Hey, I got interviewed by the infamous, estimable, legendary, and funny Lydia Lunch as a special guest on her podcast!

Moving from Blade Runner lullabies to upbeat electroclash lounge, 6 is sort of a Soft Cell shimmer over a Casio pop aesthetic, but with way more colors than basic black.

My best bets on another great year for music, old and new. (Never mind the cranks, here’s the good stuff as ever.) Hope this little list inspires you to find, or give a second look to, a few cool releases you might miss otherwise that you end up truly loving.

Good news! Big Takeover #80 Spring 2017 issue with The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde on the cover has been completed and is shipping! It’s the perfect time for Big Takeover magazine subscriptions and back issues (like the big enchilada, complete set 1980-2017)! Or six children’s sizes for our T-Shirts (to go with several Mens’ and Womens’ sizes) in three colors, as well as our Big Takeover Beer Cozies and (signed if you like) Color 30th Anniversary Festival Posters!

49 and a half years after the original line-up split, all four surviving original members (R.I.P. guitarist Paul Atkinson), Colin Blunstone lead vocals, Rod Argent keyboards/vocals, Chris White bass/vocals, and Hugh Grundy on drums, have begun a rare farewell U.S. tour together; so rare, it’s only the second time they’ve done it—and the first time was 2015! It’s even more rare when you consider the original line-up only came over once in its young, commercial peak. Best of all, from now until April 29, they are once again performing the high water mark of their existence, 1968’s extraordinary, justly lionized, soft-psych masterpiece Odessey & Oracle start to finish to mark the 50th anniversary of its recording.

Good news! Big Takeover #79 Fall 2016 issue with Lush on the cover is out on the stands! The magazine makes a perfect gift year-round: Big Takeover magazine subscriptions and back issues (like the big enchilada, complete set 1980-2016)! Plus six children’s sizes for our T-Shirts (to go with several Men’s and Women’s sizes) in three colors, as well as our Big Takeover Beer Cozies, buttons, and (signed if you like) Color 30th Anniversary Festival Posters! What a way to say “Happy New Year!”

The best bets on another great year for music, old and new. (Never mind the cranks, here’s the good stuff as ever.)

Good news! Big Takeover #78 Spring 2016 issue with Savages on the cover is out on the stands!

Once again the big news is that Big Takeover #78 Spring 2016 issue was completed in Brooklyn, NY and Oakland, CA this month! Pre-order – Subscribe – Renew – Great gifts! Click through for a quick description of its contents. And IMPORTANT, subscribers, please update your address if you’ve moved!

Moodiness/magnificence personified, again.

An exclusive first taste of Jeff’s solo debut!

The best bets on another great year for music, old and new. (Never mind the cranks, here’s the good stuff as ever.)

In fact, given this late date, I/we can send the first issue(s) (or package) via special 2-day priority mail, the extra postage costs on us, for any order $20 or over in order to get there before the 25th! Or a postcard if you want to start your friends or relatives with the next issue due in the spring.

Good news! Big Takeover #77 Fall 2015 issue with Ride on the cover is out on the stands! And there’s still time for the perfect holiday gift: Big Takeover magazine subscriptions and back issues (like the big enchilada, complete set 1980-2015)! Plus six children’s sizes for our T-Shirts (to go with several Mens’ and Womens’ sizes) in three colors, as well as our Big Takeover Beer Cozies and (signed if you like) Color 30th Anniversary Festival Posters! What a way to say “Happy Holidays!”

Once again the big news is that Big Takeover #77 Fall 2015 issue was completed in Brooklyn, NY and Oakland, CA this month! Pre-order – Subscribe – Renew – Great gifts! Click through for a quick description of its contents. And IMPORTANT, subscribers, please update your address if you’ve moved!

Good news! Big Takeover #76 (Special 35th Anniversary) Spring 2015 issue with Belle and Sebastian on the cover is out on the stands! We only come out twice a year, every Spring and Fall, so you don’t want to miss one of our jam-packed 150-page issues! Click through for full details on ordering.

After seven years away, Sweden’s Moonbabies are back and better than ever!

Those who’ve enjoyed my weekly “Big Takeover” show on Breakthruradio.com the last six-and-a-half years, and have missed it the last month—or would just like to hear a weekly companion to Big Takeover magazine’s coverage—will be glad to know I will be resuming it in the same weekly 90-minute+, format, only listener-supported from now on, at our new home on Realpunkradio.com, starting this Monday, January 26!

Four truly exciting yet often somewhat dreamy-sounding up and comers we love! Click through to watch music videos by all four, and read my reviews of their most recent releases!

Good news! Big Takeover #75 Fall 2014 issue with The Raveonettes on the cover is out on the stands! And there’s still time for the perfect holiday gift: Big Takeover magazine subscriptions and back issues (like the big enchilada, complete set 1980-2014)! Plus six children’s sizes for our T-Shirts (to go with several Mens’ and Womens’ sizes) in three colors, as well as our Big Takeover Accessories (Beer Cozies, Buttons, and Magnets!) and (signed if you like) Color 30th Anniversary Festival Posters! What a way to say “Happy Holidays!”

It will begin shipping any day now, so you should see it quite soon! Click through for details!

Also airing this week: Pale Lights, Jet Black (new), History of Apple Pie (new), Sloan (new), Paul Collins (new), Byrds, Pretty Things, Kinks, Zombies, Roddy Woomble & Band (new, live), Luluc, (new), Roddy Frame, and Tim Hardin.

Also airing this week: Valery Trails, Cheatahs, Proper Ornaments, Wesley Wolfe, Moose, Idaho, Talk Talk, Luff, Bob Mould, Replacements, Suicide Commandos, Suburbs, Loud Fast Rules, and Rogue Wave

[Updated, corrected for correct time:] It’s tomorrow, Friday, August 15, 5-8 PM Eastern Standard Time, 3-6 PM Mountain time on Bozeman, MT’s KGLT, and can be streamed at kglt.net. Thanks to KGLT legend Ron Sanchez!

Also on this week’s show: Omi Palone, The Muffs (new), The Reducers, Alvvays, Beverly, Penetration, The Specials, Madness, The Ruts, Flower (live Rabid Session), The KVB, Clustersun, Savage Republic (new), and The Sensible Grey Cells. Cool!

Also on this week’s show: La Sera, Drive By Truckers, George Jones, Martin Carr (new), The Muffs (new), Cheatahs, The War on Drugs, Sad Lovers and Giants, Conor Oberst, The Clean, David Kilgour & the Heavy Eights (new), Slowdive, and Scud Mountain Boys

Also on this week’s show: Bob Mould (new), Elvis Costello & the Attractions, Dum Dum Girls, SPC ECO, Elbow, Teenage Fanclub, Pale Lights, Prophet Hens, Rock City (Big Star), Flower, Chino, Bevis Frond, and Mountain Man (live)

Good news! Big Takeover #74 Spring/Summer 2014 issue with Dum Dum Girls on the cover is out on the stands! And there’s still time for the perfect gift: Big Takeover magazine subscriptions and back issues!

“I remember the hardships and the frustrations bitterly. I wasn’t mourning Maggie Thatcher’s loss greatly!”

With the July 11 passing of drummer Tommy Ramone from bile duct cancer, the original quartet that launched 1,000 others are consigned to memory, film, and record.

Also on this week’s show: Cocoanut Groove, Slowness (new), The Rifles, Kaleidescope (U.K.), Allah-Las, Math and Physics Club, Maximo Park, The Steinbecks, Shoes, The Ramones, Beverly, The Outskirts, and Roddy Frame (new).

Indeed, The Stone Roses remains an immortal moment in modern British pop history. A quarter century on, one is still held enthralled by John Squire’s lovely, commanding yet beautiful guitar passages, Mani’s booming, loping bass, and Reni’s kick-drum-heavy grooves, backing a bravura performance from smallish, po-faced frontman Ian Brown, whose almost whispery trilling belies an essential brashness. There’s not a false moment, from the opening buildup of the says-it-all “I Wanna Be Adored” to the concluding, psychedelic funky freak-out of the (also self-explanatory) “I am the Resurrection.”

Also on this week’s show: Soft Science, Lightfoils (new), +/- (Plus/Minus), Sad Lovers and Giants, The Weirdos, Penetration, Radio Birdman (live), Bob Mould (new), Replacements, The Last, Throwing Muses, Tanya Donelly, Lisa Mychols, and an oldie by New Riders of the Purple Sage!

Also featured: songs byThe Stooges, MC5, Saints, New Christs, Birdman and other Tek bands/projects of the past and present, Donovan’s Brain, The Visitors, Angie Pepper, and New Race

Also on this week’s show: Bob Mould (new), Real Estate, Cheatahs, Upset, Screaming Females (live), Deniz Tek, Guided By Voices (new), Omi Palone, A Sunny Day in Glasgow, Ken Stringfellow, House of Love, Goya Dress, and Gene.

Also on this week’s show: Flying Colours, First Communion Afterparty, Ty Segall, Elvis Costello, SPC ECO, The War on Drugs, Kaleidescope (U.K.), Veronica Falls, Cheap Star, Dot Dash (Rabid Session Live at Pancake Factory Studios), Victim,The Forty Nineteens, and The Spits

Also on this week’s show: Maximo Park, Valery Trails, Chan Romero, The Rifles, Dum Dum Girls, Math & Physics Club, Dot Dash (Live “Rabid Session” at Pancake Factory Studios), New Model Army, Procol Harum (live), The Starlight Run, Negative Lovers, Wax Idols, White Blush, Last Remaining Pinnacle, and Headshy

Also on this week’s show: Radio Birdman, Teenage Fanclub, Buzzcocks, Guided By Voices, Darker My Love, Sleepover Disaster, Secret Shine, Springhouse, Belle & Sebastian, Jeremy Enigk, Mark Eitzel, Greg Graffin, The Libertines U.S., The Reducers, and Robert Forster

Also featured: songs by Wire, The Undertones, and 10 bands Dot Dash members used to play in: Swervedriver, Minor Threat, Youth Brigade (D.C.), Julie Ocean, The Saturday People, Ultracherry Violet, Strange Boutique, St. Christopher, Glo-Worm, and Tree Fort Angst!

Also on this week’s show: Omi Palone, Soft Science, Cheatahs, +/- (Plus/Minus), Sad Lovers & Giants, Allah-Las, Dot Dash (Live “Rabid Session” at Pancake Factory Studios), Guided By Voices (new), The New Mendicants, Eagulls, Daydream Machine, Nothing, The History of Colour TV, and The Sensible Grey Cells

Also on this week’s show: Roddy Frame (new), Salem 66, Long Blondes, Cramps, Penetration, Upset, Maximo Park, (Paul Collins’) The Beat, Split Single, Nomads, Guided By Voices (new), Slowdive, The Millions, The Steinbecks, and Kristin Hersh (new)

Also on this week’s show: Bevis Frond, Dum Dum Girls, The Rifles, Kaleidoscope, Elvis Costello, Rudi, The Last, 1956 Johnny Burnette Trio, The Joykiller, I Was a King, Minor Alps, Trick Mammoth, Bubblegum Lemonade, Go-Betweens, and 1971 Electric Light Orchestra.

Also on this week’s show: Baby Strange, BNLX, Soft Science, Dead Leaf Echo, Mountain Man (live), Prophet Hens, , Real Estate, Mega City Four, Marc Ganancias, X,Wire, Noh Mercy, Catherine Wheel, Headshy, andWithered Hand

Also featured: songs by Half String, Slowness, Mighty Lemon Drops, Ringo Deathstarr, Lush, Highspire, Beach Fossils, and Nothing (Dead Leaf Echo session), and Male Bonding,The History of Apple Pie, Milk Music, Sonic Youth,Waaves, Swervedriver, My Bloody Valentine and Metz (Cheatahs session)

Also on this week’s show: Bevis Frond, Soft Science, Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five (1946), The Beat (Paul Collins’), Pezband, Shoes, Dwight Twilley Band, The Chills (live), Violens, Dead Leaf Echo, The Black Watch, Warbles, Scattered Bodies, and Trespassers William

Also on this week’s show: The Valery Trails, Great Ytene, Soft Science, Daydream Machine, Jigsaw Scene, Guided By Voices, People’s Temple, Gene, The Sensible Grey Cells, Irving Kaufman, The Moondogs (Irish 1979), The Last, 65s, We Are Hex, and Scud Mountain Boys

I’m proud and pleased to present the exclusive Big Takeover premiere of this great video from Daydream Machine’s excellent new album, Twin Idols!

Also on this week’s show: Kitchens of Distinction, BLNX, Withered Hand, Sultans of Ping F.C., D.O.A., X, Marc Ganancias, The Spits, Toy, The New Mendicants, Small Faces, The Kinks, The Equals, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich, and Inventions!

Ten years and four albums in, they’re still bringing 1966 red hots kicking into our era and making us beg for more.

Also on this week’s show: Michael Head & the Red Elastic Band, [Vancouver 79 tribute: Private School, D.O.A., Dishrags, Young Canadians, Subhumans (Canada)], Cheatahs, Seasurfer, Nothing, New Model Army, Minor Alps, Blake Rainey & His Demons, HeadShy, and William Fitzsimmons

Also on this week’s show: The Sensible Grey Cells, Cocoanut Groove, Real Estate, Maximo Park, Gene, Humphreys & Keen, Trick Mammoth, Prophet Hens, Popstrangers, The Chills (live), Paul Revere & the Raiders, People’s Temple, Nine Times Blue, The Breaks, and Iggy & the Stooges. Hey, why not tune in? You might like it!

Live At Galapagos Art Space is available for only $5 on the band’s Bandcamp store, and if you want to help the group fund the project, they’re giving away the actual album for only $10 contribution to their Indiegogo campaign — which concludes this Wednesday, April 2, so bet to act fast!

Also on this week’s show: Withered Hand, New Mendicants, The Sensible Grey Cells, Real Estate, Dandelion Seeds, Dead Leaf Echo, Blouse, Iggy & the Stooges (R.I.P. Scott Asheton), D.O.A. (live), 999, September Girls, and Aztec Camera (Kid Jensen BBC Session) Hey, why not tune in? You might like it!

Also on this week’s show: Sensible Grey Cells, Cheap Star, Electric Light Orchestra (1971, American Hustle connection), Eagulls, Sebadoh, D.O.A. (live), Spits, The Choir (1966), Eddie Fontaine (1958), Teresa Jennings, Everly Brothers (1960), Pete Seeger (live, 1962), Warbles, Dog Age, and Allo Darlin. Hey, why not tune in? Might be good!

Also onThis week’s show: Sensible Grey Cells, Robbie Fulks, Plus/Minus (+/-), Zebra Hunt, Magnet School, Supergrass, Susanna (with Helge Sten and John Paul Jones), and the Big Easy history salute: Fats Domino, Huey Piano Smith and the Clowns, Ernie K. Doe, Smiley Lewis, and Professor Longhair! Why not tune in?

For those who enjoy Big Takeover Magazine, you might like my weekly radio show too, as I play a lot of stuff that is covered in our pages. New show today!

Small Faces’ Here Come the Nice box set is a remarkable treasure case for super fans. And on two of the four CDs, said fan is a fly on the wall, watching the four Faces trying out their ideas, and gauging their working process, noting their recognizable steps to where they were ultimately, familiarly going.

Last Call! Just a reminder that there’s still time for the perfect X-mas gift: Big Takeover magazine! Our brand new Fall/Winter issue 73 with (ex-Smiths guitarist) Johnny Marr cover is out on the stands, in case you want to treat yourself (you little devil!). Or indeed, if you want a holiday gift subscription for your friends or family whom you think would enjoy our pages (or one of our t-shirts including all womens’, childrens’ and infants’ sizes, or any of our back issues, or our CDs, or our “accessories,” our buttons, magnets, signed 30th anniversary festival posters or beer cozies), either way you can still order on our secure online store (or check or paypal). Order right away and we will be glad to send the package by priority mail to ensure it gets there fast and on time!

Good news! Big Takeover #73 Fall 2013 issue with ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr on the cover is out on the stands! And there’s still time for the perfect holiday gift: Big Takeover magazine subscriptions and back issues! Plus six children’s sizes for our T-Shirts (to go with several Mens’ and Womens’ sizes) in three colors, as well as our Big Takeover Accessories (Beer Cozies, Buttons, and Magnets!) and (signed if you like) Color 30th Anniversary Festival Posters! What a way to say “Happy Holidays!”

Just a reminder that there’s still time to pre-order our brand new Big Takeover #73 Fall 2013 issue that will likely ship this week some time! Or subscribe! Either way, if you get in your new order, we will be glad to rush you your copy straight from the printer when the do their mail out upon completion of its printing and binding! And remember, we only come our twice a year, every Spring and Fall, so you don’t want to miss one of our jam-packed 140-page issues!

Once again the big news is that Big Takeover #73 Fall 2013 issue was completed in Brooklyn, NY, Helena, MT, and Oakland, CA this month! Pre-order – Subscribe – Renew – Great gifts! Click through for a quick description of its contents.

My guest on this month’s radio sessions, the “Rabid Sessions at Pancake Factory” show for Breakthruradio.com, is New York’s own orchestral pop/ indie pop marvels The Sharp Things! Listen now!

The lineup includes Daniel Johnston and Half Japanese on the same bill, plus Sparks, AND Silver Apples in other venues, on the same night. Plus Nine Inch Nails, Animal Collective, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Gary Numan and more!

This is a really rare case for this writer; a video where I like the band, the song, and the sociopolitical sentiment a great deal—an extremely rare triple play for me!

My guest on this month’s radio sessions show is my own 25-year (off and on!) bandmate from Springhouse, Mitch Friedland! Mitch performs live, solo acoustic, our new cover of “No One Has to Know” just released for a Hurricane Sandy benefit (New Jersey themed) tribute album called Our Hometown, plus, two other Springhouse songs from 1991 and 2008, and a (if you ask me) stunning cover of a 1986 Husker Du/*Bob Mould* song from Candy Apple Grey (never performed or recorded by Mitch before), “Hardly Getting Over It.” Why not listen in?

We did the Richard Barone/James Mastro song much louder/heavier/more uptempo/more high energy so that we wouldn’t replicate a song we already loved. Click through to hear it!

After these shows, it is unlikely the band will continue performing together. The Millions sincerely hope fans will make a special effort to attend these concerts.

It’s a sad day for Let’s Active’s fans and for those of us who have a special place in our hearts for all the fine music and especially all the fine, nice, music-loving musicians and people that came out of the Georgia/North Carolina sister scenes of the early 1980s.

And it’s a special one too: just Zach Rogue guitar/vocals and Pat Spurgeon drums! So the versions are wholly different than on the new LP Nightingale Floors (and older ones)!

Also if you enjoy the new one devoted to Rogue Wave, here are links to the seven previous, recent sessions we have done at Pancake Factory, all this year

Once again the big news is that Big Takeover #72 Spring 2013 issue was completed in Brooklyn this month! Pre-order – Subscribe – Renew – Great gifts! Click through for a quick description of its contents.

Their last U.S. show was December 30, 1982 at NYC’s Ritz!

In this day of lightweight pop stars, Soft Machine achieved something that most musicians strive for but never achieve — a lasting, meaningful and appealing album that sounds as relevant today as it did over 40 years ago.

Now that my “Top 40 Albums of 2012” two-part countdown shows have aired on Breakthruradio.com, and my Top 10 has been officially posted on the Pazz and Jop Poll web site, it’s finally time to share with you all my Top Picks of 2012 List in full.

if you want to hear (not read!) my top 40 Album Picks list for 2012, I have made it available to you all in aural (not written!) form, by picking one song off each that I really like and doing two Countdown shows featuring them on my regular weekly “Big takeover on Breakthruradio.com” show.

Good news! Big Takeover #71 Fall 2012 issue with Brooklyn’s Beach House on the cover is out on the stands! And there’s still time for the perfect holiday gift: Big Takeover magazine subscriptions and back issues! Plus six new children’s sizes for our T-Shirts (to go with several Mens’ and Womens’ sizes) in three colors, as well as our new Big Takeover Accessories (Beer Cozies, Buttons, and Magnets!) and (signed if you like) Color 30th Anniversary Festival Posters! What a way to say “Happy Holidays?!”

Just a reminder that there’s no need to camp out in tents in front of a big box retailer Thursday night! Big Takeover is happy to help you stay warm and cozy at home instead (and get a jump on Cyber Monday), with our secure online Yahoo Store—for that music-loving friend or relative you know who’d like something fun. Heck, we’ll even ship it directly to them (for free) if you like! (Or to you, for them, or for yourself, if you’re in the mind to buy yourself some holiday treats too!)

On Friday, June 15,Windbreakers co-founder Bobby Sutliff was involved in a bad single-vehicle accident near his home in Powell, Ohio. He has sustained several serious injuries. Various charitable efforts to aid the sticken singer/songwriter are now underway.

Good news! Big Takeover #70 Spring 2012 issue with Brooklyn’s Nada Surf on the cover is out on the stands! And since the issue is appearing in the best book, record, and magazine shops near you, now is an excellent time look for it there or contact us via our secure online Yahoo Store to order it if you would like to receive it in the mail, or subscribe if you’ve been meaning to, or renew your subscription if it has run out. And just a reminder that there’s still time for the perfect gift: Big Takeover magazine subscriptions and back issues!

He was a nice man, who was very patient with my endlessly peppering him with questions about his days (and recordings) in The Sleepers (1978-1981), one of the truly remarkable punk and post-punk era late ’70s/early ’80s bands of all time, as well as his association with the also incredible same-era bands Negative Trend and Toiling Midgets.

A nice guy, from a consistently great band for 34 years.

Do you like weird, loose, open-ended, acid-psych hippy folk?

Artwork and a sound not entirely un-reminiscent of a Tim Burton film

The (recently revived) D-Generation frontman (and former leader of New York hardcore greats Heart Attack, Hope, and Bellvue, all of whom I spin during this show) and prolific solo star stopped by Greenpoint’s Thump studios to record some live in session songs (I particularly like the first one offered, “Moscow”) and sit for a spirited and funny interview with yours truly. Check it out!

Tune in to today’s Rabid Sessions show straight from Thump Studios in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, with the Stiff Records’ heyday legend, still regularly at work, and his equally hallowed singer/songwriter solo star spouse!

A live radio interview that everyone can listen to; or check it out fully archived, later, at your convenience.

This is an excellent three-minute documentary about the store that began filming six months ago or so, appreciating its place in the music community, that now has taken a different story turn, sad to say.

2011, and power-pop is taking over.

All good things must come to an end, and Rabid In The Kennel is no exception. And so it is with sadness and pride that we present our final episode today, Wednesday, December 14, 2011. As a special treat to our loyal listeners, we present the very best, most memorable performances from our two-and-a-half years of monthly shows on BreakThruRadio.com!

LISTEN NOW!

Good news! Big Takeover #69 Fall 2011 issue with Brooklyn’s Vivian Girls on the cover is out on the stands! And there’s still time for the perfect holiday gift: Big Takeover magazine subscriptions and back issues! Plus six new children’s sizes for our T-Shirts in three colors, as well as our new Big Takeover Accessories (Beer Cozies, Buttons, and Magnets!) and (signed if you like) Color 30th Anniversary Festival Posters! What a way to say “Happy Holidays?!”

Check out the ’60s baroque pop living legends The Left Banke’s live in the studio session from Brooklyn’s fabulous Kennel Studio, as well as a pleasant, historic, and highly fascinating, 30-minute interview with me, Big Takeover editor Jack Rabid with original members, bassist/vocalist Tom Finn and drummer/vocalist George Cameron. You won’t regret it!

The Left Banke, “Pretty Ballerina” [Live At The Kennel] by Rabid In The Kennel

Check out the New Zealand living legend Don McGlashan’s live in the studio session from Brooklyn’s fabulous Kennel Studio, as well as a pleasant, humorous, good 30-minute interview with me, Big Takeover editor Jack Rabid. You won’t regret it!

When the world’s greatest young band vends a hot, merch table-only live EP, wallets come out, and trifles like a playing order out of synch with the track listing matter not.

This noisy jangle pop hits like some demented lo-fi garage band attempting to break into the paisley underground.

A great band from right here in Brooklyn, USA. Listen now!

For those New Yorkers who missed the first Left Banke shows in decades as Joe’s Pub in March, see them tonight, Wednesday, July 20, at Littlefield in Brooklyn.

It’s an invigorating, absolutely smashing live-in-studio session with our current issue 68 cover stars—yes, it’s the Brooklyn indie-rock band powerhouse The Pains of Being Pure at Heart! Hurrah! Can you tell we are excited? Click through to learn more and download a free MP3 from the session!

It is with immense pleasure that we present the first three of many planned releases of documentary video shot by David Urbano and the Review Stalker blog during the Big Takeover 30th anniversary concerts, which took place nearly a year ago at The Bell House in Brooklyn.

Good news! Big Takeover #68 Spring 2011 issue with Brooklyn’s The Pains of Being Pure at Heart on the cover, Best Coast, and concluding part twos of our awesome Teenage Fanclub & Iggy Pop of Iggy & the Stooges (part 2), interviews, as well as fabulous history interviews with The Left Banke, Buffalo Tom, Motorhead’s Lemmy, Wanda Jackson, R.E.M., and the reunited Swans is out on the stands! Click through for a full description of its contents, including several juicy sample quotes!

“It felt like a natural progression for me to explore and experiment with dub based ideas in my O.G’ness, but I have always been a fan of rebel music, all music.”

This month on Rabid in the Kennel, we offer a particularly historic session with departing Brooklyn dreampop/shoegaze band The Depreciation Guild.

They play together like devils, and shake like “The American Ruse,” “The Human Being Lawnmower,” and “Sister Anne” are the bible, and they’re fire and brimstone preachers.

Introduction lays out in stark terms what we lost at knifepoint in an L.A. bathroom, October 21, 2003. The guy was so real he still hurts.

Phoenix five-some Lisa Savidge dig shoegaze/dreampop’s dense guitar majesty, offering intermittent, beautifully breathtaking, mountain-peak clusters of cascading cacophony—but those are mere passages.

Big Takeover editor Jack Rabid picks his 50 best new albums for 2010, along with 10 best singles and 20 best reissues!

This collection, much of which (or all of which, perhaps) appeared on previous Released Emotions tributes to these three bands, is a hit and mostly miss affair.

Sit down for the whole hour and 18 songs and take in the charming, lightly perfumed, but soulful air.

Blindfolded, I’d not be certain that Mr. Sloane was not Bono, so much does he sing and sound like him.

Anyone out there miss the Libertines U.K.? One could slip this album into the player at your next party and easily convince all in attendance that this is their new third LP.

Though it’s surprising to see this 1972 smash hit record reissued on an indie, that says more about the state of the music business nowadays than about the quality of this recording or the band.

Their succinct, unerring taste has slipped big-time this time ‘round.

As someone who has known and enjoyed Mr. Steele’s work for 31 years now, it’s nevertheless hard to say what the point of this short, eight-song covers album is.

Horribly over-praised in its time, 1965’s September is an alpha male prematurely facing a far-off mortality, expressing an overly sentimental melancholy over lost youth.

I’ve been hearing this sort of lushly lulling female vocalist for a long time. Tired of it I’m not!

The lyrics are outrageously nutty, often embarrassingly frankly funny, and the post-punk attack is as herky-jerky, unpredictable, and sometimes as outright insane as the words.

Despite being a key member of three of the most important New Zealand bands ever, The Clean, Magick Heads, and his prime singer/songwriting vehicle The Bats, it’s safe to say that Scott is still one of the more underrated singer/songwriters of the last 30 years.

This young L.A. multi-instrumentalist jazz cat has cut chops working with various jazz legends, among them Bennie Maupin , Arthur Blythe , and Henry Grimes.

Rose is a striking-looking, brunette-haired L.A. newcomer with Chicago roots that needs little more than her chords and harmoniously honey voice to make her lyrics dig in on her debut, even on initial encounter.

If you’re looking for more punk rock from SideoneDummy, would you accept the kind that goes back 80 years instead of 35?

When one finally deals with what’s here as opposed to what one would truly love, Live on the Sunset Strip is a genuinely sweaty, hard-working, exciting sounding, wonderfully recorded, must-have.

Although this two-girl, one boy trio are from Brighton in the south coast of England, they sound more like something on Nebraska’s Saddle Creek label—not a zillion miles removed from Azure Ray and Mynabirds, et al.

As the decades pass, it’s amazing how each generation mints a new round of artists who remind of the early ‘70s Neil Young.

If the theme of 2010 was an absolute plethora of inspired albums by people who’d been making them for decades, not a handful of years, you can go ahead and add this one to that pleasant development.

Typically described as an alt-country star, her latest barely betrays such nomenclature, bearing up instead as a folk pop and soft singer-songwriter rock foray, with only minor country inflections.

On the Seattle trio’s second LP, they are trying to answer the question no one was asking, namely, “Does the world need an American Belle & Sebastian?”

I confess, I find Ms. Marling’s prodigious, precocious talent and her back-story more consuming than her actual albums.

Most double LPs are “sprawling,” but this isn’t; it’s focused on tough, catchy, old fashioned roots-rock, with southern blues and R&B flavors.

But how pleasantly big a surprise to find that they’ve kept their challenging, moody guitar rock base, yet totally overhauled the formula, pumping up the volume into a five times heavier, louder, denser, more pulsating framework!

Hopes and expectations don’t always pan out.

You wonder who at the label had the temerity to sign and promote German composer Volker Bertelmann , a pianist by trade whose classical chamber music bears no hint of rock whatsoever, as if it had never been invented.

Berkeley CA’s John Ringhofer must have ADD. His fifth LP for Asthmatic Kitty is a study in “get in, get out, do your business… and run away before anyone gets a clue of what you’re up to!”

This Barcelona band’s fourth LP still sounds a lot more like they’re an American band out of Los Angeles clubs than anything that might bear their true Castilian markings.

Singer/songwriter Gouette is a staple of the busy New London, CT scene and its documenting Cosmo label, appearing on its various scene compilations, and issuing three singles and now two LPs for the imprint.

While one would want to avoid an electric jellyfish while swimming, not so the band of that name.

The seventh installment of Dondero’s solo career finds the old hand Austin, TX folkie as ever mining that bittersweet intersection—can we call it the crossroads?—where ancient Dixie folk, blues, and country pop meet and have a shot of White Lightning at the local saloon.

Having just reviewed this reformed band’s new EP, here’s the other one also released this year—although in this case, the recordings date from the late ‘70s Manchester band’s first revival, back in 1995, but they were unissued until now.

The trend of bands from the late ‘70s/’80s reforming and doing work that doesn’t embarrass their halcyon days continues!

Although this is the debut LP (following some 2009 EPs) by an L.A. street punk band, they sure want to be an early ‘80s English Oi! Band.

If you’re throwing a shindig any time soon, this pioneering 26-year New Orleans country-punk trio led by Bill Davis (the sole original member) wants to be invited.

Fifty-five years is a hell of a long career (albeit with several long breaks for serious illness and injury), but few have earned it more richly than Dale.

The hardest trick for a roots-rock/pop, americana, or alt.country band is to take something that’s that traditional—what’s a hundred years?—and try to make it sound contemporary instead of boringly old-timey, like a singing group playing on Disney’s fake-as-folksy Main Street.

Though the excuse for this release is the 80th anniversary of Charles birth, none is needed for an artist of whom the tag “genius” really wasn’t and still isn’t a stretch.

I lavished deserved praise on this Beverly, MA (greater Boston) instrumental group’s The Four Trees double album debut three years ago, this CD reissue of the group’s 2005 debut EP is more of the same only even more commanding!

When last we heard from this Aussie folkpop singer three years ago on When I Cross the River , our own Mark Suppanz was comparing his delicate grace and involved guitar playing to Tim Buckley and Nick Drake.

I remember seeing the stunning 1971 documentary Blue Water White Death sometime in the ‘80s, both fascinated and for many weeks haunted by incredible underwater photographer Peter Gimbel ’s death-defying images of the monster Great White Sharks off of Australia’s barrier reefs.

This debut LP chronicles the two-year gestation of Viva Voce ’s two songwriter/musicians, Kevin Robinson and Anita Robinson ’s attempt to form a side-band country-rock supergroup.

The well-meaning gent that suggested I try this band called them “prog-psych,” which, to these ears promised a paring of “Pictures of Matchstick Men” Status Quo with Genesis’s The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway . I.e., 1968 meets 1974.

Anderson is one of the two younger guitarists/backing singers that have kicked Paul McCartney in the ass since they joined his touring band in 2001 (the other being Brian Ray ).

With an album title (and title track) like this, and other tunes such as “Superman Can’t Move His Legs,” “Jesus Doesn’t Love Me,” and “Dead as Disco,” you might expect Where to be a funny album.

Now airing on Rabid In The Kennel: The Joy Formidable, the mighty, Welsh/English band led by kick-ass Ritzy Bryan (guitar/vocals), who will soon release their first full length LP The Big Roar , joins me for a laugh-filled interview and an enchanting performance with bandmates Rhydian Dafydd (bass, backing vocals) and Matt Thomas (drums), both of whom also take part in the interview.

“This is bourbon and fireside rock criticism, and yet it’s as up to date and ‘on it’ as any blog or website you’ll read tomorrow. If you ever wished that Pitchfork was more tied into the original regional-aesthetic based, beguiled but no-BS root of the heralded rock press (CREEM, Crawdaddy), then The Big Takeover is your last great read on slick, shiny paper. It is not just another music publication, it is possibly the only one left.”

Good news! Big Takeover #67 Fall 2010 issue with Scotland’s Teenage Fanclub on the cover and concluding part twos of our awesome interviews with The Ramones (a previously unpublished 1992 interview), For Against, ’70s Vancouver punks Subhumans Canada, and Graham Nash on The Hollies, is out on the stands! A full description of its contents, including several juicy sample quotes, is just below!

“Rabid In The Kennel” appeared for the first time in a month starting September 15 with our second installment of our special new wrinkle for our established format we first aired in August, by presenting all music and no chat with seven more up-and-coming, less established, but equally deserving new bands, which we have called “Best of the New Breed, Vol 2.” Check out Baltimore’s The Seldon Plan, and New York’s own Golden Bloom, Anthem In, Edward Rogers, Jeff Litman (pictured), and Tiny Animals!

“Rabid In The Kennel” appeared on Bastille Day with a very special guest: the one and only Visqueen, playing a special, drummer-less session for us in support of their awesome recent LP , A Message to Garcia, and then the members, including dashing, powerful-throated singer Rachel Flotard, sat for a long 35-minute chat, including lots of funny sexual innuendo.

More recently, we tried a special new wrinkle on our established format, by presenting all music and no chat with seven less established, but equally deserving new bands, called “Best of the New Breed, Vol 1.” This began airing just last week!

On behalf of all of us here at bigtakeover.com and Big Takeover Magazine, I bid you welcome to our newly redesigned site! Looks cool, doesn’t it? Our print magazine is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, going back to a good 15 years or so before there was any electronic media. So the timing is perfect. Our endeavor has come a long, long way from the days of typing, Xeroxing, reducing, stapling, folding, mailing, shipping, and selling at gigs, and we are celebrating this long three decades of service and commentary in three distinct ways this year.

We only come out twice a year, every Spring and Fall, so you don’t want to miss one of our jam-packed 192-page issues! Read on for a quick description of the new issue’s contents.

Come help us celebrate our milestone, the last weekend of this month! Sixteen bands, with S.F. punk legends The Avengers and Chameleons U.K. leader Mark Burgess headlining!

He’s singing songs solo acoustic live in the studio from his new third solo LP and he sits for a 35-minute chat.

Once again the big news is that Big Takeover SPECIAL 30TH ANNIVERSARY Spring 2010 issue #66 with Spoon on the cover was completed in San Francisco in April!

The 88’s Adam Merrin pounded his red piano with obvious glee during “David Watts,” and Keith Slettedahl took a verse alongside his hero Davies with transparent pride. It seemed that The 88 were engaged not only to serve arena standards like the grinding “Low Budget,” but also had an influence in selecting deeper cuts. “This is a song for the end times,” announced Davies when introducing “Dead End Street,” buoyed by the snap and swing of 88 drummer Anthony Zimmitti . Bassist Todd O’Keefe dug into Pete Quaife ’s jaunty bass line and gave a throaty howl for the chorus.

“Rabid In The Kennel” appears for the first time in a month with a very special guest: the one and only Leatherface, the greatest punk rock band of the last 20 years, all the way from Sunderland, England! Singing songs from their new LP The Stormy Petrel and their 1991 classic LP Mush!

Visit Breakthru Radio now to hear my exclusive interview with the band’s singer/guitarist Frankie N. W. Stubbs and recently returned original guitarist Dickie Hammond (who, it must be said, formed one of the most hilarious 1-2 punch comedy teams I have had the pleasure to referee in some time), and their live performance at The Kennel Studio in Brooklyn! And you can click on this link and listen to it any day, at any time, at your leisure!

Big news! Rabid In The Kennel debuts as its own show today with a very special guest: Paul Collins of The Nerves and The Beat!

Visit BreakThru Radio now to hear my exclusive interview with Paul and his live performance at The Kennel Studio in Brooklyn! Click on this story and the link is included, and you can listen to it any day, at any time, at your leisure!

Got this excellent interview with TSOL founder/frontman Jack Grisham from our contributor Jeff Alexander and wanted to share it with you!

Now that the X-mas rush is over, I wanted to post 17 bonus reviews that I had intended to include in the current issue 65, but ran out of time running up against that issue’s deadline. / Make sure you tune in this coming Monday, the 28th to the weekly Big Takeover radio show at Breakthruradio.com, as I will be hosting a 2009 wrap-up, a countdown show of my 20 favorite albums of 2009 in reverse order, one song each. / Just a reminder to check out the new issue 65 of Big Takeover with the smokin’ live shot of Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth on the cover!

Just a reminder that there’s still time for the perfect X-mas gift: Big Takeover magazine! Our brand new Fall/Winter issue 65 with the Sonic Youth cover is out on the stands (the Thurston Moore live action cover shot is to your left, and a description of its contents is below!), in case you want to treat yourself (you little devil!). Or indeed, if you want a holiday gift subscription for your friends or family whom you think would enjoy our pages (or one of our t-shirts, or any of our back issues, or our CDs), either way you can still order on our secure online store with Visa or Master Card by clicking on “SUBSCRIBE NOW” to your left!!! Just let us know in the “comments” section of the order form that the order is for X-mas (why not write, in all caps, “RUSH! THIS IS FOR X-MAS!”), and we will be glad to send the package by priority mail to ensure it gets there fast and on time. And include in the “gift message” section anything you want to say, and we’ll take it from there.

Hey all, just a reminder than England’s (by way of Ireland and Seattle) That Petrol Emotion is playing their only U.S. show for the foreseeable future this Saturday, December 12 at Bell House in Brooklyn (on 7th St. just off 2nd Ave. in Gowanus, near the 4th Ave stop on the F and V or the 9th St. stop on the R), their first New York show of any kind since the early 1990s. / Once again the big news is that Big Takeover #65 Fall 2009 issue with Sonic Youth on the cover (and concluding part twos of our awesome Decemberists, Swervedriver, and Controllers interviews, and fabulous history interviews with Big Star—and John Fry on Chris Bell—and The Nerves of the original “Hanging on the Telephone” fame!) was completed in San Francisco in October! It began shipping last month! And remember, we only come our twice a year, every Spring and Fall, so you don’t want to miss one of our jam-packed 170-page issues! Below is a quick description of its contents.

NEWS1>> T.V. Smith (Adverts) in session, live in the studio and interviewed on “Rabid in the Kennel,” airs this Monday, hear it now!
NEWS2>> Big Takeover Magazine new address (Update your records!)
NEWS 3>> Big Takeover August-long blowout Moving Sale! Buy one, get one free, half-off sale all month long for back issues and CDs, including our complete sets of issues 1-64! What a sale!

Once again the big news is that Big Takeover #64 Spring 2009 issue with The Decemberists on the cover (and concluding part twos of our awesome Death Cab for Cutie, Sloan, and Devo interviews) is now on the stands. / “That [‘60s British folk] generation was really into discovering the centuries-old songs that had to deal with really dark and violent themes of romantic and sentimental love. Particularly Anne Briggs, Maddy Pryor, June Tabor—an essay could be written about feminism and the British folk revival, and how a lot of the women artists were arranging songs where rape figured pretty prominently—and I don’t know why that is. I think it was an interesting way of highlighting how different the relations between the sexes were in the 16th century, the 17th century, and how violent the culture that people were living in was.”—COLIN MELOY

Once again the big news is that Big Takeover #64 Spring 2009 issue with The Decemberists on the cover (and concluding part twos of our awesome Death Cab for Cutie, Sloan, and Devo interviews) was completed in San Francisco in April! (A full description of its contents is just below!) It will begin shipping this week likely, so you should see it quite soon! And remember, we only come out twice a year, every Spring and Fall, so you don’t want to miss one of our jam-packed 200-page issues! Below is a quick description of its contents.

The new Big Takeover 64 is in the works (if you have moved in the last six months and you’re a subscriber, please alert us to your new address as our mags are almost never forwarded!), and I’ve got my hands full, but we’re in luck, because Luke Giffen, singer/guitarist for Fresno’s awesome dreampop-shoegaze band The Sleepover Disaster (see my Top 10 review of their brand new Hover album in the current issue 63!) , has consented to send in a long and detailed diary-report of he and the group’s excursion to Austin for this year’s recent SXSW, complete with copious, terrific photos from his associate, Heather Bernard.

I’ve been a little too upset this week to speak about this in any way via email, Facebook, here, or whatever, but myself, my missus Mary, and my good friend Herb Jue (who was looking after her of late), and the extended Big Takeover family has been this week mourning the loss of our beloved calico cat, Mina, just about to turn 16. / For my money tonight’s bill is the best of the entire festival and features two of San Francisco’s most exciting bands – THEE OH SEES and THE FRESH & ONLY’S. The other two on the bill, fellow West Coasters THE UNNATURAL HELPERS and Detroit’s TYVEK round out things in fine fashion.

Here’s a third round of reviews posted here and nowhere else! In case you missed my last two posts, we had a nice backlog of several dozen reviews that there was not room for in the current issue 63, or we received the albums right as we were going to press. / Farewell, Lux Interior, a moving recollection by Marcel Feldmar!

Here’s a second round of reviews posted here and nowhere else! In case you missed my post from a week ago, we had a nice backlog of several dozen reviews that there was not room for in the current issue 63, or we received the albums right as we were going to press. So again, I thought, let’s put them here for you for now so that you can still read them—and to give those of you who have not seen one of our issues before a taste of what we have been doing in our pages these last 29 years (wow, that’s a long time, isn’t it?). As promised last week, I will try to post them all, a dozen at a time, in this space. So keep checking back every few days and you will find more!

The best way I know to quietly plug my weekly radio show at breakthruradio.com is to let you know what you missed—or hopefully enjoyed—this past year for the last seven months, by listing all 475 or so songs I aired. That list is herein!

Shocking news of the heart attack death on December 23 of longtime New Model Army manager Tommy Tee, who did more for one individual band than anyone I’ve ever seen, and did it for years and years and years.

Just a reminder that there’s still time for the perfect X-mas gift: Big Takeover magazine! Our brand new Fall/Winter issue 63 with the Death Cab For Cutie cover is now out on the stands (below is a description of its contents), in case you want to treat yourself (you little devil!). Or indeed, if you want a holiday gift subscription for your friends or family whom you think would enjoy our pages (or one of our t-shirts, or any of our back issues, or our CDs), either way you can still order on our secure online store here. Just let us know in the “comments” section of the order form that the order is for X-mas (why not write, in all caps, “RUSH! THIS IS FOR X-MAS!”), and we will be glad to send the package by priority mail to ensure it gets there fast and on time. / SAMPLE ISSUE 63 QUOTE: “Look, I recommend this business, I do, to anyone who really cares about, and thinks they have, ideas that matter. But don’t get involved in pop music if you just want to be famous. It’s not the place for vacuous idiocy at all. It’s severe. It’s terse, tense, bitter, and ultimately, no one you meet in this business is your friend. Not one of them. They all want to replace ya.”—JOHNNY ROTTEN

Just in time for the Holiday Season! Big Takeover #63 with Death Cab For Cutie on the cover, and concluding part two of our awesome Johnny Rotten Sex Pistols interview is about to ship! (A full description of its contents is just below!) Now is an excellent time to pre-order it if you would like to receive it , or subscribe if you’ve been meaning to; or renew your subscription if it has run out. And remember, BIG TAKEOVER ISSUES, BACK ISSUES, TSHIRTS, CDS (including the brand new, limited edition SPRINGHOUSE CD album, From Now to OK), AND SUBSCRIPTIONS ALSO MAKE THE PERFECT HOLIDAY GIFT! Especially in this season when we are all trying to economize. And in general, don’t forget to order the new Springhouse CD!

Hey again, Big Takeover readers! Our new Fall issue #63 is coming soon, and details of that are inside. (Subscribers, don’t forget to update your address if you’ve moved!) But first, here’s the latest update on the SPRINGHOUSE East Coast tour we are doing supporting MAGNETIC MORNING starting this Thursday in Chapel Hill, NC, with more info on it, including the new ATLANTA date with FOR AGAINST (Yes!!!!!!!!)!: Click here for full info!

The loss of long-time member and impressive guitarist Christopher Kleinberg has not slowed mewithoutYou down at all. In attempts to end the show on time, they simply pulled their shirts over their faces while the crowd screamed for one more song. They finished with the highly energetic “January 1979” and ended with a new one called “God, God, God.” / Just a reminder, too, if you haven’t listened in yet, my radio show for BreakthruRadio.com successfully launched, and again, here’s a good chance to hear a good bit of what I/we have been writing about in our issues these last 28 years.

The loss of long-time member and impressive guitarist Christopher Kleinberg has not slowed mewithoutYou down at all. In attempts to end the show on time, they simply pulled their shirts over their faces while the crowd screamed for one more song. They finished with the highly energetic “January 1979” and ended with a new one called “God, God, God.” / Just a reminder, too, if you haven’t listened in yet, my radio show for BreakthruRadio.com successfully launched, and again, here’s a good chance to hear a good bit of what I/we have been writing about in our issues these last 28 years.

The loss of long-time member and impressive guitarist Christopher Kleinberg has not slowed mewithoutYou down at all. In attempts to end the show on time, they simply pulled their shirts over their faces while the crowd screamed for one more song. They finished with the highly energetic “January 1979” and ended with a new one called “God, God, God.” / Just a reminder, too, if you haven’t listened in yet, my radio show for BreakthruRadio.com successfully launched, and again, here’s a good chance to hear a good bit of what I/we have been writing about in our issues these last 28 years.

Since they haven’t played the East Coast in two decades, needless to say I am really excited to get another chance to see the fantastic Chicago punk/post-punk rock band The Effigies this weekend. They play D.C. on Thursday, and New York on Friday and Saturday, and if you’re not in the East Coast, they’re live on the radio on Saturday!

In the new issue #62, I promised to let you know when my radio show for BreakthruRadio.com launched, so let me do that now since it launched at noon yesterday. Here’s a good chance to hear a good bit of what I/we have been writing about in our issues these last 28 years ** In other news, we are proud to note that none other than R.E.M. has seen fit to run an excerpt of our current issue 62 cover story on them on their website, and also included some highly flattering and appreciated remarks (“inimitable, must-read!!!!!!!”) on the quality of our publication. ** Over the past 25 years, Band of Holy Joy have put out several LPs on Rough Trade Records and have earned the reputation of being one of the UK’s top underground live acts. These are the band’s first-ever American tour dates and they and have cut a self-released seven-song EP that will be for sale only at these shows to mark the occasion. ** Reminder: Big Takeover #62 with R.E.M. on the cover is on the stands! Look for it in your favorite store near you that carries good music magazines!

Big Takeover #62 with R.E.M. on the cover is on the stands! Look for it in your favorite store near you that carries good music magazines!

Once again the big news is that Big Takeover #62 with R.E.M. on the cover was completed in San Francisco in April! It will begin shipping this week likely, so you should see it quite soon! Included in this blog is a quick description of its contents.

A film that I’ve been dying to see since the trailer showed up on Youtube last year: You Weren’t There: A History of Chicago Punk 1977-1984. Clubs like Oz and O’Banions stayed just one step ahead of the law (thanks in part to likely payoffs to the man) and managed to host many classic shows by the likes of The Effigies, Naked Raygun, and Strike Under. The live footage shown was just stunning: The Effigies at OZ in all their boots-and-braces glory, for instance. Early incarnations of Naked Raygun playing loft parties!!!! Amazing stuff. I can’t say enough about how good this film is and it how it succeeds on so many levels. A must see…

Scottish born, English artist ASTRID WILLIAMSON is a longtime favorite of The Big Takeover, and she rarely plays in the U.S. This week brings three chances to catch her awesome set of pipes (two gigs in New York, both of them free admission, as well as Grand Rapids, with one in Philly a few months later) / “Day three of Noise Pop (day two for me, as I missed out on Thursday’s debauchery with a headache, alas), has me biking to Bottom of the Hill (BOTH) in the Portrero Hill neighborhood of San Francisco. BOTH has been my frequent destination for live music over the 11 years I have lived in The City, and I could get here with my eyes shut. The mid-size club (capacity being 300) has great sound and a decent layout. And I can’t help but feel very comfortable as I walk through to door at 9:00 sharp. I’m here to see VEIL VEIL VARNISH, WHITE DENIM, A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS, and HOLY F**.”

OK, so it’s not on par with SXSW but maybe it’s not trying to be. The overall feel is less an obvious industry love fest and more of an event where a fan can enjoy an evening without fear of being kept out of a show by industry snobs filling the room with their hot air and BO, or run over by the truck dispensing free ginseng energy drinks. Noise Pop seemingly caters to the actual music lover, and in this writer’s eyes that’s the way it should be. This fan-centric attitude can only come from the top, and by that I mean KEVIN ARNOLD, its founder and passionate supporter of independent music. To say that he has done a service to the independent music community is the understatement of the decade. Thanks Kevin.

I would like to welcome my son Jim into the world, born 23 days ago. I’m hoping his progress will be quick enough so that he will be able to compose all my reviews and do all my interviews for me in time for the spring issue 62. A couple of you were kind enough to write and congratulate me after seeing little James Burton make the coveted #1 spot in Steve Holtje’s Top 10 on this site last week (see, he’s already overachieving), and thanks to Steve-o for that honor as well. Who wants photos? / Who wants old Springhouse videos, on MySpace? / Here’s five more reviews of old stuff I ran out of time to review that should have been in the last issue!

The five reviews of mine included here did not appear in issue 61 of The Big Takeover, because I frankly ran out of time in my seemingly endless writing job to do them in time before the issue had to be closed and sent off to the printer. But they all deserved better and I am glad to print them here rather than making you all wait several more months to read them in issue 62. Likewise, the other three, written by three of our other talented and valuable writers, did not appear in 61 for other reasons explained herein.

I am stunned and saddened to hear that another death has befallen the Rogue Wave folks.

Just a reminder that there’s still time for the perfect X-mas gift: Big Takeover magazine! Indeed, if you want a holiday gift subscription for your friends or family whom you think would enjoy our pages (or one of our t-shirts, or any of our back issues, or our CDs), you can still order on our secure online store. Just let us know in the “comments” section of the order form that the order is for X-mas (why not write, in all caps, “RUSH! THIS IS FOR X-MAS!”), and we will be glad to send the package by priority mail to ensure it gets there fast and on time. And include in the “gift message” section anything you want to say, and we’ll take it from there.

Big Takeover #61 with THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS’ A.C. NEWMAN began shipping last week; Again, now is an excellent time to order it if you would like to receive it! / Sonics: ”’He’s Waiting’ is the opener. There’s the voice; how is it so nearly the same?”

The current October issue of Spin, dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the 1977 punk rock explosion, has not one but two pieces from me. One is what turned out to be the cover story (that was a shock!), a long and funny interview with Johnny Rotten, where he sounds off on his old days in The Sex Pistols and the other bands around back then, and what he’s been doing since (like swimming with sharks, battling bugs, and appeasing apes). The other is a roundtable discussion with six of the leading lights of the San Francisco and L.A. 1977 punk scenes, along with two more from London, The Avengers’ Penelope Houston and Jimmy Wilsey, X’s Billy Zoom, The Weirdos’ Dix Denney, The Dils’ Chip Kinman, The Germs’ Don Bolles, and The Slits’ Ari Up and Tessa Pollitt. It’s a great issue! No kidding! Others interview a slew of other 1977 folks from England and New York. Check it out!

Five or six teenaged thugs beat him senseless on a Maryland street near his home, causing three facial fractures, two broken bones, and a broken nose which required four-and-a-half hours of surgery to repair, requiring the insertion of five metal plates in his face and braces for his teeth. Ouch. Needless to say, a liquid diet ensued. Please help with his expenses!

The truly sad news from England is that longtime friend of the magazine Paul Fox, guitarist for London’s absolutely incredible Ruts (later they became the equally fabulous Ruts D.C.) has inoperable lung cancer. Accordingly, the band, broken up since 1982, is going to do an extremely rare reunion show as a benefit for both the stricken Fox and Cancer Research… with special guest vocalist Henry Rollins.

Included here is a more in depth description of the new issue 60’s contents than I have given you in previous posts, with juicy quotes to tempt you!! Such as: “Living in Portland, maybe I might have a perverse view of what’s going on in pop culture. But it seems like people generally are seeking out authenticity in all realms of their lives. Wanting to buy older houses and fix them up, instead of buying **** stuff in the suburbs. Even food choices; the restaurants have better quality local produce. There seems to be this desire for this authenticity that’s growing. Maybe we’re part of that?”—James Mercer, The Shins, our cover story!

“Never mind Jack Black and the so-called School of Rock now playing NYC clubs! The Non-Linear Thinkers are a group of inner-city teens from a Newark, NJ, high school, who have taken a crash course in punk and post-punk taught by their Latin teacher.” And they’re playing eight days from now in Brooklyn. Be there! / Big Takeover #60 with The Shins on the cover was completed in San Francisco in April and has already started shipping, so you should see it quite soon, possibly already! Included herein is a quick reminder of its contents.

Never mind Jack Black and the so-called School of Rock now playing NYC clubs! The Non-Linear Thinkers are a group of inner-city teens from a Newark, NJ, high school, who have taken a crash course in punk and post-punk taught by their Latin teacher. And they’re playing eight days from now in Brooklyn. Be there! / Big Takeover #60 with The Shins on the cover was completed in San Francisco in April and has already started shipping, so you should see it quite soon, possibly already! Included herein is a quick reminder of its contents.

I can hardly wait for their next tour, album, interview, album artwork, and poster… Heck I might just buy a Decemberists lunchbox at this rate, to my eternal mortification. I hope they never break up, and that Meloy’s new responsibilities as a (touring) parent never prove too daunting to keep up the frantic and incredible pace of his pen. They made 2006 so very bright for me and for so very many others, and I’m grateful to them for it.

In the end, this South by Southwest, like every other I’ve attended, was a music lover’s paradise. There is plenty to enjoy for any music fan in any and every genre, although this year there might have been a bit too much. There were at least a dozen more bands I wanted to see but didn’t get to; but that’s part of the South by Southwest experience too. Each day you make a schedule and hope you get to all of it, but you never do. Nevertheless, I’ve only met one or two people in all my years of attendance who didn’t enjoy it.

The musical portion of my Friday began in late afternoon when I went to the Pop Culture Press party at a pub a short trip from downtown. Ostensibly, I went to meet up with my friend Michael Krumper and to see the Hoodoo Gurus, because Michael and I had seen them together on their first tour of American twenty three years before. To the great credit of the Pop Culture Press people, the lineup of bands playing at the party was outstanding (and the fish and chips weren’t bad either—although someone stole my beer when I set it down and turned my back for a minute.

This is my sixteenth trip to Austin for South by Southwest. Sure it’s changed but the one thing that has not changed is the level of talent is consistently good. And so I reviewed the schedule when it was released and found a great deal to see. Because the registrant’s badge entitles the holder to entry at any club, the options available are so numerous it’s daunting. But basically the shows break down into three categories for me: 1) those whom I have seen and would like to see again (favorites); 2) those whom I have not seen but would like to see (known quantities); and 3) new artists whom I have not seen and not heard of before (generally on the advice of friends or acquaintances). / As I noted in my last two blogs, I have a piece on the immortal and apparently ageless Iggy Pop, primarily on his days with The Stooges, in the current March issue of Spin Magazine (with FALL OUT BOY on the cover). This would likely be your last week to buy it if you want it, at least on the stands, as the March issue will be arriving thereafter to knock it off.

“This is my sixteenth trip to Austin for South by Southwest. Sure it’s changed but the one thing that has not changed is the level of talent is consistently good. And so I reviewed the schedule when it was released and found a great deal to see. Because the registrant’s badge entitles the holder to entry at any club, the options available are so numerous it’s daunting. But basically the shows break down into three categories for me: 1) those whom I have seen and would like to see again (favorites); 2) those whom I have not seen but would like to see (known quantities); and 3) new artists whom I have not seen and not heard of before (generally on the advice of friends or acquaintances).” / As I noted in my last two blogs, I have a piece on the immortal and apparently ageless Iggy Pop, primarily on his days with The Stooges, in the current March issue of Spin Magazine (with FALL OUT BOY on the cover). This would likely be your last week to buy it if you want it, at least on the stands, as the March issue will be arriving thereafter to knock it off.

As I noted in my last blog, I have a piece on the immortal and apparently ageless Iggy Pop, primarily on his days with The Stooges, in the current March issue of Spin Magazine (with FALL OUT BOY on the cover). This would likely be your last week to buy it if you want it, at least on the stands, as the March issue will be arriving thereafter to knock it off. / The often-raised question “Has South by Southwest jumped the shark?” reared its head big-time for me today. Over the past ten years or so the Conference has grown in the number of registrants, venues and the number of artists who play. But when so many venues are at full capacity on Thursday night (in previous years this would only happen on Saturday night), then I would say that perhaps the conference has sold too many badges and wristbands. Clearly the venues cannot accommodate all those who want to see the bigger name acts, but the conference planners should have contemplated this from the start.

For those interested, I have a piece on the immortal and apparently ageless Iggy Pop, primarily on his days with The Stooges, in the current March issue of Spin Magazine (with Fall Out Boy on the cover). / After spending the whole of my comments last year complaining that I hadn’t heard a record that I loved that spoke for the times (I had to settle for Kanye West’s welcome tirade on the NBC Red Cross fundraiser), I felt galvanized and utterly inspired by Neil Young’s no holds barred protest record. Not bad for an old geezer. And then, like a one-two punch, CSN&Y’s accompanying tour, which both pushed that LP to the forefront and also tied into all their old Vietnam-era protest songs, proved a valuable reminder that musicians have been speaking up for a long time and should still be! Amen!

“I’m not sure what to make of this evening, number five of Noise Pop 2007. It’s the last night and I’ve of two minds about it. I’m glad to be able to stay home tomorrow evening after five nights out (and working full time), but I’m also a bit sad that I won’t be out tomorrow night seeing live music as it’s been a good laugh. I haven’t been to this club, Bimbo’s 365, in a while and had forgotten how beautiful this place is—without a doubt the jewel of SF music venues.”

“Goodbye Great American Music Hall, hello Bottom of the Hill. I’m particularly excited about the headliner as I am a fan and I’ve got a soft spot for bands from the Midwest (Chicago especially). Add to the mix that The Ponys haven’t graced an SF stage in about 18 months, and my anticipation has only grown. It’s also been some time since I’ve seen the Gris Gris and they’ve never let me down in the past, and I’ve no reason to think tonight will be any different.”

“It’s Friday evening of the Noise Pop festival and that means back to the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district. I’m here to see Leo but I bring an open mind about the other three, of course. And when Leo hits the stage with his band, the energy level off all four members is through the roof.”

“Noise Pop night number two began in similar fashion to the previous, what with me arriving painfully early at the Great American Music Hall. As I mentioned yesterday, this venue served as the destination for those seeking fine dining and loose women from 1906 up until the Great Depression. This being Roky Erickson’s first show in San Francisco in nearly 25 years it seemed best to sit back and watch the freak show begin.” A blow by blow description of the whole night!

“It’s been 15 years since Kevin Arnold put on the first Noise Pop festival. No, I can’t believe it either. Dedicated to showcasing bands with a sense of melody and distortion, the first “festival” was a single night, five bands on the bill and one venue—not a bad night out I’m sure. OK, six bands counting the surprise appearance by The Fastbacks (who went on to a record nine appearances). Since I don’t know Kevin, I haven’t been able to verify this, but I have to believe he had no idea that Noise Pop would turn into the institution it has. That said, I’m sure he’s pleased, but I’m guessing even he would have to confess some surprise that 15 years on from Noise Pop ’93, the event has expanded to 15 venues and over a hundred bands.”

I am pleased to note that the Village Voice’s annual Pazz and Jop music critic’s poll has used two quotes from my piece on the Year in Music 2006 in their cover story this week. / “Jim Morrison was supposed to be a great poet, though none of us read poetry and would have hated it if we’d been forced to. Still, his literary reputation had the convenient effect of giving Morrison’s expressions an irrefragable claim to high merit, like the work of a Nobel laureate. The upshot of all of this was that Morrison became the hero of a bunch of small town teenagers who, naturally, got it all ass-backwards. I can’t break the connection in my head between Jim Morrison and the highly ironic movement of teen conformity that his life inspired.”

First, though I haven’t posted here in two weeks, that doesn’t mean I haven’t been heard from on the net. No! Perish the thought! Actually, a reasonably lengthy interview with me has been posted in the interim at Rocksellout.com / ...”Tonight, Townshend limited himself to three songs, but gave fans a treat by dusting off Quadrophenia’s ‘Drowned.’”

Though Lollapalooza’s sophomore installment at Chicago’s Grant Park provided picky critics with ample fuel for grumbling (ubiquitous corporate signage, long walks between stages), the festival provided an impressive line-up for those who simply came to enjoy the music

1) Just a reminder that there’s still time for the perfect X-mas gift: Big Takeover magazine! We will be glad to send the package by priority mail. 2)I am stunned and sad. Wiz was a friend and we just had dinner in September; I never suspected I would never see him again. 3)Dirksen fit the late ‘70s punk rock times better than anyone as an MC. Instead of lauding the fans and artists, he was like a one man Dean Martin roast, encouraging a state of near riot.

Hello BT Readers and Decent Music Fans! Here’s the latest on our end: 1) Info about the new issue 59, out in the stores now, and some sample quotes from it! The perfect holiday gift! 2)A rave review of The Big Takeover from The Idolator music web site 3) import Don McGlashan (ex-Mutton Birds) CDs (at domestic price) and out of print Springhouse CDs now available for sale on our secure online store here!

It was an enormous success, as you can probably tell from the blog write-up and the shots. I really had an excellent time, as you further tell from the happy look on my face in the photo where it’s clear I am amazed to be introducing the great Don McGlashan, all the way from New Zealand. It looked like all three artists, and everyone in attendance, and our colleague/alumni, Sound Fix’s proprietor James Bradley were pleased with it as well. So it’s looks to be a sure bet that we will do another one!

Hey, we haven’t had a Big Takeover party in a few years, and we have come up with a new wrinkle for one. Rather than doing it on a weekend night with loud live bands as we have in the past, it’s time we did a weekend afternoon with some international all-star acts playing unplugged/lo-fi in a comfy cafe adjoining one of New York’s truly great record stores, Sound Fix! For free!

Three extremely rare tours by longtime Big Takeover favorites are hitting the U.S., one American, one English, and one Australian. And take it from this writer; you need to see each one of these if you can!

I wouldn’t want to have been his merchandize seller (who we saw being caned by a wobbling Lee after a Town Hall show a few years ago, for transgressions unknown!), or for that matter his drummer or even his towel boy or bartender or banker or drug buddy, but man, being his fan on these last few years’ concert nights felt better than anything.

This jazz that is life is set to a tune you can’t get out of your head and it feels like your most understanding companion. You’ll carry around your wonder of it from place to place like you’ve got the museum of truly modern and moving art in your clutches, and how wonderful that, unlike MOMA, this same stuff you schlep was available to your friends and cronies for them to own too and revel, revel, revel in the current that makes you feel like your hair is standing up on end, Linus-like.

I am betting that a ton of our readers are similarly peculiar in this aspect of moving. We have compiled a truly unusual amount of musical detritus as the years have passed. I mean, let’s just think a second about that word “cassettes.” I mean, how many cassettes do I play in a year these days? A few dozen? Well, it took some 14 large boxes to get all of the ones I have ready for their maiden voyage to Brooklyn.

He really was an appreciative person, and whenever I would try to pin him down as being in any way bitter or unhappy with his old band’s underserved lack of mass success, he would politely decline my invitation, and instead say he felt lucky to have made so much music.

I am happy to let you know that the promised spring Issue 58 has indeed been completed with our esteemed art director ADAM SYMONS and is well into the printing process—it should be appearing in mailboxes and stores quite soon. Hurrah! Here’s a quick list of what’s in it, and some quick administrative and ordering reminders for right now!

One of the things I want to do in this space is to occasionally give you an inside view of how magazines are made. Today, I will give a glimpse of why our print mag comes out only twice a year (1982 was the last time we came out more often), since it’s a question I am frequently asked by readers.

We’ve begun a “25th Anniversary” sale on our Big Takeover Secure Online Store. Buy three back issues get one free. (Or buy four and get a CD or t-shirt for free.) Limited time offer, get it today! But both the anniversary and the sale remind that neither that milestone nor its attendant celebration would have been possible were it not for one person in particular: SHIRLEY SEXTON, our webmistress emeritus.

Today concludes my countdown of my top picks for the year 2005 in this space, with brief comments on each. I hope you’ve enjoyed these lists—sometimes we’re so preoccupied with the latest releases in the in-box (I could already make a strong list for 2006 based on January and February releases and the advance copies I have for March and April!!!), that we need some kind of reminder to play ‘old’ music that was only released anywhere between 2-to-14 months ago. Hope this has inspired some of that. Enjoy!

I am continuing with my countdown of my top picks for the year 2005, with brief comments on each. Having done all the new recordings 60-1, and then 40-1 for Old Recordings/Retrospectives, here’s my Top 10 selections for music DVDs (a new category this year, now that they’ve become so prevalent)!!!

I’m still counting down my top picks for the year 2005 in this space, with brief comments on each. Having done all the new recordings 60-1, and last week 40-21 for Old Recordings/Retrospectives, here’s 20-1 for Old Recordings/Retrospectives!!! After all, why should old recordings have to compete with the new work of artists? Note, now that this list is finished, that’s 100 Top CDs for 2005. For all the same old perennial moaning, 2005 was another brilliant year for music, same as every year, and don’t let some stupid aging critic or hipster gone jaded tell you different!

I’m still counting down my top picks for the year 2005 in this space, with brief comments on each. Having done all the new recordings in the last three entries, here’s 40-21 for Old Recordings/Retrospectives!!! After all, why should old recordings have to compete with the new work of artists? Note, when this list is finished, that will be 100 Top CDs for 2005. For all the same old perennial moaning, 2005 was another brilliant year for music, same as every year, and don’t let some stupid aging critic or hipster gone jaded tell you different! Enjoy!

I’m still counting down my top picks for the year 2005 in this space, with brief comments on each. Having done 40-21 last time, here’s (drum roll please!!!) 20-1!!! (Again, there will be four categories: New Recordings, Old Recordings / Retrospectives, Singles, and Music DVDS. Enjoy!)

I’m still counting down my top picks for the year 2005 in this space, with brief comments on each. Having done 60-41 last time, here’s 40-21!!! (Again, there will be four categories: New Recordings, Old Recordings/Retrospectives, Singles, and Music DVDS.) Enjoy!

I’m going to be counting down my top picks for the year 2005 in this space, with brief commentary on most of them. There will be four categories: New Recordings, Old Recordings / Retrospectives, Singles, and Music DVDS. Enjoy!

Ah, the mysterious DAVID STEIN, our co-founder often mentioned in our magazine, seemingly for one fleeting act 25 years ago (he only lasted that first issue)! Yet everyone should have a David Stein in his or her life growing up. Let me explain.

In my last blog, I spoke about the death (tragic suicide, age 39) last December of someone who I admired and knew, someone who wasn’t well known outside of underground Canadian rock circles and his home Montreal. But ALEX SORIA (1966-2004), leader of THE NILS, was one of the great singer/songwriters of the 1980s. Here’s the conclusion of that memorial, including part two of CAROLINE EVANS’ thoughtful feature.

“In the ‘80s, they were one of Canada’s most promising rock bands. Their first EP was produced by MEN WITHOUT HATS’ STEFAN DOROSCUK and BOB MOULD’s mother used to send them cookies. So how come you’ve never heard of THE NILS?”—Caroline Evans

Since my introductory post, I heard about LINK WRAY’s death at 76, at his home in Copenhagen apparently on November 5 (it wasn’t widely reported until around the 21st). Wray is possibly the ultimate example of what’s wrong with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (into which he has criminally not been inducted) and our whole culture which respects fleeting popularity over genuine, lasting artistic breakthrough (more about that in a future blog).

Technology is a strange thing. When we founded The Big Takeover in 1980, I’d never even seen a copy shop let alone a Xerox machine, with the exception of the one at my local public library. (And for a dime, it would spit out a poor-quality copy in around 40-50 seconds. You could actually hear the gears cranking and see the light beam going back and forth six times over the sloped glass underneath the leather cover per one image. And yes, our mag first “sprang,” err, lurched, to life on that dang thing, via 100 copies of a single typed page that took freaking forever to complete.)