Vivian Girls – Surf’s Up EP (self-released)
Seemingly only available as part of a fun pack along with a t-shirt, several funny postcards which show caricatures of the girls in Florida and Egypt, respectively, and a pin, the new Vivian Girls 7” has two originals (“Surfing Away” and “Second Date”) along with their cover of THE BEACH BOYS classic “Girl Don’t Tell Me”. I’ve seen them play all of these songs live, so it’s nice to hear recorded versions as well. Nothing here is as stunning as the best moments on their Lp and earlier singles, but anyone who likes this band should be pleased with this nonetheless.
Antony and the Johnsons – The Crying Light (Secretly Canadian)
On the first few listens, the long-awaited (4 years) new Antony and the Johnsons album mines much of the similar territory as 2005’s excellent I Am a Bird Now (one of my favorite albums of 2005). Lyrically, the themes deal more with nature and specifically man’s destruction of it rather than those of gender identity, which seemingly dominated I Am a Bird Now.
T.S.O.L. – Beneath the Shadows (Frontier/Nitro)
This may be a weird anecdote to describe one of the great punk albums of the early ’80s, but my experience with this 1982 classic swan-song of the original T.S.O.L. is similar to BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN‘s experience with the records of HANK WILLIAMS. I once read an interview with Springsteen where he said that he’d owned some Hank records for years and liked them, but they didn’t really hit him until one day, he finally “got it”. Recently, since I’ve been on a big T.S.O.L. kick as of late, I had the same epiphany. I’ve had this album for a long time and I’ve always liked it, but now I finally get why our own JACK RABID and others regard this as an all-time classic. After the politically-minded early hardcore of their 1st 7”, the punk death rock of the amazing Dance with Me and the post-punk leanings of their “Weathered Statues” 7”, this album was truly their answer to THE DAMNED‘s The Black Album and Strawberries, but all rolled up into one. Essential.
T.S.O.L – Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Free Downloads (Hurley)
The new, free download only T.S.O.L. album is rocking my world right now. The best track is the stunning “The Pain that We Go Through”, the but the more uptempo “Modern Girl” and “Love that Mess” aren’t far behind, either. If you’re a fan and haven’t picked this up yet, go over to Hurley’s site and grab it now.
A.C. Newman – Get Guilty (Matador)
Although the year is still very young, if I had to choose my favorite new album of this year so far, I’d go with either this one or the T.S.O.L. album. Stunning hooks, sing-a-long choruses that’ll get stuck in your head for days at a time and strong vocals ensure that if you like power-pop or any of Newman’s previous stuff, you’ll love this.
Lou Reed’s Berlin (PG-13)
Director JULIAN SCHNABEL‘s document of the 4 live shows (he performed the entirety of his 1973 album Berlin at these shows) that Reed played at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn in December 2006 is a winner. Perhaps I’m a bit biased since we were in the audience at one of these shows and loved it, but it’s still great to see a visual document of an event we attended nonetheless. Beyond that, though, most of the footage focuses on Reed’s re-interpretations of the Berlin material. “Men of Good Fortune,” “Caroline Says II” and especially “The Kids” are all stunning portraits of love, loss, drug addiction and decadence. There are also some montage-like images (some that were on a screen behind the stage during the performances) featured within. Oh and did I mention ANTONY and SHARON JONES on backing vocals?
The Wind That Shakes the Barley (Not Rated)
A great film from a few years back that I finally got around to seeing in the last week, this tells the story of two brothers whose roles in the Republican (the Irish, not American), anti-British uprisings of the early 20s. In addition to a powerful and tragic story, it also functions as a history lesson of sorts regarding the history of the formation of modern Ireland.
Fucked Up with Pissed Jeans – Kung Fu Necktie (Philadelphia, PA) – January 21, 2009
I missed Fucked Up’s last area appearance last October (at the even smaller Barbary), so this over 21, bar show (unusual for a hardcore show) at the new Kung Fu Necktie was my chance to see them for the first time since the release of their epic new album The Chemistry of Common Life. Boy did they deliver the goods. Playing to a packed (probably overpacked, truthfully) house and with wild, maniacal singer PINK EYES spending most of his time in the audience as opposed to on stage, they were as tight as the proverbial lump of coal stuck in CAMERON‘s you know what in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Their 3-guitar fury reminds me of the repetition of ’70s Krautrock without ever explicitly evoking it, though the intensity, physicality and Pink Eyes’ gruff vocals definitely make them identifiable as hardcore punk. Still, it’s offset by almost sweet-sounding backing vocals by one of the guitarists as well.
Openers Pissed Jeans played a typically intense, manic and sludgy set, though I could swear that they were a bit tighter than the last time I saw them. Controlled chaos was definitely the them of this evening.
Serpico with Sleepwall and The In Crowd – Martini Red (Staten Island, NY) – January 17, 2009
Though I was a fan of their first two albums, I never got to see the Staten Island band SERPICO back in the ’90s. Thus, this one-off reunion show was my chance to atone for that and boy was it great. Playing to an insanely jam-packed, devoted crowd with many audience members singing along to every word, the energy in the room was just contagious. You could just feel so much love for Serpico in the room. The setlist contained lots of material from the first two albums and I left a happy and satisfied fan. Openers Sleepwall’s mathy post-hardcore didn’t make much of an impression on me, but The In Crowd, the long-running Staten Island based pop-punk band who opened the show, definitely did. Goofy and fun, but very catchy, I bought both of their 7“s after the show.
Corin Tucker, Eddie Vedder and John Doe – “The Golden State”
I’m already a fan of the original version of this track, which can be found on John Doe’s last album, 2007’s A Year in the Wilderness. However, this version, which features Corin Tucker (formerly of the great and much-missed SLEATER-KINNEY) and EDDIE VEDDER of PEARL JAM alternating verses with Doe himself, is even better. It comes from Doe’s five-song “Golden State” EP, all featuring different versions of this track.
