Visqueen with Beretta 76 – M Room (Philadelphia, PA) – May 23, 2010
Please see my full review here.
Bad Religion – 30 Years Live (Epitaph)
Celebrating 30 years together, Bad Religion is giving away this digital-only live album recorded at a bunch of 30th anniversary shows in California a few months ago. Interestingly, the songs selected for the album forego some expected tracks from the landmark No Control, though their debut How Could Hell Be Any Worse? as well as Suffer and Against the Grain are represented here. Taken in this context, though, songs like “New Dark Ages” and “Dearly Beloved” from their last studio album (2007’s New Maps of Hell, which I liked, but didn’t love) and “Los Angeles is Burning” from 2004’s The Empire Strikes First sound fresh and on par with some of the band’s best material when removed from their original albums.
In any case, you can get it here for the price of your e-mail address.
Tobin Sprout – The Bluebirds Of Happiness Tried To Land On My Shoulder (self-released)
Initially, I wanted my wife to review this since she ordered this CD, Sprout’s first solo effort in 7 years, and since she’s a bigger fan of his than I am. Though I’m familiar with his work in GUIDED BY VOICES, this was my first exposure to his solo work and I like it. It’s a more mellow effort than I expected and also more hi-fi than early to mid ’90s GBV’s famous four-track sound, but the common thread here is melody.
The packaging here is beautiful, too, as to be expected from someone who’s also an acclaimed visual artist and childrens’ author as well as musician.
You can order it here.
Dum Dum Girls/Male Bonding – EP (Sub Pop)
I like both sides of this Record Store Day split 7” of recent Sub Pop signings, but Dum Dum Girls’ awesome “Pay for Me” definitely takes the cake. Male Bonding is a band from the UK that mine similar noise-pop territory and their “Before It’s Gone” reminds me a bit of early WEDDING PRESENT.
TSOL – 1980 Demo (no label)
TSOL’s 1980 demo was bootlegged onto a 7” back in the mid ’90s, but I’ve never heard it until recently. It contains very different and awesome versions of 3 known TSOL tracks (“80 Times,” “Superficial Love” and “Silent Majority”) that were on their debut Lp and first two 7“s, respectively) as well as one called “You Don’t Have to Die” that I’d never heard before.
It’s well worth seeking out for fans and you can find it here.
Unwound – Live in London (LoveLetter)
Unwound recorded only one session for the late, great JOHN PEEL and that was in 1998. With 3 songs that spanned their career up to that point, the highlight being the 14-minute “Katrina/Were, Are and Was Or Is” from 1993’s Fake Train, this has been bootlegged numerous times and “Live in London” is the title of a bootleg 12”, but never officially released. However, you can find it here.
Black Sabbath – Heaven and Hell (Warner Brothers)
This is the by far the best Black Sabbath album without OZZY OSBOURNE and also RONNIE JAMES DIO‘s absolute finest hour. What more can I say about this one? RIP Ronnie!
Roky Erickson – Don’t Slander Me (Restless)
One of two Roky Erickson records released by the Restless-distributed Pink Dust label in the mid ’80s (the other being Gremlins Have Pictures), this 1986 effort contains a re-recording of his 1977 single A-side “Bermuda” as well as nine other tracks (twelve others on Rykodisc’s reissue). This is top-notch, upbeat Roky in the same vein as the incredible The Evil One (Plus One), though perhaps not quite as great as that one.
LCD Soundsystem – This is Happening (DFA)
As far as I’m concerned, JAMES MURPHY is 3 for 3. If this will indeed be the last LCD Soundsystem album, at least he’ll have gone out with a great one.
The Goats – Tricks of the Shade (Ruffhouse/Columbia)
One of the finest political hip-hop albums ever recorded, it’s too bad that The Goats got lost in the shuffle while their equally talented Philadelphia brethren THE ROOTS are still at it and as the backing band on JIMMY FALLON‘s late night talk show no less!
In any case, this is funky, inventive, in-your-face, politically aware (though some of the references are now badly dated) and it deserved a far better fate. This was prime-era PUBLIC ENEMY for the Native Tongues set. Instead, succumbing to record company pressure, they recorded an inferior sophomore album in 1994 called No Goats, No Glory that de-emphasized the politics and emphasized the much more non-threatening and by then prevalent (in hip-hop circles) weed-smoking lyrics found in much lesser measure on the first album as well.
