Rorschach with 1.6 Band and Halo of Snakes – First Unitarian Church (Philadelphia, PA) – September 27, 2009
Please see my full review here.
Rorschach – Autopsy (Gern Blandsten)
A few years after Rorschach’s breakup, singer Charles Maggio’s label Gern Blandsten released this almost-comprehensive and absolutely essential discography CD. Containing both of their Lps, the Needlepack 7”, their tracks from split 7“s with NEANDERTHAL and 1.6 BAND along with compilation tracks, it’s a beast of a CD. Most of this music holds up really well almost 20 (!) years later, though I’ve always that their last Lp, Protestant, was far weaker than the rest of their material. It should also be noted that the version of “Skin Culture” from Protestant is far inferior to the version on the Needlepack 7” and that the superior version was unfortunately left off of this CD.
Mission of Burma – The Sound The Speed The Light (Matador)
I sort of panned this one a few weeks ago, but it’s definitely growing on me, so now I regret rushing to judgment. It won’t hit you overt the head with its greatness like their last album (2006’s incredible The Obliterati) did, but instead it’s a slow burn.
Exclusivos – Demos (Mr. Phreek’s Anokist Emporium)
My fellow Big Takeover writer CHUCK FOSTER introduced me to these guys a few weeks ago. I meant to cover them sooner, but I’m only getting around to it now. Anyway, Exclusivos were a great band from the Bronx that were around from 2003 or so to 2006 and here’s the kicker. They sound so much like THE FALL circa 1978 or 1979 that it’s almost eerie. They even go into “Rowche Rumble” at one point, a nod to their most obvious influence. I don’t hear the African Hi-Life/Afrobeat or CAN influences the way some others do, but I hear not just a lot of MARK E. SMITH circa Dragnet or the singles of that era like “Fiery Jack”, the aforementioned “Rowche Rumble”, etc., but also bits of CAPTAIN BEEFHEART and especially (though oddly) the earliest recordings of THE MONOCHROME SET (think Strange Boutique or Love Zombies). Thus, post-punk fans will shit their pants when they hear this. I just wish that they were still around since I completely missed them the first time around (and I was living in New York then, too, at least for most of that time period). Thanks to Chuck, though, you can hear the recordings they left behind and read more about their history here.
Jawbreaker – 24 Hour Revenge Therapy (Tupelo/Communion)
Perhaps my favorite Jawbreaker album, this was the last album they recorded for Tupelo/Communion before jumping ship and signing with Geffen for their final album, 1995’s Dear You. It’s an odd album in certain ways, though. It’s noticeably poppier than Bivouac, the album that preceded it, but STEVE ALBINI‘s recording made BLAKE SCHWARZENBACH‘s already raspy voice sound even raspier. It also made the band sound as raw as ever, too. “Boxcar” and “Indictment” are excellent retorts to dominant punk thinking of the time, “Outpatient” deals with Blake’s vocal surgery and the rest of the songs deal with relationships. Many think of this as a seminal “emo” album, but I just think of it as a great melodic punk album and Jawbreaker’s apex.
Jawbreaker – Dear You (DGC/Blackball)
I’ll be honest here. I hated this album when it came out and for obvious reasons. Way slicker than anything else Jawbreaker ever did, it’s an obvious bid for mainstream attention in light of the then recent massive success of GREEN DAY. In fact, ROB CAVALLO (who produced Dookie) smoothed out some of the rough edges to make them more palatable to radio programmers and what not. Here’s the thing, though. It didn’t work. The record sold the same amount as their indie releases and the band broke up the following year. In the intervening years, it’s ironically become an emo/indie touchstone. I don’t blame them for going for the brass ring on this record, though. They’d seen some of their contemporaries do it, so I can understand them thinking that after a lot of hard work, it was worth a shot. And what’s more, in a perfect world, songs like “Save Your Generation” and “Fireman” would be bigger hits than “Basket Case” or “Come Out and Play”. Simply put, this is slightly slicked-up mid ’90s punk at its absolute best. Furthermore, once you get past the production, all the trademark Jawbreaker characteristics are there. Lovelorn lyrics? Check. Post-punk influenced guitar work? Check. Melody out the ass? Check. You get my point. This album was out-of-print and not easy to find for years until the 2004 re-release on drummer ADAM PFAHLER‘s Blackball imprint. The reissue adds several tracks, including a different version of “Boxcar” and a cover of the PSYCHEDELIC FURS classic “Into You Like a Train”. It also contains the acoustic bonus track on the original CD version as a separate track and without the hidden track nonsense, so for all those reasons it’s the one to get.
Jets to Brazil – Four Cornered Night (Jade Tree)
Last week, I put in their debut Orange Rhyming Dictionary as the last entry on my list. This week, I’m listing their greatly overlooked and underrated 2nd album Four Cornered Night. Easily the least “punk” and most experimental record Blake Schwarzenbach has ever made, many songs feature Blake on piano. Consequently, the sound is lighter, more melodic and closer to say, WILCO circa Summerteeth than anything Jawbreaker ever did. The addition of guitarist BRYAN MARYANSKY freed up Blake from playing guitar, contributing to the addition of piano found on this record. Those who dissed this record, though, overlooked two crucial things. First and foremost, the songs were of such a high quality that any fan of his previous songwriting would’ve had no problem enjoying it and relatedly, the songs have Blake’s melodic quirks. Notably, the album ends with “All Things Good and Nice”, by far the sweetest song Blake has ever written.
Neko Case – Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (Anti)
For years, my favorite Neko Case album has been Blacklisted. While that’s not about to change, listening to this album on headphones the other day was a wonderful experience. If you haven’t done so, try it sometime. I was absolutely blown away by the sonics and the production, not to mention Neko’s great voice and songs. It took me about a year after this came out to fully appreciate and now, several years afterwards, I like it even more. I wonder if her new album will have the same effect on me.
Neko Case – Middle Cyclone (Anti)
Anyone who reads this column knows how much I love Neko Case. Thus, it might surprise you that I don’t consider her newest album a classic along the lines of everything she’s done since 2000’s Furnace Room Lullaby. Listening to it again this past week, though, I think I’ve figured out why, though. The album starts off with some of the finest material she’s ever written. Specifically, “This Tornado Loves You” and “People Gotta Lotta Nerve” are destined for future greatest hits comps as well as discussions on best songs of the decade or even millenium. Yeah, they’re THAT good. Her cover of SPARKS‘ “Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth” is stunning as well, but after that, the album starts to lose me until the 9th track “Magpie to the Morning”. From there until “Red Tide”, the album’s penultimate track (the last is “Marais la Nuit”, a 32-minute track of crickets chirping in Case’s Vermont barn), the album picks up strength, stopping along the way at a great HARRY NILLSON cover (“Don’t Forget Me”) as well as “The Pharoahs”, another stunning track. So in summary, I love most of this record, but it’s just not as consistent as some of her previous records. Then again, perhaps in a few years songs like “Polar Nettles” or the the title track that have failed to grab me thus far will have hoisted their power over me like much of Case’s previous work has.
Pansy Division: Life in a Gay Rock Band (Not Rated)
I know that I listed this a few weeks ago, but Pansy Division are so good (and unfairly marginalized) that they deserve to have this listed again. In particular, I watched the bonus disc, which includes live performances ranging from 1993 to 1997. Some are for TV shows and others are from live performances. The quality of the footage and the sound varies greatly, but all of it is worth watching if you’re a fan.
