaman Records. On this third solo record, dude is seriously stretching out his sound, effortlessly mixing in dirty piano and fruity flutes into "Caesar," and coming off like the White Album-era Beatles huffing paint on "Sad Fuzz." That just might be the best song on the whole LP, mixing heavy-handed, space-filled Ringo drums with a "please don't be sadmybabynow" chorus that's been stuck in my head for about ten minutes or so of every single day since I heard it the first time. Silly as it sounds, Segall might be channeling the mid-'90s archetype of Beck (or maybe the mid-'70s archetype of Todd Rundgren), cranking out one-man-band rock n' roll and coating it with bum notes, studio chatter, and inside jokes, almost daring the listener to come inside his world for a minute to have a look around. Or maybe he's the new Ween, minus the drum machines and dopey frat-boy dick jokes. While Beck abandoned most of his rough edges for pop acceptance and Ween became the band hippies started following once Phish broke up, Segall seems firmly entrenched in the garage gutter for now, gleefully painting a warm layer of scuzz on top of everything he touches. Sometimes it does get frustrating listening to the current crop of lo-fi trash rock n' rollers, though. I mean, drugs and noise are cool and all, but what's the harm in giving a little clarity to that perfect pop song you just wrote?! "Imaginary Person" kicks off with like 28 seconds of lazy drum-tapping and feedback before cutting abruptly into some doubled-up acoustic/electric strumming and surf-rock drums that pack one hell of a chorus punch when Segall finally gets around to it. I won't even mention the creepy two-note organ solo, because that's the kinda shit that could blow an unprepared mind. To me, it would sound perfect on the radio, but who the hell listens to the radio anymore? That's a real scary place for anyone with the sack to go where rock n' roll no longer lives. Everything there is shiny, bright, and soul-less, all artificially chirpy, buzzy, and boomy, with nothing substantial for the gloss to cling upon. Melted is thankfully way too weird for auto-tune vocals and beat-doctor drums though, and maybe it's better that tunes like "Bees" don't have a chance to make it on the hit parade. Could you imagine the ending, where Segall's voice gets all chipmunk-fast and bleats "I'm on drugs, and Lemmy from Motorhead gave 'em to me!" playing from an ofiice grunt's car radio on the way home from work? That's the kinda shit that might freak people out! Good thing there's enough sick fucks like Ty Segall out there to keep real rock n' roll like this alive through these dark cultural times.

Random Old Records Podcast #22

Woah, I can't believe it's really been a month since the last podcast came out. July seemed to FLY by, full of rock n' roll shows, grill-outs, and plain ol' summer sweaty fun. In that spirit, here's episode #22 of Random Old Records Podcast which is loaded with 60 minutes of non-stop rock n' roll jams! No BS, no babbling, just hit after hit. It kicks off with a set of classic second-wave UK punk from the likes of Stiff Little Fingers, The Saints, and The Adverts, then slides into some new jams from Ty Segall, Bare Wires, and Unwed Teenage Mothers, and finishes up with some deep '60s bubblegum and a set of late '70s rock n' roll from Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds. There's not a bad song in the lot, so check it out post-haste!

Also, in my normal routine of tirelessly hunting down new, rare, and unusual jams to present to you faithful listeners, I came across a 15 track album, unlabeled, untagged, unreleased, and unknown. The folder was entitled "The Greenhornes - Little Horse," but could it be?! The fearsome, damn-near legendary Cincinnati garage-rockers went on hiatus a few years back when their label V2 took a dirt nap and the rhythm section hightailed it to Detroit to play on Jack White's studio projects. Is it a long-overdue reunion? An unreleased LP from their mid-2000s prime? Or is it mis-labelled practical joke from someone either too smart or too dumb to know better?

After all, this GEM of an LP has way more muscle than the paisley-pop direction the band was going for on their final EP, East Grand Blues, and dozens of bands have been mining the crucial garage-psych vein the Greenhornes proudly scrounged from before all these folks realized how hep and cool and shit is was. It could be anyone, but it surely sounds like the mighty Greenhornes of old, so you better believe there's a track from that mysterious folder on here, "Track 3" to be exact. Just don't ask me where I got it from, OK?!

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Point your internets over to http://rorpodcast.mevio.com to stream, download, or subscribe via iTunes or RSS. If you don't feel like making that kinda commitment, you can download it as a .zip file by clicking this LINK. Also, make sure you tune in today, 8/11/2010, to REAL PUNK RADIO at 4 PM EST for the world premiere of Random Old Records #22. Real Punk Radio just wrapped up a wildly successful pledge drive, and it's awesome to see people stepping up to support 100% volunteer-run DIY radio. Keep your eyes peeled for some NEW blog entries coming up soon, and peep this episode's playlist in the comments section below. How y'all dig it, and THANKS for listening!