vibrators

On the flip side of the great band/no image thing is The Automatix, a band I saw last night opening for the Vibrators. It's the usual case of young punks with time and money to spend on the right clothes, the right tattoos, the right hair dye and foot and a half mohawks but the songs and playing are definitely sub par, especially when opening for the Vibrators. The Vibrators have been doing it for 30 years and they still sound great, and they've aged much more gracefully than a lot of the old punks still kicking around (although drummer Nick looks like he's a weekend warrior heading to the cottage, blasting Van Halan; or Jon Mayer if he's feeling hip). The main problem with them is their songs aren't fantastic, they don't have the power to transcend the ages and become classics. The Saints at least have I'm Stranded to cement them on punk comps for years to come. This was pretty evident with the turnout, a pretty sparsely attended event. Seems like the only old punk bands people will go out to see are the ones who have become t-shirt fodder for the up and coming little suburban punks of the world. That's one thing The Vibrators definitely have going for them...

summertime.

Here's a nice little mix for strolling around on a nice summer day. ENJOY

I'll post the tracklisting later, but it's worth downloading and throwing on your mp3 player. There's a Heartless Bastards song in there... I saw them live Wednesday night and they were so amazing. They're a very awkward band to look at as they are completely image free. The drummer looks like Ethan Suplee with a beard, the bassist barley moves and is expressionless leaving singer Erika Wennerstrom to get all the focus. She kind of looks like Randy Rhoads at times, and is about the same size, but she's got a hugely powerful voice. She's right up there with PJ Harvey for intensity with a bit of Chan Marshall thrown in. You should really go to your local record store or emusic and get All This Time.

across the board

Just filler really...

Here's a few very different things.

Tindersticks - No More Affairs EP (features a great cover of Townes Van Zandt's "Kathleen")
Motorhead - Live From Spirit of Rock Festival, Winterthur, Switzerland June 2, 2007
Calexico - Feast of Wire Part 1, Part 2 pw - gfbbfg

raised by wolves

Voxtrot finally released a full length after 4 years of singles and eps. Those singles and eps were for the most part perfect pop with lots of hooks and catchy melodies; the full length has fleshed out a lot of those things and in the process lost a lot of the charm for me. It has it's moments, but it's not all gold. Here's one of their eps, puts a smile on my face.

Voxtrot - Raised By Wolves

And I just noticed the download link for this one was messed up below so here's a fix.

Quicksand - Quicksand EP

RFTC LIVE

One of the best rock bands ever in my books.

There's a few live shows. HERE


My internet has sucked a bit lately. Return to form due soon though.

sad bastard music

I've always been in love with sad songs that make you feel depressed and good at the same time... things that are so gorgeous and heartbreaking. When I would get in a sad mood (usually led to by an unrequited crush or something) I would like nothing better than to lay in the dark and listen to stuff like this... so here's a whole hours worth of that great stuff. It's like falling in love with a broken heart. (I'm feeling oh so poetic I know)

01 Jim Bryson - Without Piano
02 Spain - Every Time I Try
03 Chris Whitley - Cool Wooden Crosses
04 Tindersticks - She's Gone
05 Nina Nastasia - Cry Baby
06 Yo La Tengo - Tears Are in Your Eyes
07 Jenny Lewis - Melt Your Heart
08 The Replacements - Sadly Beautiful
09 Mojave 3 - Love From Room 109 At The Islander
10 Afterhours - There's Many Ways
11 The Twilight Singers - Deepest Shade
12 Irma Thomas - Anyone Who Knows What Love Is
13 16 Horsepower - Nobody 'Cept You
14 Bill Janovitz - Red Balloon

ENJOY all in one file (a few are wma format but I'm sure you can figure it out)

blah

this week was a bit of a mess but it had some highlights too.
The National show was great. They played the Opera House which is about as gorgeous a club venue you can find and it's a great place for their music to be heard. Te only problem with the show was the group of chatty bastards standing next to me including the sexually ambiguous guy who kept saying "I want them to play something I can dance to". A bit obnoxious.
Had the pleasure of see C'mon today at 4 in the afternoon at an outdoor gig and later I'm off to see Bionic and Urge Overkill. I'm quite happy.

Here's a few good rock tunes.

Nasty On - Filthy Part Of Town
Spitfires - Something To Nothing
Red Hot Lovers - Black Chrome (turbonegro cover)

a week of shows

Going to see Buffalo Tom, Urge Overkill and a bunch of other bands this week for NXNE fest in Toronto. Tonight going to see the National and then sneak off to Jon Epworth & The Improvements at the Horseshoe.

Here's some live National, and get the new disc, it's a slow burner but it's great.

The National - Black Sessions

rare Replacements

This album was a bootleg put put many years ago collecting a bunch of b-sides and unreleased tracks. They've all got their charm for sure. Some of these showed up on the All for Nothing/Nothing for all comp that came out a few years back but they're all in one place. Enjoy.
Can't Hardly Wait actually has the first four songs in front of it, I didn't feel like editiing... but it's a great older version of the song. Nowhere is My Home maybe one of the best 'Mats songs out there too.
The Replacements - Beat Girl

1. Kissing In Action
2. Ought to Get Love
3. Satellite
4. Like a Rolling Pin
5. Can't Hardly Wait
6. Date to Church
7. If Only You Were Lonely
8. Nowhere Is My Home
9. Route 66
10. Election Day
11. Tossin and Turnin
12. Jungle Rock
13. Cool Water
14. Cruella DeVille
15. 20th Century Boy

for short attention spans.

I saw a great show last night... been wanting to see Fucking Champs for a while. Just 3 guys can pretty much play the same stuff on the album and make it sound perfect. It's insane... the opening bands were awesome too.

The Fucking Champs
Red Fang
Birds Of Avalon

And here's a few good eps
Grandpaboy - Soundproof/Monolyth (Paul Westerberg, put out before Stereo/Mono)
Steve Earle & The Supersuckers - Split EP (this is out of print.... aren't you lucky)
Quicksand - Quicksand EP (from 1990, I think the guys from Tool must've heard this at some point)