Kurt Vile and the Violators with Mondo Topless – Rittenhouse Square Park (Philadelphia, PA) – August 19, 2009
At this free show at Rittenhouse Square Park on a hot and humid night, new Matador signing Kurt Vile and local garage-rock veterans Mondo Topless both played rather enjoyable sets despite the fact that from my view, I was barely able to see either of them. Additionally, I thought that Mondo Topless were starting at 7, but they were already playing when I got there at 7 sharp and they only played for 15 more minutes, culminating in a nice cover of “Loose” by THE STOOGES.
Tori Amos with Passion Pit – World Cafe Live (Philadelphia, PA) – August 15, 2009
What an odd double bill. Even odder was the fact that this special “Free at Noon” (normally on Friday afternoons) was held on a Saturday afternoon. Still, I had no complaints, though, especially given that we were in a well air-conditioned room for a few hours on another awful, hot, humid day. In any case, both artists were playing shows in town later that night, so I guess from that vantage point it made sense to put them together.
Passion Pit started and honestly, they were OK at best. I love “The Reeling” (found on their album Manners), but the piano and vocal version that MICHAEL ANGELAKOS played at the end of their set paled in comparison. Its dance-rock grooves are a bit of a red herring anyway, though. Most of their material sounds like DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE or OF MONTREAL, but without the stellar material of either. Still, they have their moments and will hopefully improve.
I hadn’t seen Tori Amos play in almost thirteen years (since the tour for Boys for Pele) and while I enjoyed that show (and her first few albums) a lot, I didn’t enjoy her set at all this time around. As in many cases, time has taken a toll on her voice and though she pleasantly surprised me by playing several songs from her landmark first album Little Earthquakes (“Leather” and “Silent All These Years”), the versions paled in comparison to the recorded version because she didn’t hit the high notes and annoyingly drew out some notes and phrases in order to compensate.
Jon Ginoli – Deflowered: My Life in Pansy Division (2009, Cleis Press)
Jon Ginoli’s autobiography is an enjoyable read and an equally enjoyable ride (no pun intended) throughout the indie rock and punk landscape of the ’80s, ’90s and ’00s. From his childhood in Peoria, Illinois to his college days in Champaign and his band THE OUTNUMBERED (also based in Champaign), Ginoli touches down in Los Angeles and later in San Francisco, forming PANSY DIVISION (the world’s first openly gay punk-rock band) in 1991 with fellow openly gay bassist CHRIS FREEMAN and making history in the process. Every time I’ve seen them, they put on a great show and have an enormous sense of fun and reading this book is no different. Ginoli is opinionated regarding the music scene and other issues, but seems grounded, modest, fair and a nice guy to boot.
Pansy Division – That’s So Gay (Alternative Tentacles)
Pansy Division’s first full-length album since 2003 is typically excellent, topical, melodic pop-punk/power-pop that’s a lot of fun. With song titles like “Twinkie Twinkie Little Star,” “Ride Baby” and the hilarious “20 Years of Cock”, you pretty much know what you’re in for. This is far from a bad thing, though.
The album also features the first Pansy Division from guitarist JOEL READER (formerly of THE MR. T EXPERIENCE and THE PLUS ONES and currently in THE AVENGERS), the cleverly titled, anti-homophobia “Some of My Best Friends”. Additionally, “Average Men” features their label head JELLO BIAFRA on lead vocals and a riff that’s not too dissimilar to “Holiday in Cambodia”, though it was written by main singer/songwriter JON GINOLI. And of bassist CHRIS FREEMAN‘s songs, the title track (deriding the colloqualism) is the standout, reminding me a lot of BLONDIE‘s “Rip Her to Shreds”.
Pansy Division – The Essential Pansy Division (Alternative Tentacles)
In Jon Ginoli’s autobiography, he says that when they compiled this “best of” a few years back, he finally had an answer to the question of what CD to buy first. Rightly so, this is a great collection and about as much Pansy Division as your average fan will probably want (at least at first). You’d think that there would be an overkill factor here, with 31 songs over the course of the disc, many about the same things, but with monster hooks like the ones found in songs like “Fem in a Black Leather Jacket” and “The Cocksucker Club”, I can’t get enough of this stuff.
Jay Reatard – Watch Me Fall (Matador)
Although I’ve been listening to it since last month, its official release on vinyl and CD was this past Tuesday, so I thought I’d give it a mention. The 180-gram vinyl version is beautiful (even if the cover isn’t) and the album sounds GREAT on it. While I don’t think I’ll like this as much as Blood Visions, it’s a really good album that grows on me with every listen.
Tribe 8 – By the Time We Get to Colorado EP (Outpunk)
Since I’ve been listening to lots of Pansy Division recently, I pulled this one out for the first time in many years as well. Forming around the same time (and in the same place; San Francisco) and debuting with the Pig Bitch EP in 1992, they really took it to another level here with their 1st 12”, originally released in 1993. They recruited an additional guitar player here and it shows in the sound here. The lyrics alternate between serious disserations on homophobia (“Lezbophobia”) and celebrations of sexuality (the great “Crash Crush”) and partying (“1 Party 2 Many”).
Wall of Voodoo – Dark Continent (I.R.S.)
Instead of being incorrectly categorized as a “one-hit wonder” and remembered for “Mexican Radio” (a great song, but a fluke hit in the very early days of MTV, back when it was much more wide open than it became later) from their also great Call of the West album, Wall of Voodoo (at least while STAN RIDGWAY was in the band) should be remembered for this wonderful album. A unique blend of punk rock (the first incarnation of the band features members of THE SKULLS and BLACK RANDY AND THE METROSQUAD), Americana and synth-driven new wave, Wall of Voodoo defied categorization. Nevertheless, I see them as being one of the great U.S. post-punk bands of the late ’70s and early ’80s.
Flamin’ Groovies – Teenage Head (Buddha)
Yep, this is better than Sticky Fingers (as KEITH RICHARDS himself famously said) or at least its equivalent. Amazing! I wish I could’ve seen the recent show in New Orleans where CYRIL JORDAN and ROY LONEY (the main creative talents behind this incarnation of the Groovies) reunited (backed by the A-BONES, among them IRA KAPLAN of YO LA TENGO).
The Young Canadians – No Escape (Zulu)
A mid ’90s reissue of their entire catalogue, they weren’t as blistering as THE SUBHUMANS, D.O.A. or THE POINTED STICKS, but a good band in their own right within a great scene. This disc combines the “Hawaii” EP, the “Automan” EP, the “This is Your Life” EP, their track from the Vancouver Complication and somepreviously unreleased live stuff. Naturally, the studio stuff sound way better than the live stuff, which is pretty much for archival purposes only. This band is also where singer-songwriter ART BERGMANN got his start. More recently, this material was reissued in 2005 by JOEY SHITHEAD‘s Sudden Death label.
