I love this song. I especially and unironically love this particular version of it. Sometimes that Manson growl hits the spot. And the light show here, filmed last year in California according to the YouTube notes, is a thing of beauty and a joy forever.
On that note, special warning to epileptics: you may want to skip this one, or listen to it with the visuals stashed safely behind another tab.
Everyone else: enjoy the d00m, gl00m, and amazing blinky lights.
Happy Halloween, y’all.
Halloween Light Show 2010 HD - This is Halloween ( Marilyn Manson )
And so in honor of one of my favorite holidays, I present to you Panic’s Halloween video, which they made themselves while on tour, back in 2008, before Ryan Ross and Jon Walker left the band. It’s perhaps a little bit bittersweet to watch now, but mostly sweet, and their attempt at boy-band style synchronized dancing will always be hilarious.
“Lonely Boy” (No, it isn’t a Paul Anka cover or an Andrew Gold cover) from the forthcoming Black Keys’ album El Camino, which drops December 6.
It has great energy, and I think it will pair nicely with “Howlin’ for You” on the Keep April from Slashing Her Wrists playlist. Dan and Pat have promised this is their most rock ‘n’ roll album to date, and I’m looking forward to hearing the rest.
13ghosts, of Birmingham, Alabama, is now 4 piece, with Brad Armstrong at the helm on lead vocals and guitar, Sammy Boggan on bass, A. Vernon as multi-instrumentalist, and Jason Lucia on drums.
13ghosts has, as a band, endured a good deal: the early loss of a founding member, multiple line-up changes, and having a record (Cicada, their third) pulled because of copyright problems. Their last offering, The Strangest Colored Lights, was released in 2008, and then they took a little break.
Brad Armstrong briefly joined the Dexateens and spent some time touring the countryside; Jason Lucia played drums for FisherGreen; the others rattled around their day jobs.
Then the Dexateens decided they also needed a little rest, and Armstrong gathered the ‘ghosts back together to make their fifth record: Liar’s Melody.
It’s a “where are they now” record, and judging by the music, where they are now is a pretty good place. The songs are alternately aggressive – the first song, Water, Rise, starts with what I can only call a buzz-saw of a bluesy riff – sweet, and filthily reflective, but they are all thrumming with life.
I am particularly fond of the delicate finger picking and complicated poetry of the title track, and of I Was Happy, the song which provided the title of this post. It’s a extended reflection on the gradual awareness of no longer being miserable or, perhaps more accurately, of having learned to accept and enjoy happiness. It’s wry and funny and lovely, and all y’all should listen to it.
At this time Liar’s Melody is only available digitally from This Is American Music, though a limited run of cds will be released in the near future. You can keep up with the ghosts via the TIAM tumblr.
Meanwhile, here they are with “Born to Rock n’ Roll”:
I’ve been saying this a lot lately in conversation with friends: I always thought that my idealism would fade away as I became older. But aside from a supremely apathetic phase in my 20s, my idealism has remained intact. Certainly it has become a crankier form of idealism as I’ve become more informed about the world and watched as humanity has failed to live up to its potential again and again, but I still believe that if everyone put aside self-absorption and pettiness, we could have a great thing going on her on earth. And as an avid/rabid music listener, I’ve always been open to finding good music wherever it may be hiding, from whatever race, creed, class and corner of the globe it may be coming from.
So when I was tripping around Netflix looking for something interesting to watch one day, Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam and The Taqwacores caught my eye quickly and held my attention. I was posting about it on my social media networks before I even watched it.
The Taqwacores is a feature film based on Michael Muhammad Knight’s novel of the same name. Knight is a Muslim convert from an Irish Catholic family who wrote about a fantasy he had of a punk house full of Muslims. Or, at least, he thought it was a fantasy until the book was published and got into the hands of young Muslims across the U.S. who identified with the characters, ideas and music portrayed. Soon, as Knight says, they connected the dots, and a loose network of misfit Muslims was strung together. Friends were made, bands were born and taqwacore become a word used for Muslims living in the spirit of punk, questioning, fighting, learning and living by their own ideals.
Taqwacore: The Birth of Islam Punk is a documentary about Knight and the real-life people and bands that were brought together by his book, ultimately culminating in an all-inclusive celebration and exhibition of the power of music to knock down barriers and draw people together.
I came away from this duo of films invigorated and excited that people are still out there using music as a tool for the betterment of the world, to include the excluded, to give voice to subversive thought, to be heard over the din of blind, self-serving authority figures.
Check out this thoughtful interview conducted by Jian Ghomeshi with Michael Muhammad Knight and Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam filmmaker Omar Majeed for Q TV.
The trailer for The Taqwacores:
The trailer for Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam:
Congratulations to Mike Durner, who is the winner of our Dead Exs giveaway. I’ll be dropping you a line to collect your coordinates and get your goody off to you.
As always, much appreciation to everyone who participated.
JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound release their Bloodshot Records debut, Want More, today and it is a fine, fine soul album that feels and breathes and dances with a deep shimmy, not playing out as a lifeless set-piece as can easily happen when a modern band takes up a sound closely associated with an earlier era. Lyrically, it’s a relatable album that speaks in real terms instead of heart-shaped metaphors. Musically, it’s a straight-up rump-shaker of rich grooves that just seems to grow richer with each listen. And, personally, I was singing along within two or three spins of the album.
JC was kind enough to answer a few questions for us…
When and why did you start singing? How did the Uptown Sound come together?
Because my mom was always singing, I started singing around the house as a toddler. I did Chorus in elementary and middle school, and formed my first band in high school. JCBUS came together because Ben, our bassist, and I answered an ad put out by Billy, our guitarist, who was looking to make aggressive dance music.
A press release describes your music as “post-punk soul”. What does that mean to you? How do you think your music fits into this era?
Post-punk soul, to me, is emotive music that doesn’t try to fit into the typical “soul” girdle of warmly lit, grease-lensed love. We discuss love in our music, but usually more graphically than traditional soul, and we also don’t only take the point of view that the common portrayal of love is the ‘be-all, end-all’ ultimate goal. We write about the lighter side of lust and the general messiness of love, its hindsight is less hazy and more 20/20 when we write about why a relationship went wrong, etc. I don’t think our music fits into the post-punk era so much, but it does harken to a post-punk aesthetic that’s been pressed through a soul filter.
I hear some Stax influence in your music, like Otis Redding and the Dramatics. Who else are you influenced by?
For me personally: Patti LaBelle and Tina Turner are huge performance influences. Vocally, I draw inspiration from Otis, Teddy Pendergrass, Anita Baker and Amy Winehouse.
For the band: Bad Brains, Gang of Four, Living Colour, The Stooges, Bowie, Tower of Power, The MGs… the list could go on and on.
How did the idea to soul up Wilco come about?
Well, it started with Billy wondering what Syl Johnson (we were working with Syl at the time for the Numero Group revue) would sound like covering music like Wilco or Bowie, and from there it blossomed into the version we do now.
How did things come together with JCBUS and Bloodshot?
We stormed the Bloodshot office and held them hostage until they agreed to our demands…
What have you and the band been listening to lately?
Right now, I’m listening to a lot of Adele, Tune-Yards, JD MacPherson, Jill Scott, Joe Bataan… A lot of stuff all the time, really, but the artists I listed above have been getting a lot of play lately.
Listen to and download their first single, “Everything Will Be Fine”.
We just received this submission minutes ago from Drew Smith, and even though I’m at my day job with limited resources (can’t even get you proper images to go with the post), it’s so heartbreakingly beautiful that I couldn’t wait to share it.
From Drew, the story of the video:
My first ‘real’ job was teaching English as a Second Language in Ontario. I kept in correspondence with many of my students, and was pleasantly surprised to find one of them, Sohee Jeon, had become an established animator in South Korea. She expressed how much she had been enjoying my music, and while I was working on my newest record The Secret Languages she generously offered up her services to make an animated video for my newest single “Love Teethâ€.
You can download the song in exchange for a tweet here.
Didier Wampas, of Les Wampas, has put out his first solo record. It is called Taisez Moi which, from what I can gather translates as either “Shut Me” or “Quiet Me”, and it is delightful.
It’s also really, really different from Les Wampas‘ sound. The catchy melodies are still there in force, but the big crunchy riffs and reverb have given way to a lighter, surfier, clap-along vibe.
You may recall us covering this dirty Spanish band with sharp edges before. They have a new single out called “Casino El Camino”, and it’s a two-parter. Listen up!
Good stuff and available for free download. How many people do you know who love you enough to give you good stuff for free?
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