Year: 2012

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Christmas, Light and Dark

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An assortment of Christmas songs I have recently listened to and enjoyed. Some light, some heavy, all festive.

The Pogues feat. Kirsty MacColl, Fairytale of New York – In honor of its 25th birthday this week, and because it is a holiday song I listen to year ’round.
 

 
August Burns Red, Carol of the Bells– There’s very little I like better than heavy metal Christmas carols. Unless it’s hardcore Christmas carols where the band gives the drummer free reign. This is my #1 favorite rendition of this song. It’s heavy and orchestral and amazing.
 

 
Six Shooter, Carol of the Bells – Be sure to watch this one before you hit the egg-nog. I’m not sure I would have filmed it quite the same way, but I’ll forgive a lot because there are heavily tattooed dudes in black Santa hats shredding, and Santa himself sitting in with the band.
 

 
The Lost Brothers with Bill Ryder-Jones, St. Christopher – This one is both dark and light, sweet and melancholy at the same time. It’s available for sale on The Lost Brothers website, and proceeds will go to the Peter McVerry Trust, which supports the young homeless in Dublin.
 
https://soundcloud.com/thelostbrothers/st-christopher
 
Picardy III, O Holy Night, from Rainboot Christmas: Volume Two – Also in the category of “both dark and light”, Picardy III’s version of one of my favorite carols is a highlight of Rainboot’s second annual Christmas compilation record. Proceeds from the sale of this song/the record will go to Save the Children.
 

 
The Candle Thieves, When Santa Clause Comes To Town – And now, for some light. This is a bouncy little tune, excellent for trimming the tree or shoveling snow or drinking alcoholic hot chocolate and having a Kitchen Dance Party.
 
https://soundcloud.com/thecandlethieves/when-santa-claus-comes-to-town
 

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Strummer Week: The Pogues

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We continue our week-long Joe Strummer tribute, leading up to the 10-year anniversary of his death on December 22, with a bit about the Pogues. The lives of the Pogues weaved around Joe’s for a number of years, beginning before the Pogues even existed. In the late ’70s, young Shane MacGowan was a visible fixture on the London punk scene, but more as a fan than as a music maker. The first known intersection in the lives of Joe and Shane came on October 23, 1976, at the Clash’s first headlining gig in London at the ICA on the Mall. Part of the reason the date is so memorable involves Shane.

 

Cannibalism at Clash Gig - news clip featuring young Shane MacGowan

 

Yes, you recognize him: that young man in the pinstriped jacket, with blood later streaming down the side of his head is the same person who would later go on to pen literary and poignant tunes like “Fairytale of New York” and “A Pair of Brown Eyes”.

A true punk, Shane wouldn’t let a little bloody tussle keep him away from gigs, and he was captured again at a Clash show in 1977.

Clash gig 1977, with Shane MacGowan in the audience

 

In 1984, the Pogues toured in support of their first album Red Roses for Me, and a few of those gigs found them opening for the Clash. (This was during the end times of the Clash, after Mick Jones had been kicked out, and the band was collapsing in on itself.)

In 1986, a tour of Nicaragua was planned that would include Joe, the Pogues, and Elvis Costello. Alex Cox (Repo Man, Sid & Nancy – the soundtrack to which Joe composed much of, and the Pogues composed the rest) was set to film the tour for a documentary while also scouting for locations for an upcoming film (that film would be Walker, to which Joe penned a beautiful, Latin-influenced score – Joe also had a bit part in the film). The tour never came together, but the musicians were recruited for a new idea: the sublimely ridiculous 1987 film Straight to Hell (named after the Clash song).

Straight to Hell excerpt

 

The Pogues were set to tour the U.S. in 1987 when guitarist Phil Chevron fell ill with a stomach ulcer. Pogues manager Frank Murray asked Joe to fill in.

“London Calling” – The Pogues with Joe Strummer

 

Joe was brought in to produce the Pogues’ album Hell’s Ditch in 1990. It was a tumultuous time for the Pogues as Shane seemed to be at odds with the rest of his bandmates and was at one of his low points at the hands of drugs and drink. Joe is said to have handled the situation with a fairly keen understanding of Shane’s temperament, sometimes recording the reluctant singer word-by-word, and then splicing the performance into a whole.

“Summer in Siam” – The Pogues

 

Shane left the band partway through the tour for Hell’s Ditch , and Joe was once again tapped to fill a space. Joe was understandably hesitant to jump into the fray the second time around, but he eventually overcame his doubts and threw in with the Pogues once again.

“If I Should Fall from Grace with God” – The Pogues with Joe Strummer

 

Joe became good friends with Pogues multi-instrumentalist Jem Finer over the years, and they had talked of recording together, but the talk never came to fruition.

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Strummer Week: The Family

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This Saturday, December 22, will mark a decade since Joe Strummer died of an undiagnosed heart defect. As Joe is the “patron saint” of NTSIB (our look riffs on Clash imagery, our name is drawn from one of his lyrics, and his attitude about and love for music fuels our mission), we will be featuring bits and bobs from Joe’s life and music this week.

Joe’s spirit is carried on still by the women who called him family: ex-wife Gaby Salter, daughters Jazz and Lola, widow Lucinda Garland, and step-daughter Eliza.

 

“Strummerville” – a film by Don Letts

 

Lucinda began Strummerville soon after Joe’s death, and it has grown into a foundation that continues in Joe’s vision of punk as a do-it-yourself revolution of people helping people by doing everything from supporting UK artists (Frank Turner was a Strummerville beneficiary) to aiding musical education for children in Africa. While Strummerville has always been a part of the Glastonbury festival, where Joe set up a campfire every year and dubbed it Strummerville, the foundation put on its own festival this past August, Strummer of Love. Artists like the Pogues, Billy Bragg, Mick Jones and the Justice Tonight Band, Alabama 3, Seasick Steve, The Jim Jones Revue, Frank Turner and a ton more played to raise funds to continue the Strummerville mission.

“To Have and Have Not” – Billy Bragg, Strummer of Love

 

Read an interview with Lucinda at The Independent from the lead-up to the festival. She recalls her life with Joe and shares some personal photos.

In the aforementioned interview, Lucinda speaks of his daughters and how they are “so like him”, even step-daughter Eliza. Here is Eliza singing with Alabama 3:

“Bulletproof” – Alabama 3, featuring Eliza Mellor

 

Joe’s daughter Lola, who has a clothing line called She Vamps, also sings. She leads her own band called Dark Moon.

 

Email newsletters for bands at ReverbNation.com

 

Joe’s oldest, Jazz, is a crafter and writer, founder and president of the Shoreditch arm of the Womens Institute, Shoreditch Sisters WI, and gave birth this year to Joe’s first grandchild, a girl named Boudicca.

This past summer, The Guardian featured an interview with Jazz and Lola that will bring a few tears to your eyes.

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Report from a Listening Party: Black Veil Brides, Wretched and Divine

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Wretched and Divine: The Story of the Wild Ones is album number three for Black Veil Brides.

As a quick introduction to their current aesthetic, here’s the video for the first single, In the End, which dropped on Wednesday:
 


 

The rest of Wretched and Divine is due out in early January, and will be accompanied by a movie called Legion of the Black.

Buying a ticket for the New York premiere of Legion of the Black was what led to me being one of the lucky people who got to attend a listening party for Wretched and Divine today.

We got to listen to it all the way through one time. The following notes and observations are based on that single hearing:

  • This record is big, in the sense that it is ambitious, and in the sense that it contains multitudes. It is expansive, but not bloated, and heavy, at times, but not ponderous.

    One of my notes on I Am Bulletproof, the first song, was WHAMMO guitar time! More punch than drag; heavy drums, lots of shredding, but cohesive, which I feel is a reasonable summation of the song and most of the record as well.

    Main point of divergence between the record and the song: the record has more fancy strings.

  • Familiar BVB themes – unity of rebels and outcasts, celebrating your life, standing tall in the face of adversity, getting up even when mean people knock you down – are there, but given shapes and faces which I suspect will become more concerete to me once I have seen the accompanying movie.

    Religious / inspirational language and themes, which echoed through BVB’s earlier records are front and center here, though, I agree with Kerrang!‘s assessment: they haven’t turned into Stryper.

    The faith they are talking about seems much more general and amorphous, perhaps somewhat like the faith that powers the Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear, than one that springs from adherence to a specific religion.

    There’s also certain amount of intersectionality of artforms – music vs film vs film musical / musical film vs rock opera / concept record – that I want to come back to later, once I have experienced both works.

  • Songs that are most likely to be pit sing-alongs / jump-athons, in order of appearance: New Year’s Day (heavy bass drum intro, like a heartbeat, finished with a dollop of fancy violin); We Don’t Belong (glitchier, more electronic, drums more understated); Devil’s Choir (martial, parade-like beat and skirling shredding that smooths out to support the shout-along chorus).
  • Overture is the instrumental number at the halfway line. It is lovely combination of fancy violins and rolling, thunderous drums, and if it is not the centerpiece of someone’s ballet recital / senior dance project this spring I am going to be sad.
  • There are two ballads: Done With You which is gentle and subdued, and Lost It All which starts out with some doomy piano and then expands and soars into classic metal ballad territory. For the latter I made a “hand -> staple -> forehead” note, but that is because my affection is both sincere and snarky. It really is a lovely song.
  • Shadows Die (fancy picking, dull thunderous drums that build to a raging torrent) and Nobody’s Hero (dirty bluesy bassline) struck me as the most “traditionally” metal in form, if not in content; the latter went on just a hair too long.

After the record was over, we got to watch five minutes of the movie – my appetite for the rest is suitably whetted – and after that the room was shocked in to stunned silence when the door popped open and BVB lead singer Andy Biersack walked in. The visit that followed as all the sweeter for having been totally unexpected.

In summary: the record was good, I can’t wait to hear it again, and it was an A++ evening overall.

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Feel Bad for You, December 2012

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Time again for the groovin’ internet sensation that all the hip kiddies are talking about, the Feel Bad for You mixtape!

“Hello my little red-nosed reindeers! It’s the last Feel Bad for You mixtape of 2012! And good riddance 2012, and don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. Please welcome The Mad Mackerel from Charlbury, England, as our newest contributor! (FYI: If you accidentally Google “The Mackerel” instead of “The Mad Mackerel,” the top hit is a disturbing Picasso painting.) Thanks to TooMuchCountry for the artwork. Although, after tonight’s game, maybe we should Feel Bad For the Texans.”

Download

Feel Bad for You, December 2012

Feel Bad for You, December 2012

1. Title: The Money Goes
Artist: The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band
Album (year): Between The Ditches (2012)
Submitted By: hoosier buddy
Comments: I saw this band at the 8×10 in Baltimore. It was a transformative experience, standing in the middle of a crowd of screaming, stomping, whiskey-fueled, wild-eyed music fans. The Reverend, who hails from Brown County, IN, could teach Jack White a few things about playing guitar…and about performing. I’m completely serious. Catch ‘em if you can.

2. Title: Molotovs
Artist: Dorado
Album (year): Anger, Hunger, Love And The Fear Of Death (2013)
Submitted by: Corey Flegel
Comments: This is a side project by Birmingham badasses Through The Sparks. The Dorado full length will be released 1/5/13 via This Is American Music.

3 Title: I’m Going Back
Artist: Kitty, Daisy & Lewis
Album (year): Smoking in Heaven (2011)
Submitted By: BoogieStudio22
Comments: I was recently directed to this fun, retro-50s group consisting of multi-instrumentalist siblings. Just good fun.

4. Title: Stupa
Artist: District Attorneys
Album (year): Jr. (2012)
Submitted By: TheOtherBrit
Comments: These guys have my favorite album of the year but this is off their just released free EP from thisisamericanmusic.com!

5. Title: Endeavor
Artist: Timo Räisänen
Album (year): Endeavor (2012)
Submitted By: @philnorman
Comments: Fizz bop Swedish pop! A friend posted this on the tweeters a week or two ago and the damn hook won’t get out of my head. Bonus saxophone solo!

6. Title: Get Me In A Room
Artist: Hallelujah the Hills
Album (year): No One Know What Happens Next (2012)
Submitted by: Simon
Comments: Thanks to everyone who’s contributed and given their time to creating the posts and artwork, so much music, so little time – you filter the great from the mediocre. This is an ear-worm of a track and the video features our erstwhile collator and editor-in-chief Amy https://vimeo.com/38678429.

7. Title: The Cigarette Song
Artist: The Patinettes
Album (year): Bliss (2011)
Submitted By: @popa2unes
Comments: I’m sure like me, this monthly exercise always gets you rooting deep into all the music you’ve accumulated and saying Oh yeah haven’t heard this album in a while! The Patinettes only album Bliss is filled with retro surf rock flair, beautiful vocals and a catchy bluegrass/country vibe and it just found it’s way back onto my pod. They are a five piece crew from Zaragoza, Spain.

8. Title: In Pacific Time
Artist: Micah Schnabel
Album (year): How to Quit Smoking/In Pacific Time CDR (2012)
Submitted By: scratchedsoul
Comments: I travel a lot for work which can be shitty sometimes and sometimes it’s great. At the end of the summer I found myself in Buffalo for work and went and saw Two Cow Garage open for Lucero. Micah and Shane were selling their wares after the show and this is from a CDR Micah was selling. Both songs are ridiculously good.

9. Title: Little Mystery
Artist: Todd Thibaud
Album: Little Mystery (1999)
Submitted By: toomuchcountry
Comments: Thibaud was one of the early artists introduced to me by the randomness of Pandora. Not terribly edgy – yet this Boston singer has some solid, creative pop tunes. I revisited Little Mystery for FBFY and realized the multiple meanings of that song title this time of year. The song itself tells the story of the girl about town who craves the return of a little mystery in her life – but who is resigned to know it ain’t happenin’. But don’t we all crave the return of a little mystery? Hell, is mystery even possible in a world of Facebook, Twitter and iPhones? Whacked relationships. Gender-known deliveries. Loathed gift cards vs. wrapped presents bought with intent and a smile. The mystery of Santa that recedes with each generation more quickly than any glacier melts. Those damn Mayans. The journey to Bethlehem and the everlasting impact of the events that may have happened there. But hey, Merry Friggin’ Christmas y’all. Thanks for listening, downloading, sharing and/or ignoring my submissions this year. Have a drink on me, kiss the ones you love and pray for the ones you don’t.

10. Title: To Sir With Love
Artists: Lulu
Album (year): To Sir With Love (1967)
Submitted By: Rockstar Aimz
Comments: I’ve been listening to Steve Earle’s SiriusXM radio show, and he recently discussed the work of producer Mickie Most. This track stands out among his many, many great recordings.

11. Title: I Wanna Live
Artist: The Ramones
Album (year): This version is from the “Hey! Ho! Let’s Go: The Anthology [Disc 2]” (1999) but it’s originally on “Halfway to Sanity” (1987)
Submitted By: annieTUFF
Comments: I’ve been on an 80′s Ramones kick in between surf music and crazy Christmas music…so…here ya go.

12. Title: Keep the Boy Alive
Artist: Sebadoh
Album (year): Secret EP (2012)
Submitted By: Ryan (verbow over at altcountrytab.ca)
Comments: I guess the successful Dino Jr reunion has inspired Lou Barlow to revive Sebadoh. They snuck this EP out earlier this year, a teaser for a forthcoming full album in 2013. This is the first song off that EP – and I love the hell out of it. I’ve always dug Lou’s stuff – I wish I had a bunch of enlightening things to say about it, but I don’t. Its just a base instinct I guess. Viva la Sebadoh!

13. Title: God Damned the Rain to Fall
Artist: Horsehead
Album (year): Sympathetic Vibrations (2012)
Submitted By: Trailer
Comments: If you’re gonna do an impression of The Black Crowes, you might as well do it this damn good.

14. Title: Black Tar Carpet Ride
Artist: The Lollipops
Album (2012): Pop Narcotics (2012)
Submitted By: The Mad Mackerel
Comments: “We’ll shoot some heroin, and take to the skies.” Told over a simple acoustic strum, this is an unapologetic, woozy, hypnotically brilliant paean to the delights of chasing the dragon. The best addition to the Sex and Drugs and Rock’n’Roll mantra we’ve heard all year. The only apology? For “the times we almost died.” It comes from The Lollipops sublime May release, Pop Narcotics – available as a Pay What You Want deal from their Bandcamp page.

15. Title: Blood, Sweat & Murder
Artist: Scott H. Biram
Album (year): The Dirty Old One Man Band (2005)
Submitted By: Bryan Childs (ninebullets)
Comments: My father was a HUGE Scotty Biram fan. I’m glad he got to see him live before he got sick. This was one of my dad’s favorite SHB songs.

16. Title: Beer Cans
Artist: Old 97’s
Album (year): Too Far To Care (Bonus track, 2012 reissue)
Submitted By: Gorrck
Comments: Sums up my existence these days.

17. Title: Letters Home From the Garden of Stone
Artist: Everlast
Album (year): Love, War, and the Ghost of Whitey Ford (2008)
Submitted By: tincanman
Comments: A soldier ponders his place in the battlefield. Masterfully crafted lyrics and production. And that voice is so seductive!

18. Title: Dead Souls
Artist: Joy Division
Album (year): live (1980)
Submitted By: April @ Now This Sound Is Brave
Comments: This is from a show Joy Division played at the University of London Union on February 8, 1980, recently remastered by audio engineer Drew Crumbaugh. I’ve been listening to Joy Division since I was in my early teens, and everytime I listen to them, I still think it is some of the greatest music I’ve ever heard.

19. Title: Armegideon Time
Artist: Willie Williams
Album: Armegideon Time (1978)
Submitted By: Truersound
Comments: Dec. 21, 2012: Armegideon Time

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Friday Link Session

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  • The best of legendary Punk magazine will be coming out in book form on December 18. Ribbon Around a Bomb notes “The “Best Of” catalog will feature high-quality reprints of early material (HELLO, punk photo comics!) rare and unreleased interviews/art/writing, and a few new contributions from editor-in-chief / legit cartoon artist John Holmstrom, not to mention titans like Lou Reed, Debbie Harry, Lester Bangs, Lenny Kaye […] and Andy Warhol.”
  • And if you don’t have enough holiday gifts for the old punks on your list, there’s a new X calendar for 2013 with live, candid, and publicity photos of Exene, John Doe, et al.
  • Dinosaur Jr recently played a show celebrating the 25th anniversary of You’re Living All Over Me, and aside from playing the album in its entirety, they also brought on some guests for some covers and other fun. For instance, Johnny Marr joined them for “The Boy With The Thorn In His Side”, Frank Black came on for “Almost Fare” and “Tame”, and Tommy Stinson and Cleveland’s own John Petkovic joined in on “T.V. Eye”. Videos at Slicing Up Eyeballs.
  • Jazz great Dave Brubeck died at the age of 91 this week. NPR.org has an hour-long audio documentary on Brubeck’s life and career.
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Mark Lanegan Revisited

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In my efforts to be a (not very on-the-ball) publicity machine for the criminally overlooked talents of Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees, The Gutter Twins), here’s another post focusing on just how awesome he is. First, a 4AD session with the Mark Lanegan Band playing four songs from their most recent album, Blues Funeral:

 

My favorite Lanegan projects tend to be those where he’s stepping into some one else’s project. Bonus points if he’s in a duet with a soft-voiced female. Which brings me to this cover of the xx’s “Crystalised” in which Lanegan twines his vocals with those of Martina-Topley Bird (with members of Warpaint providing musical accompaniment). Ever since she sang with Lanegan and Greg Dulli on “The Body” (from the Gutter Twins album Saturnalia), I’ve been wishing for a trio album of Dulli, Lanegan, and Topley-Bird. This song is a good consolation prize. A very good consolation prize.

“Crystalised” (The xx cover) – Martina Topley-Bird and Mark Lanegan with Warpaint

 

Another great collaboration happened back in 2008 when Lanegan laid down vocals for Bomb the Bass’s “Black River”, off the album Future Chaos.

“Black River” – Bomb the Bass, featuring Mark Lanegan

 

And, finally, as the holidays draw near, a seasonal offering from Lanegan and friends. Dark Mark Does Christmas 2012 is the tour CD currently being offered by the Mark Lanegan Band. While the title and the very concept had me giggling for a good while when I first learned about it, these six tracks (including a Roky Erickson cover) are gorgeous.

Dark Mark Does Christmas 2012

 

Mark Lanegan Official Website

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Postcards from the Pit: Ceremony, Webster Hall, 12.02.12

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Ceremony were not the headliners for this show – that was Titus Andronicus – but they were the band I liked best. The first opener was Lemuria, who were pleasant but didn’t really turn my crank, and as for Titus Andronicas, I just wasn’t feeling it this time. Everyone else was having the best possible time and losing their collective minds, though, so I think it was me, not them.

Ceremony was a surprise in a number of ways. First they were American punks when I had been expecting British goths1 – some day I will learn to read band bios before shows – and second, the previously placid pit exploded the moment their first note sounded.

The reason most of the pictures are a little bit blurry is because the floor beneath me was vibrating from the force of the audience’s enthusiasm. I was mainly hanging on to the barrier as tightly as I could and occasionally ducking stage divers.

Their music is ferocious and beautiful. It sounds like both the end and the beginning of the world, and like something complex and spiky being annealed in the blue core of a fire.

 

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1 Essentially I had conflated their influences – Joy Division – and a wide array of cultural echoes – a song by Joy Division, a record by The Cult, a long-running club night in Boston, all also called Ceremony – and thought they were a first or second-wave goth band that doesn’t actually exist.