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I’ve waited 20 years to see Cincinnati’s Libertines (i.e., the original Libertines from Ohio, not the more recent, now defunct punky British bunch), so it was a long-held dream come true to get to see them now that they’ve shockingly reunited. It was definitely worth a trip to the Queen City for that! And given an upgrade in drummer since their demise in the late ‘80s, with the crisp Todd Witt now manning the stool, they’ve come back even stronger. WALTER HODGE’s songs have lost nothing since the Reagan era (shudder to think of it that way!) and Jimmy Davidson’s leads matched his old mate’s hard jingle jangle for taste and shading. I’ve already said this before in the new issue, but if you haven’t heard “Bad Memories Burn” from their 1988 second album Tilt a Whirl yet in your life, you absolutely must, and to get the full effect, listen very closely to the words—for it is really Hodge’s forte to make one shudder in recognition of events in your own life. It can be heard, along with a two also worthy old songs, at myspace.com/thelibertinesus and you need to go there right now, to understand the next sentence: I will never forget how hard my heart was pumping when they ended an already great show—as good as any I had hoped as I boarded my plane the day before—with “Bad Memories Burn” right into another song from Tilt a Whirl found on the myspace page, “Black Garage Door.” Wow!!!! Hodge was working his whammy bar like a sick maniac on the latter as Davidson and bassist Randy Cheek manhandled their instruments like the 25-year touring vets they are, while Hodge howled over the mayhem. Just out of sight! (By the way, the band has sold out of the pressing of the “Reunion” EP of their old songs they were selling that was reviewed in the new issue, but the tracks are now available, at least, via FreshTracksMusic.com)
Everything I’ve said about Long Blondes’ singles in this space is delivered, completely, on this their long-awaited debut LP. Tight, terse, cool, sexy, smart post-punk with great melodies and a smart come on or come down on every track. You can’t beat it right now for new albums. See our interview in the new issue 59 for more!!!!
I bought this eight song new EP from the band’s merch table, but it is a legit release out on Long Beach, CA label Devil Doll. Although an obvious stopgap release, it’s real value for money with the A-side taken from the typically sharp Carnival LP from 2005 and three live versions and a reggae remix and three other outright B-sides. All for a domestic price! That JUSTIN SULLIVAN is still as committed as ever after 25 years just says it all!!!! Check out four songs from 1982-2007, which show how true that last sentence is, at myspace.com/newmodelarmymyspace and if you don’t feel the righteous anger stirring up in him in _Carnival_’s “Another Imperial Day” to match that on 1984’s “Vengeance” then we have a disagreement.
Have I been listening to this under-appreciated, sometimes stunning comeback LP from 2004 by these San Franciscans while awaiting singer/songwriter MARK EITZEL’s current round of solo New York shows? Yes!
I bought this while I was in Shake-It Records in Cincinnati (easily one of the best record stores I have been in in a long, long while) and heard this local band’s EP—which is only sold in that store, for some reason, which is really a pity—playing on the store’s speakers. But that’s OK, you can hear all four songs on this EP anyway at myspace.com/incamera1 and you should if you like the following bands: HALF STRING especially, COCTEAU TWINS, early MARCH VIOLETS, STEREOLAB and DROP 19s. Yes that’s right, they’re a great shoegaze throwback proving the genre is far from exhausted, with cracklin’ female vocals; in fact, this sounds totally 2007, not 1990, especially with the slight electro-pop influence added on (sort of like CURVE). The song that really does it for me is “Will to Power,” so start with that one first. And then contact this band and tell them how good they are and ask them to play New York sometime!!!
Polynesian floor show, Mai-Kai Tiki Bar, Ft. Lauderdale, January 6
I’ve seen my share of ridiculously hokey Tiki bar entertainment (in fact, my favorite Tiki bar previously had no dancers of any kind, just a fake tropical storm—the Tonga Room in San Francisco’s Fairmount Hotel), but this was not ridiculous, this was totally impressive and pretty amazing. In town to interview IGGY POP for Spin magazine in his North Miami home, I was turned on to this place by two great hosts on the expedition, two former members of old Miami stalwarts HOLY TERRORS and their gals and kids. And despite the terrific company, it was pretty hard to take one’s eyes off the male and female dancers and a battery of tribal drummers as they danced over and around fire rods and crushed coconuts in dance and spoke volumes with their undulating hands. I hear the owners have been scouting South Asia for the best dancers for their show for the entire 50 years they have been open, and it shows. This did not feel like smaltzy leering at other people’s cultures watered down for vapid American audiences. This felt like a real trip to the region and its arts.
This is out this week, but everyone has heard it already via internet leaks, right? Third straight excellent Shins LP, even if this one is a little more esoteric.
As I noted last time, every week I play one of the Decemberists LPs to death. Once again inspired by CHRIS FUNK easily besting STEPHEN COLBERT’s standin PETER FRAMPTON in the “shredathon” on Colbert’s TV show (though RICK NEILSON of CHEAP TRICK, who joined all three for the final jam, would have been declared the real winner in any fair fight), I have in particular been picking out his delicious color parts on all the LPs. That said, this first LP may have been the one most domimated by the superb accordian work of Jenny Conlee, and it’s amazing how much more I like this and listen to this than I did when it first came out five years ago. It’s one of those things where it has not only gotten better with age (OK, I surrender, I think the entire first 7-8 songs are flawless now), but since the band has also improved so much, you really see the greatness behind the tunes here.
Various – American Hardcore: The History of American Punk Rock 1980-1986 (Rhino)
I’ve seen the film twice (I’m in it, briefly, interviewed for about ten seconds) and have had some pretty incredible mixed feelings about it. But I guess that was also true of my feelings that I had back circa 1982 about the hardcore scene it documents, even while it was all happening a quarter century ago (which is the year I stopped considering myself a scene member and started writing vicious editorials against the new scene in its principal organ, Maximum Rock N Roll). I find half of the movie and that old scene completely exciting, smart, and an overload of energy, visceral, intellectual and rough—mostly the really early days. Thereafter I find it mostly stupid, unimaginative, puerile, violent, senseless, and as a result, ultimately boring for all its sound, speed and fury! And that is true of this CD as well, though without the endless footage of really Neanderthalic bands and behavior that really killed the once great goose, the CD works much better—focusing mostly on the early, original, more innovative and incredible bands. In fact, it might leave you with the answer to the question that the film doesn’t overtly ask, of why anyone like myself (then college aged) might ever have been involved with this at its onset when it had more going for it; for a few songs, mostly in the early going, this shows why hardcore was some pretty incredible %^$^$$# for a very very brief but brilliant moment. For a year or two, anyway, this was a pretty thrilling final throes of a 10-13 years U.S. punk explosion, before it all went to doo doo.
This is really the fifth ABLE TASMANS LP, their first since the Auckland, NZ band split following 1995’s Store in a Cool Place. Keyboardist GRAEME HUMPHREYS and singer PETER KEEN were their main songwriters. And yet, this is a fresh dimension, so maybe a new name was warranted. The Overflow is one of the deepest orchestral pop records you’ll hear this or any year. It sounds like someone took out a second mortgage to finance its recording, with its crescendoing strings, cooled down horns, even elegiac euphonium (from huge Big Takeover favorite DON MCGLASHAN, whose new LP Warm Hand is my number two pick in the current issue 59!), and most of all, Humphreys’ dominating piano so sonorous, it’s like its little hammers are pounding your head.
