Joe Pernice – Tin Angel (Philadelphia, PA) – August 8, 2009
What a great show! After an inspired and often hysterical opening set by the comedy duo THE WALSH BROTHERS, Joe came out and proceeded to mix readings from his new novel It Feels Good When I Stop with some cover songs from its soundtrack. DEL SHANNON‘s “I Fall to Pieces” and SEBADOH‘s “Soul and Fire” were among the highlights of this portion of the show. As for the readings, the portion he read before playing “Soul and Fire” was my favorite. It’s a funny and bitterly-pointed chronicle of a mid-‘90s Sebadoh show at Brownie’s (now Hi-Fi) in New York. Towards the end of his set, he tackled a few numbers from his own catalog, including (suprisingly) the great “Amazing Glow” and “Pisshole in the Snow” (both from 2005’s underrated Discover a Lovelier You). We also got “Two of You Sleep” (from his CHAPPAQUIDDICK SKYLINE album), a song Joe described as “creepy” in the same way that SAMMY JOHNS‘ 1975 hit “Chevy Van”, one of the songs he covers on the album, is.
Joe Pernice – It Feels Good When I Stop (Ashmont)
When the last PERNICE BROTHERS record, 2006’s Live a Little came out, some accused it of being too similar to their first two albums (1998’s Overcome By Happiness and 2001’s incredible The World Won’t End). No one will accuse Joe Pernice of the same thing this time around. Although the word in the Pernice camp is that an official follow-up to Live a Little won’t be out until 2010, this is a Pernice Brothers record in all but name (sort of). You see, band members such as guitarist PEYTON PINKERTON and the rest of the folks in his band are all over this record, but here’s how it’s different. First off, it consists of covers of songs by artists ranging from DEL SHANNON to SEBADOH to TODD RUNDGREN. Ever wondered how a Pernice Brothers cover of THE DREAM SYNDICATE‘s “Tell Me When It’s Over” would sound? Well now you have your answer (which is pretty darn good, if you ask me). Also, included in this thirty-four minute disc is dialogue of Joe reading from his new novel of the same name. I haven’t had a chance to read the novel yet (it’s sitting on my coffee table in a stack of similarly yet-to-be-read books), the dialogue definitely makes it sound promising. Come to think of it, his 33 1/3 series book on THE SMITHS‘ Meat is Murder was like a novel (or a thinly veiled autobiographical account, as I’ve long suspected), so this is a natural fit for him.
Anyway, clearly this CD is meant to accompany the book, but one complaint that I have is that the dialogue is way quieter than the music. Folks will be turning up the volume on their iTunes or CD players just to hear it. Otherwise, it’s really easy to miss.
Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs (Matador)
On the first few listens, I’m really enjoying this. I think that it’s astonishing and wonderful that they’re still making terrific, challenging music this late into their career. I would even argue that they get better with age. The opening track, “Here to Fall”, is absolutely incredible. I can’t even describe its unique, bass-heavy sound. Make sure to turn it up LOUD and your walls will shake! The fourth track (“Nothing to Hide”, which is my wife’s favorite) reminds me of a few tracks from their last album, 2006’s wonderfully-titled I Am Not Afraid of You And I Will Beat Your Ass, particularly “The Race is On Again”.
TV Smith – In the Arms of My Enemy (Boss Tuneage)
This is slowly turning out to be one of my absolute favorites of the last few years. Yes, it’s THAT good. In certain parts, it reminds me of some of GRAHAM PARKER (another veteran of the late ’70s punk/new wave era who still makes great records)‘s recent work, but in any case this music will make you wanna get up and do something instead of just sitting around! Inspiring stuff.
The Chameleons – The Fan and the Bellows (Caroline)
Having never heard this before and in anticipation of former Chameleons singer/bassist MARK BURGESS‘ upcoming show here (see more about that here), I just happened to find a vinyl copy of this one earlier today. It’s a 1986 compilation of recordings from 1981 (mostly) and 1983, all before their 1st album (Script of the Bridge) came out. The 1981 sessions were produced by STEVE LILLYWHITE when they briefly had a deal with CBS. This produced the great “In Shreds” 7” (the B-side of which was “Nostalgia”, found in two different versions here) and several other songs which never found a home on any of their proper studio albums. There are also alternate versions of songs like “Less than Human” from Script of the Bridge.
Jay Reatard – Watch Me Fall (Matador)
Jay’s long-awaited follow-up to 2006’s incredible Blood Visions (still the album I’ve played the most over the past few years) is, predictably, more in line with the direction he’s been heading in since then, particularly on the six singles he released for his new label last year. Don’t let that fool you, though. This isn’t a New Zealand indie-pop album, though that influence is clearly felt on several of the songs found here. There’s still plenty of rage and aggro. In fact, in typical Reatard fashion, some of the lyrics here are as bleak as anything this side of black metal. Song titles like “Can’t Do It Anymore,” “Wounded,” “Rotten Mind” and “There is No Sun” are indicative of the mood here.
Fortunately, though, and again in typical Reatard fashion, the hooks and melodies nicely balance out the bleakness and aggression found within. The best evidence for this is the first single, the awesome “It Ain’t Gonna Save Me”.
Annoyingly, he recycles several previously released songs here as well. Of these, “Hang Them All” was originally released on a now out-of-print split 7” with label mates SONIC YOUTH for Record Store Day back in April and “I’m Watching You” comes from one of the Matador singles released last year.
Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey – hERE aND nOW (Bar/None)
No, this isn’t the long-awaited new dB’s album, though they say they’re still working on it. It is, however, the follow-up to Holsapple and Stamey’s well-received 1991 duo album Mavericks.
Instead of a full band hammering it out in a garage, this has the feel of a couple of guys just strumming together in a living room and seeing what they come up with. In this case, what they came up with is something similar to last year’s great SPRINGHOUSE Lp From Now to OK or the last few Lps by THE TRASHCAN SINATRAS. In other words, this is music for adults who are comfortable with who they are and know that maturity doesn’t have to mean boring ROD STEWART standards albums. It’s still relatively rare, however, to find music with such depth, intelligence and passion, so to my ears, this is a real treasure.
Starting off with a cover of FAMILY‘s early ’70s UK hit “My Friend the Sun”, we get the appropriately light and breezy “Santa Monica” (which features the other 2 members of the dB’s), the bouncy, poppy “Widescreen World” and the self-explanatory instrumental “Ukelele”. The real gems, though, are “Early in the Morning” and “Long Time Coming”. Many will dismiss the former as hokey, but I love it. The latter, though, is the album’s crown jewel. Featuring a PAUL MCCARTNEY-esque (or BADFINGER-esque) hook that just jumps out of the sky, the title may be referring to a romantic interest or the duo playing music together. Either way, it’s really moving. Other highlights include odes to domesticity (or maybe to musical partners) like “Broken Record” and the pleading “Begin Again”.
I expected to like this, but I didn’t expect to be as moved by this record as I am. Wow. Oh and there’s a version that comes with live, acoustic versions of the dB’s classics “From a Window to a Screen” (it’s cool that you can hear the vocals come to the surface in this version) and “Happenstance”.
TV Smith on the most recent episode of Rabid in the Kennel
I’ve been thoroughly enjoying our own JACK RABID‘s show on BreakThru Radio over the last year or so and I enjoyed the inaugural episode of Rabid in the Kennel with THE POSIES. I absolutely loved this episode, though, which features TV Smith performing live in the studio along with tons of songs related to his now more than 30 year career. You can listen to it here.
The Clean – Mister Pop (Merge)
The Clean’s first new studio album since 2001’s cleverly-titled Getaway is a winner. More representative of their later indie-pop than their harsher, more punk-influenced early ’80s singles, songs like “Are You Really on Drugs?”, the mostly instrumental “Loog” and “In the Dreamlife You Need a Rubber Soul” go by in a breeze (the album is only 34 minutes long), albeit a hazy, dreamy one!
No Age – Losing Feeling EP (Sub Pop)
No Age have really outdone themselves this time. Although Nouns made my Top 10 of last year, I think this may be even better. Oddly, it has more in common with the weirder, more dream-like shoegaze-punk of Weirdo Rippers than it does with the much more straightforward Nouns. Their songwriting and production have improved since then, though, and as such I like this more. Nevertheless, give songs like the title track and “Aim at the Airport” a listen and fall into a haze, albeit a lovely one. The exception the rule here is the last track, “You’re a Target”, which is a bit more rockin’ and almost as ragin’ as Nouns tunes like “Brain Burner” and “Sleeper Hold”. You can stream the EP here.
