End of The Year
By Carl Macki
Going through the godzillion punk and hardcore electronic,
industrial, ambient, pop, noise, dance, math-rock, queercore,
sadcore, skate punk, reggae-ska-punk, downhome blues, college-indie,
west coast, indo-U.K. experimental, trans-mental, metal, avant prog,
folk punk rock, christian, anarcho- punk, no wave, post-wave,
baroque, post-post anything, freak, funk, new new romantic,
garage, new york, la, orange county, bay area british, scottish,
swedish and other releases I have listened to, and received these
past twelve months, I realize I may only listened really listened to
very little. Some have stood out -- and what part of nothing do I
know:
"Mirrored," by Battles mathematical post-rock delivered
with eerie precision and honesty. Tyondai Braxton and a vocoder
take the Alvin and the Chipmunks sound several steps higher.
"Ire Works," by Dillinger Escape Plan Harsh and lovely. . .
shows the plan still succeeding
"Liars," by Liars Liars, by Liars (Mute) Liars don't lie:
their finest yet.
http://www.myspace.com/liarsliarsliars
"Take To The Skies," by Enter Shikari
http://www.myspace.com/entershikari
wanna rave about ...trancecore.
'Twelve' by Patti Smith's first studio recordings since
2004, first covers
"Are
You Experienced" Patti Smith sings the Hendrix song like a
relaxed gunslinger of slam poetry.
with
gentle echoes of Hendrix and "Horses."
She started as a poet, started
with "Hey Joe," but had no foothold until Lenny Kaye and others
taught her to be a musician and sing.
Twelve cover versions,
with songs by Paul Simon, Tears for Fears, Nirvana, Neil Young,
the Doors, Jefferson Airplane, the Allman Brothers' Bob Dylan,
Jimi Hendrix, the Stones and the Beatles.
Weird but cool.
Did we talk about Sweden yet. Passed on the Hives' preppy hip
hop and went to the Vigilantes for some fun--http://www.vigilantes.se
Neo-Psychedelic--
Black Moth Super Rainbow, "Falling Through A Field
Live
Shit the Casualties.
One
of the best videos and just out,
What Poor Gods We Do Make
DVD/CD
-- Riot Fest
Records (2007) Naked Raygun about the influential
Chicago-based
punk band
of the 1980-90s that featured Jeff Pezzati on vocals. Naked Raygun
started chaotically, allied with the punk noisters
Big Black
and over time, developed into a classic melodic punk band in the
style of the Buzzcocks and Stiff Little Fingers. Other videos
noted: "Real Rock Divas" by Reality Check TV,
"Agent Orange" by MVD Videos, "King of Punk, and "American
Hardcore."
"Control" -- Ben Riley's fantastic as Ian Curtis in
Anton Corbjin great directing. Shot languidly in black and
white. Eye-opening. Also interesting historically for its tracing
of Joy Division's punk roots from Warsaw and the footage is
seamlessly married to a soundtrack that bobs and weaves as if at a
Manchester concert by them.
http://momentum.control.substance001.com/
Blitzen Trapper -- are a six-member wildly original
musical collective from Portland, Oregon. One well regarded
writer, formerly of Sleater-Kinney, said they sounded like the
Grateful Dead meet Stephen Malkus, especially when the banjoes hit
the pavement.
KATHY PECK WITH CRAIG
POP ARTIST
In 2007 Kathy Peck
did super humanitarian work with Dirk Fest and the Ness Aquino
Benefits, as well as the ones for Johnny Genocide and many
others.This on top of her work with the non-profit Hearing
Education and Awareness for Rockers --
H.E.A.R.
Her husband David Denny and his old psychedelic band
Frumious Bandersnatch
have been nominated for a historical Grammy for their inclusion on
" Love Is The Song We
Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-1970."
Alanna
Alberts-Wiitala photographer
OTHERS
Noted:
Juhu
Beach "Scenes of Abandonded Industry;" The Horrors, "Strange
House;"
"Lanterns/This Flood Covers The Earth." Old and new equations with a
new result.
The Vibrators
www.myspace.com/loudassrock
SOUTHERN SEXUAL, "Failing Third World Nation;"
Don't forget the Fratellis, the White
Stripes and the bluesy steam punk of "Icky Thump;" PJ Harvey, Spoon,
Cruiserweight, The Applicators, Ghostland Observatory
http://www.myspace.com/ghostlandobservatory
trashymoped.com,
Lucid Dementia
http://www.myspace.com/luciddementia
The Addictions, Wayne County, Andrew
Bird, Dan Deacon
http://www.myspace.com/dandeacon
St. Vincent, Danielson, T.I., the GO!
Team, Tegan and Sara, , the National, Blonde Redhead, MIA, Iggy
Pop, Robert Plant/Alison Krauss, the Field, The Thermals
http://www.myspace.com/thethermals
, The Wonder Years, The Primadonnatives, who sent several
of their CDs--" Go" and "In the Skanky Workshop; "Van
Gogh Shadowtree;" "Building 6" -- other amazing and virtuous
bands from
Vague Moon;
Far From Finished, "Living in the Fallout," T13C,
Not Bad The Seventh Season, D.I. "Autonomadic On
the Western Front; "REW, "That's S*rite;"
The
[immortal] Grannies; the uncanny and proflic Bony
Orbit Records , which put out the compile "Where
The Rockets Explode," The Bulemics
"Still Too Young to Care," Rupture/Nerds Rock Inferno
Split CD , Green Goblin Project's "The Secret World of
Parasites;" Power Plant; From Sweden (again)
Miss 45; Albert Kahn
and Vayizaku; Boston's The Destroyed; and the JDJ Band
; Eight Equals D;The Bullys (another top band
of 2007); Pilot Scott Tracy and Alternative Tentacles;
Esmerelda Strange; The Ghouls; The Johnbenders;
Boulevard Vintage Records "Down Home Blues" and Desmond
Dekker, Donna Damage and No Thanks, Ellen
Degenerate, False Alarm "All Ready (Now) Won" Planes
Mistaken For Stars "Mercy, "Letters Make Words,
The Deadbeat Sinatras, Blood Vessels, Dana Alberts
and Minus One, The Anthems, Clay Smith and
The Lifers, The Powerplant, Craig Pop Artist, the
reggae Abba Yahudah and his CD "M.I.L.K;" "Chairman
(Mr.) Plow's little red book;" UV Rays, "Night of the
Living Dudes, "Vacant Churches; Lanterns/This Flood
Covers the Earth; Dead City Dregs; Speaker Speaker
"We Won't March;" Voice of the Mysterons; The Scurvies; The
Fire The Flood "Truth Seekers" (No Sleep Records); The
Calabrese -- so professional! -- and git some--get
it! Daze; Zolar X; Levi Seefeld At The Movies; Juhu Beach
"Scenes of Abandoned Industry;" Sinking Spells "The Devil At My
Side; and Boys On The Docks.
Honorable Mention, "Cat Piss
Studios/Last Chance Records Jukebox Year Book,
The Filthy 42s "Positively South Jersey;"
Motorama "Dirt Track Specialist,' The Compulsions
"Laughter From Below;" Gogol Bordello, Super Taranta! -
super fun !
Best Dance Music with Worst Name for Album--tie between Dan
Deacon, "Spiderman of the Rings" and Justice,
"Stupid Symbol" - Best Album We are Don't Have To Hate
--The National, "Boxer; and, in a category of its own:
"The Shepherd's Dog," by Iron and Wine.
BANDS
  
Vampire Weekend "Vampire Weekend"
Self-titled full length album available on CD, vinyl
and digitally on January 28/29th 2008 worldwide
X
L Recordings
Personnel
Ezra Koenig -- guitar, vocals
Rostam Batmanglij -- keyboard
Chris Tomson -- drums
Chris Baio -- bass guitar
Tracks
Mansard Roof
Oxford Comma
A-Punk
Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
M79
Campus
Bryn
One (Blake's Got a New Face)
I Stand Corrected
Walcott
The Kids Don't Stand a Chance
What the Clash were to reggae, perhaps Vampire Weekend, formed
in 2006, create a likely movement around the South African
sounds of dancehall. Some of the heartfelt tracks on debut
album --"Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa," "Campus", and "Oxford Comma
Riddim."
http://xlrecordings.com/vampireweekend/
vampireweekend.com
http://www.myspace.com/vampireweekend
I mentioned The Clash and reggae.
This brings to mind Mick Jones' 21st Century band
Carbon/Silicon -- or (C) (Si) --
Mick Jones, the Clash singer-guitarist, and Generation X
bassist Tony James were sensational in the short-lived
London S.S. --that one critic claimed was "more famous for
what its members did later on than anything it ever did as a
band." Besides The Clash, and Generation X , London S.S.
begat the classic punk band The Damned; as well as the
funkified punk of Big Audio Dynamite, and the cyber synth
punk of Sigue Sigue Sputnik.
In 2002, Jones and James reunited; and, in tune with the
times, concentrated on excellent songwriting and utilized
sampling and drum loopings to augment their sound.
It was also in part driven by their interest in peer-to-peer
file sharing.
Critics immediately took to the new group, called
Carbon/Silicon, after the elements. Their elegant, spare,
punk chic style, and attire--wearing fitted suits instead of
requisite black leather and jeans--earned them the epithet,
"more posh than punk" in the New York Times.
(C) (Si) introduced four demos -- Sample This, Peace ; Dope
Factory Boogie; The Grand Delusion and The Homecoming --
freely available on their Internet site; as well as their
albums, "A.T.O.M" (A Twist of Modern), "Western Front (both
2006); and this year's,
The Crackup Suite.
Despite their Suicide-like start as a duo, former Jones' Big
Audio Dynamite fellow band member Leo "Eazykill" Williams,
recently joined to play bass; with Dominic Greensmith (Reef,
Kubb) on drums.
The official site has become more commercialized--however,
it's still a good site for free downloads!
LINKS:
Official site --
http://www.carbonsiliconinc.com/
Myspace:
myspace.com/carbonsiliconinc
BOOKS
Akashic Books' imprint,
Punk Planet Books is off the hook .
(Meno is prolific. Among the other works by him --
I have still yet to read -- from Akashic--hard to take but I
accept it is worth it:
Godlike, by Richard Hell (150 pages,
$13.95), a novel about poet's fascination
with sex and his own insanity.
While Hell's reputation as a writer has perhaps been
eclipsed by his musical contributions,
It is important to note that his
acclaim as a writer is steadily rising.
Since he basically stopped playing in bands like the Neon
Boys/Television, and Richard Hell & the Voidoids, and Dim
Star, he has been active in New York's literary scene and
beyond. His
website
is comprehensive.
Hell's first novel Go Now was published in 1996, and Hot and
Cold, a mix of poetry, art and other writings, came out in
2001. Godlike was first released by Akashic in 2006.
Other books of note that may or may not have crossed my desk
in 2007:
Three from
Plexus
Publishing:
BLONDIE: Unseen 1976-1980
by Roberta Bayley
THE CRAMPS: A Brief History of Rock 'n' Roll Psychosis
by Dick Porter
PUNK ON 45:Revolutions On Vinyl -- 1976-79
by Gavin Walsh
Plus:
The
Replacements: All Over But The Shouting
by Jim Walsh
Voyageur
Press
From Venerable
Last Gasp
Books --
ART OF MODERN ROCK MINI #1: A-Z
Chronicle Books
The co-author of Chronicle
Books'
Art of Modern Rock presents this delectable
collection of rock posters.
Coming Soon
THROUGH PREHENSILE
EYES:
SEEING THE ART OF ROBERT WILLIAMS
(DELUXE EDITION)
by
Robert Williams
200 pages, $125.00
Last Gasp
Limited Deluxe
Edition (700 of these unsigned editions,
and 300 signed and numbered editions) of
reproductions of paintings by the famed
underground cartoonist-artist and founder
of
Juxtapoz Magazine.
"Seeing what
Robert Williams and S. Clay Wilson had
done just gave me the last little push I
needed to let open the floodgates." -- R.
Crumb.
Received
Somewhere Over
The Rainbow
by
Neon Park
Last Gasp/La Luz de Jesus Press
144 pages,
$29.95. Out of Stock.
The late Neon
Park (born Martin Muller), whose album
covers for
Little Feat,
Frank Zappa,
David Bowie,
Dr. John, and the
Beach Boys. earned him cliche-clinching
honors as the consummate rock art
psychedelic pop surrealist of the 70s and
80s, is ably represented in this fine
volume
For an
astonishingly different look at some of
his art, visit his
La Luz de Jesus Gallery show
site.
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