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Supporting their excellent new album Asleep at Heaven’s Gate, Rogue Wave played a headlining set that drew heavily from that record, though at times it touched upon their excellent last album Descended Like Vultures and their debut Out of the Shadow. Although the show suffered at times when the band tried to play material from their earlier albums in a live framework that matched the arrangements on the noisier, more shoegazer-ish and rambling new album, I still enjoyed it nonetheless and the new songs were played flawlessly.
This album just keeps growing and growing on me. I especially like “Phonytown”, the second to last track, though “Chicago X 2” is my other big favorite on here and perhaps the best song ZACH ROGUE has written up this point.
The follow-up to 1969’s amazing At Home (released in the U.S. at the time with the creative title of Shocking Blue with a slightly different track listing), this set isn’t quite as strong and to be honest, my favorite songs on this remastered CD version are the bonus tracks, which are primarily more rock-oriented earlier singles. In particular, the insanely catchy 1968 single “Send Me a Postcard” and “Mighty Joe” are the real highlights. Nevertheless, with overt country/Americana leanings only hinted at on songs like At Home’s “California Here I Come” and their cover of the “Boll Weevil” and a growing fascination with the supernatural (song titles include “Seven is a Number in Magic” and “I Love Voodoo Magic”), this is still at the very least an interesting listen and a pretty solid album.
Control
I had my doubts about this, but this is simply a stunning bio-pic and a rare feat in a fairly wretched genre (much like tribute albums). Having director ANTON CORBIJN on board ensures a great visual presentation (in black and white) and the acting of SAM RILEY (as IAN CURTIS), SAMANTHA MORTON (as his wife Deborah, whose 1995 memoir Touching from a Distance forms the basis of this film) and ALEXANDRIA MARIA LARA (as Curtis’ mistress ANNIK HONORE) carries the film.
Avoiding the standard bio-pic arc of rise to the top, followed by a steep decline and then a comeback from near death, this film instead attempts to chronicle the tragic life of Ian Curtis and to show how the pressures he faced and how conflicted he was (not to mention his health problems) ultimately led to his suicide.
Man from Plains
A documentary that has way more to do with JIMMY CARTER’s book tour for Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid than with the man himself (despite the title), Carter’s true nature nonetheless comes through. When Carter was shown hugging former Egyptian leader ANWAR SADAT and Israeli prime minster MENACHEM BEGIN at Camp David in 1978, I was moved almost to tears.
On the other hand, I felt the film could’ve delved more into Carter’s past and what makes him tick or on the other hand, delved more heavily into the argument he makes in his most recent book, but it really did neither.
Still, if you have any interest in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, Jimmy Carter or his book, you owe it to yourself to see this.
Because it hasn’t been released in the U.S. and possibly because it’s all-instrumental, this great Australian post-punk band’s debut is less well-known than their newer stuff. Nevertheless, despite the lack of vocals, this album shows that they already had all of their other elements firmly in place.
Beyond the Screams: A U.S. Latino Hardcore Punk documentary
Although I’ve heard of it for years, I’d never seen this 30 minute documentary on Latino punk bands until a few days ago. Made by former LOS CRUDOS and current LIMP WRIST singer MARTIN SORRENDEGUY while he was still in Los Crudos, most of the attention is focused on ‘90s bands like HUASIPUNGO, BREAD AND CIRCUITS and of course Los Crudos. However, there’s a too-short segment on the LA punk explosion of the late ‘70s (including all Latino outfits like THE PLUGZ and THE ZEROS) that includes an interview with ALICE BAG (nee ALICE ARMENDARIZ) of THE BAGS. Nevertheless, it’s still well worth seeing (if you can find it; as far as I know, it was only screened at film festivals back when it came out in 2000) if you have an interest not only in Latino punk, but also in issues such as racial justice, free trade and immigrants’ rights, themes many of these bands addressed directly in their lyrics.
A fine and heartfelt tribute album, stellar artists like THE CLIENTELE, STARS, IVY, PORTASTATIC and THE BATS are featured here, all covering songs written by the late GRANT MCLENNAN wrote both in THE GO-BETWEENS and in his solo career (though only 2 songs here are from his solo years). Highlights include IVY’s almost lounge-like version of “Streets of Your Town”, Stars’ reverent take on “Cattle and Cane” and ED KUEPPER’s sublime version of “Finding You”, which also features JANE ELLIOTT. Plus, this set includes great liner notes written by our own JACK RABID.
A compilation of every song this short-lived early ‘90s band ever released, one can hear the roots of what would become known as “screamo” on these recordings. Clearly, they were ahead of their time, but I don’t think that was their intention. They, along with many contemporaries like CURRENT (who I once saw them play a show with back in the summer of 1994), were simply updating the hardcore punk sound and interjecting quiet/loud vocal dynamics, dual-guitar dynamics and other elements that predecessors like FUGAZI and lesser known bands like MOSS ICON had already built upon a few years earlier.
Nevertheless, this band featured CHRIS LEO and his brother DANNY LEO, both of whom are also brothers of the much better known TED LEO. In fact, Ted’s ‘90s band CHISEL released most of their records on Gern Blandsten as well and Native Nod bassist DAVE LERNER went on to play in TED LEO & THE PHARMACISTS.
Highlighted by singer DANIEL RALSTON’s world-weary voice (which on this track reminds me of HAMILTON LEITHAUSER of THE WALKMEN), I’ve been listening to this song by a lot lately. It sounds not unlike something that would’ve come from either of The Walkmen’s first 2 albums or perhaps something else out of Brooklyn in 2002. You can listen to it here.
