Turf War MTHRFKR

maybe i'm biased but if my brother's band Turf War were from Athens they'd be the best band in town. the most fun i've had at a local show in a long long time. that kid might just make it after all. good times.

had a great x-mas vacation. that's the best time i've had in Augusta since i was 17.

but now i'm back in Athens.

i'm officially addicted to my phone. G1 bitches!

new york's the greatest if you get someone to pay the rent

LCD SOUNDSYSTEM- North American Scum

best line ever:
"and for those of you who still think we're from england
we're not, no."

Gimme Gimme Your Hands

She's lost...Bye Bye Bye

i'm feeling dream-popish today.

The Chills "Pink Frost"


My Bloody Valentine "You Made Me Realize"


M83 "Teen Angst"


The Lilys "Nanny In Manhattan"

my new favorite band that i discovered this year

besides M83, the band most likely to end up with a song being used in the next Sofia Copalla movie is the Shocking Pinks. they combine every cool sub-genre of the 80s indie scene into one perfect shoegaze/post-punk/kiwi pop/sad bastard explosion. last year the DFA collected all of their singles and eps as well as some album tracks from older releases and put out a self titled compilation for American release. each track on the comp reminds me of some long lost lo-fi gem that could have existed on college rock radio circa 1991 and fit perfectly inbetween sebadoh and pavement. if you are a fan of isn't anything era my bloody valentine, early lilys, psychocandy era jesus and mary chain, the clean, the verlaines, & a certain ratio then do yourself a favor and check them out.

here's a video for my favorite track, "the end of the world"

Last.FM top 10s of 2008.

so according to my Last.fm profile these are my personal top 10's for 2008.

top 10 most listened to songs in 2008
1. vampire weekend- campus
2. vampire weekend- walcott
3. vampire weekend- oxford comma
4. the radio dept.- where damage isn't already done
5. the shocking pinks- end of the world
6. white lies- death
7. the apartments- help
8. devendra banhart– lover
9. the faintest ideas- you're beautiful
10. the virgins- rich girls

top 10 listened to artists in 2008
1. elliott smith
2. spiritualized
3. no age
4. vampire weekend
5. the misfits
6. the jesus and mary chain
7. joy division
8. jay reatard
9. the shocking pinks
10. my bloody valentine

The Best Albums Of 2008 (the year Indie Rock quit sucking)

1. Vampire Weekend- vampire weekend
when it came out, i wanted to hate them...every time something new came out i wanted that record to take it's place...much like the Strokes before them, it's hard to deny Vampire Weekend and their self titled debut album. if there was a more enjoyable pop record in the year 2008 (hell the last 3 years) then i don't know what it was. surrender to the afrobeat/indiepop/masterpiece and just move on.
the video for "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa"


2. No Age- nouns
No Age lands my second spot for putting out an album that reminded me of why i loved Sebadoh and Husker Du so damn much, this band really should have been around in the early 90s (too bad noone in Athens seems to give a shit about them). this is music for music nerds.

3. M83- saturdays=youth
like if My Bloody Valentine had been a synth-pop band from the 80s. M83 were the perfect soundtrack to my fall pity party. lush and dreamy, it reminded me why i love shoegazer bands so damn much. you can pretty much bet the house that the next Sofia Coppola movie will have a couple of tracks from this album on it's soundtrack. plus is there anyone out there with better videos? Kim & Jessie have an answer for you...


4. Deerhunter- microcastle
i've definently accused this Atlanta band of being overrated/pretentious/bullshit after seeing them live a couple of times, but then they dropped Microcastle on my ass which is a surprisingly catchy indiepop record with just the right amount of weirdness to remind me of mid-90s Sonic Youth.

5. Jay Reatard- matador singles 08
my favorite pop punk songwriter discoverd his inner indie popster and put out an assortment of Clean/Tall Dwarfs inspired gems and Matador collected them all for us to enjoy without hunting down all those damn singles.

6. MGMT- oracular spectacular
the perfect weirdo pop combination of the Flaming Lips and the Unicorns...but with a huge Prince influence (or maybe that's just what i hear in them). MGMT released 3 of the best singles of the whole year (Kids, Time To Pretend, Electric Feel) and the rest of the record is pretty solid too.

7. Spiritualized- songs in a&e
after several so/so records, J.Spaceman finally put out an album that is the equal of Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating Through Space. it only took him a decade.

8. The Kills- midnight boom
the Kills finally put out an album that's as cool and sexy as their image. all the reference points are still the same (suicide, jesus & mary chain, pj harvey, etc...) but finally they learned how to take those influences an write some songs to go with the sound.

9. Fucked Up- the chemistry of common life
i may be 30 years old, but i still love a good fucking heavy rock record as much now as i did when i was 17. Fucked Up delivered the best hardcore/post-hardcore/whatever the hell you wanna call it...album in a good long time. the spirit of Black Flag lives on...and it's Canadian....who knew?

10. The Walkmen- you & me
more of the same from one of my favorite bands of the decade. lots of songs about heart break and regret...which is always good for me cuz i got both of those in spades. not nearly as classic as Bows & Arrows or their debut, but a solid album none the less. here's the video for my favorite track, "in the new year"



11. TV On the Radio- dear science
maybe i'm just starting to get bored with TV On The Radio, but this is by far my least favorite release they've put out yet...still it's better than 90% of what other people are putting out, and the song The Golden Age was one of the best singles/videos of the year.

12. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds- dig!!! lazarus dig!!!
so it's pretty obvious that last year's Grinderman project infused a desire to rock and roll in Alternative's elder statesmen. Lazarus is a sex,drugs/rock n roll boogie fest from a band that's been pretty somber this past decade or so. i'm digging it. Nick Cave still has it. here's a video of the song "Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!"


13. Albert Hammond jr- como te lama?
not nearly as good as his first solo record, but still better than that 3rd Strokes album. a good indie pop record.

My Top 10 Videos Of 2008

1. TV On The Radio "The Golden Age"


2. M83 "Graveyard Girl"


3. The Last Shadow Puppets "The Age Of The Understatement"


4. Gnarls Barkely "Who's Gonna Save My Soul?"


5. Vampire Weekend "Oxford Comma"


6. Kanye West "Flashing Lights"

kanye west ft dwele -flashing lights from mike quintanar on Vimeo.

7. The BPA "toe jam"


8. Radiohead "Reckoner"


9. No Age "Eraser"


10. The Virgins "Rich Girls"


i wanted to include MGMT's "time to pretend" but they are lame and you can't embed any of their videos from youtube onto your blog.


special bonus Video of the Year shout out goes to Chris Dane Owens for "Shine On Me"....holy fucking shit, this is genius.

what the world needs is more popstars who break things

i miss the comfort in being sad

top 20 depressing albums to curl up in your bed and wish you were dead

1. joy division- closer
2. nirvana- mtv unplugged in new york
3. leonard cohen- songs from a room
4. radiohead- the bends
5. nick drake- pink moon
6. elliott smith- either/or
7. nirvana- in utero
8. the cure- faith
9. the smiths- hatful of hollow
10. bob dylan- blood on the tracks
11. husker du- candy apple grey
12. bonnie prince billy- i see a darkness
13. john lennon- plastic ono band
14. cowboy junkies- the trinity sessions
15. godspeed you black emperor- f#a#infinity
16. red house painters- red house painters
17. lour reed- berlin
18. the cure- pornography
19. big star- third/sister lovers
20. bruce springsteen- nebraska

Awesome Tapes From Africa Is Pretty Awesome

today i discovered a new blog...or i should say my co-worker told me about a new blog that is truly going to become an obsession. awesome tapes from africa has both an awesome name and awesome music. the guy who runs it was in the redcross in africa and started buying weird tapes he'd find while he was there and then he started this blog where he posts music and album artwork. you can listen to free mp3s and enjoy bizarre world music that doesn't fucking suck.

another random video from a band i used to like

Idlewild "roseability"

actually this isn't really a band i was that into, i mean i owned exactly one album and that album had exactly 3 songs on it that ever made it onto any mix cds... but i did love this song back in 1999 or 2000 or whenever the fuck it came out.

we back and shit

i'm still in a sea of misery over the Iron Bowl, but at least the sadness has finally come to an end. the year end top 10 lists are on the horizon and my x-mas list is coming up...and no i don't want any of your cocaine.

laters.

Axl should have done himself a favor and died in the 80s

i've heard the new Guns N Roses. someone at work was listening to it.

it is beyond awful.

you have been warned.

The Modern Age: The Best Rock Albums Of the 21st Century...so far

MY top 50 from 2000-2008

1. The Strokes- Is This It?
2. Radiohead- Kid A
3. Wilco- Yankee Foxtrot Hotel
4. White Stripes- Elephant
5. Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Fever To Tell
6. TV On The Radio- Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
7. Spoon- Kill The Moonlight
8. Interpol- Turn On The Bright Lights
9. At the Drive In- Relationship Of Command
10. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists- The Tyranny Of Distance
11. Arcade Fire- Funeral
12. ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead- Source Tags & Codes
13. The Shins- Oh, Inverted World
14. Broken Social Scene- You Forgot It In People
15. White Stripes- White Blood Cells
16. Fugazi- The Argument
17. The Walkmen- Bows & Arrows
18. The Icarus Line- Penance Soiree
19. Vampire Weekend- Vampire Weekend
20. The Faint- Danse Macabre
21. Q and Not U- No Kill No Beep Beep
22. Hot Snakes- Suicide Invoice
23. The Rapture- Echoes
24. The Libertines- Up The Bracket
25. Franz Ferdinand- Franz Ferdinand
26. LCD Soundsystem- Sound Of Silver
27. Radiohead- In Rainbows
28. No Age- Nouns
29. Liars- They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top
30. PJ Harvey- Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
31. The Hives- Veni Vidi Vicious
32. Radio 4- Gotham
33. Death From Above 1978- You're a Woman, I'm a Machine
34. The Strokes- Room On Fire
35. Spoon- Gimme Fiction
36. The Unicorns- Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?
37. The Black Lips- Let It Bloom
38. The Warlocks- Phoenix
39. M83- Saturdays = Youth
40. The Lilys- Precollection
41. Albert Hammond Jr.- Yours To Keep
42. The Stills- Logic Will Break Your Heart
43. Jimmy Eat World- Bleed American
44. Out Hud- S.T.R.E.E.T. DAD
45. Whiskeytown- Pneumonia
46. The Kills- Midnight Boom
47. Dead Meadow- Dead Meadow
48. Grinderman- Grinderman
49. Primal Scream- XTRMNTR
50. Yo La Tengo- And then nothing turned itself inside out

we're almost done with the first decade of the 21st century. once it's 2010 i'll probably go back and do this list all over again and make it 100 albums. my opinions change all the time but the top 10 has been pretty solid for a couple of years now.

The new TV On The Radio video is like pretty cool and shit

so i discovered that i have mtvU last night. it's like M2 was when it first started in the late 90s...nuthin' but videos. i watched for like 2 hours last night and saw exactly one awesome video.

TV On the Radio "The Golden Age" which i swear sounds like Off The Wall-Era Michael Jackson. totally rad.

NO AGE @ The 40 Watt, Fri. Nov. 14th

i decided i'd review the No Age show anyways. it's not like i've got anything better to do.

so yeah No Age played last friday at the 40 watt and as i've mentioned in my earlier post, not a lot of people made it out. somewhere around or less than 100, but it's always hard to tell when shows aren't full at the Watt. they played all their jams and they played two covers (gun club's "sex beat" and the misfits "night of the living dead"), they asked for a show of hands how many members of the crowd were members of Dark Meat, they were loud, they we're good. i kind of expected them to be a lot louder...seeing as how they are only a two piece, but it might have been the fact that i was standing in back with all the other 30 year olds. i also expected them to be a little crazier...but the pretty much just get up there and play the tunes and if you like it then you like it and if you don't then whatever...yeah okay, not much else to say about them. if you like their records then go see 'em live. it's worth the price. here's a live clip of them doing "every artist needs a tragedy" (my personal favorite).


the real surprise of the show was that i really enjoyed the opening band Titus Andronicus and i can't honestly remember the last time that those words came out of my mouth. they were sort of if the Replacements and the Walkmen took all their band members and decided to start a new band and that band was gonna sound like the Pogues with some Springsteen and the E Street band influence thrown in for good measure as filtered through the ears of kids who obviously all grew up playing in punk bands. so yeah, it was good old fashioned, high energy rock and roll. harmonicas, sing along lyrics, and 3 guitars making a lot of racket. some of my friends said they reminded them of Athens band Jesuis France...which i could maybe see. but not as sloppy. regardless i enjoyed them and if they played in Athens again, i'd probably go check them out. can't say if i'd bother to buy a record though...maybe i'll download a track off itunes. anyways, they are a good time and you should check em out.

here's some live footage of them from the Pitchfork festival.

Athens, You Are Fired

so it's official. Athens is no longer a relevant music town.

there were less than or somewhere near 100 people at the 40 watt last Friday to see No Age (the only cool band who has actually played at the 40 Watt in the last several months). they weren't playing in Atlanta and it was a Friday night. there was nothing going on in town. and it was not a home football game.

seriously, what the fuck gives? and of the people at the show, most of them were around my age. no kids at all...or hardly at all. i blame the hope scholarship for making UGA a harder and more competitive school to get into that has caused the students who do go to Georgia to be better students and thereby less cool when it comes to the bands they listen to and the shit they do with their free time. it's sad. when i was 18 or 19 i would have killed to live in a town that had an awesome music scene and got bands i actually liked to play at their local clubs...but instead of killing, i just moved to Athens and now only about a decade later it's pretty much dead. i never thought i'd live to see the day where Atlanta was more relevant to the music world than Athens.

i'm ashamed of you.


oh yeah No Age was rad btw....and so was the opening band...but i already forgot their name. i'd write a review of the show, but i was too depressed to the turnout to bother.

random video of the day

Primal Scream- "Kill All Hippies"


does anyone read this blog? i have my doubts.

what ever happened to Pleasure Forever?

so i've been uploading my music library (well most of it...sorry Soundgarden you are gettin' no love from me since my opinion has been ruined with the awful Audioslave shit) onto Itunes for the past week (not having a job opens alot of freetime for such nonsense) and i have been enjoying some albums that i haven't listened to in years (verbena, the fucking champs, q and not u's first record). one album that i had completely forgotten about and am currently obsessed with today is Pleasure Forever's self titled debut. now Pleasure Forever were one of those bands i got into during my white belt wearing, Locust and all other bands from San Diego worshiping phase...but unlike all the screamy hardcore trash artschool dropout nonsense that dominated that scene, Pleasure Forever were far more musical and sort of bridged a gap between the underground art-core scene and the current Goth revival that' been going on ever since Interpol started writing Joy Division covers. and they were doing a hell of alot better job of being goth thatn all the shit that came later. they are sort of a cross between the Black Heart Procession and Ink and Dagger but with better songs or if Nick Cave had grown up in southern california and been into hardcore as a kid. honestly Pleasure Forever fall into that unfortunate category of doing something way too early and never being able to cash in on it (like the Faint....man that must burn their ass seeing bullshit like the Killers on MTV). and unlike most of the other bands who discovered Bauhaus in college, Pleasure Forever was a ferocious live act. having seen them 3 times i was always blown away, they even were able to hold their own against Les Savy Fav who are without a doubt one of the 10 best live bands i ever saw. anyway, i have no idea what became of Pleasure Forever....more than likely they broke up after a few unsuccessful tours or a lack of interest from major labels....but if you are ever in the bargain bin or a used cd store look in the P's and pick it up if you find their record.

you'll dance to anything

video of the day

Phoenix "Too Young"


if that song and video don't cheer you up then nothing will.

i realized the other day that i haven't been doing much list making and that this blog is starting to turn into Justin's daily youtube video posting...which is pretty boring if you ask me. so i promise to get on the list making front.

i read on pitchfork this morning that Ted Leo and Andrew WK are teaming up to do an indie rock Karaoke night in New York. so if you live in the NYC you should do yourself a favor and attend the event December 3 at Studio B in Brooklyn. to say i'm jealous would be a major understatement. when i rank my all time favorite live performers i'd have to put Andre WK and Ted Leo near the top of that list (Fugazi holds down the top spot with the Make Up damn close...but those two have gotta be 3 and 4)

a shoutout to my good friend KennieBloggins who was voted Most Stylish or Best Dressed Teacher (not entirely sure what the exact title was) by his students. it's good to see years of hardwork have finally paid off.

What Were You Listening to In 1995?

when i was in highschool inbetween the period when Kurt Cobain died and before i got into the hardcore/emo scene, i was really into to BritPop. mostly fueled by my love of the Smiths and Stone Roses, i started to get into bands like Blur, Oasis, The Verve, Pulp, Suede, Elastica, etc.... i bought the NME every week and started buying up every album by every new British band that i read about. there were a lot of band calls (Ash or Gay Dad anyone?) and a couple of great albums (Definitely Maybe, Parklife, The Bends, & Urban Hymns) my infatuation lasted from the summer of 94 till about 1996...just before i bought Jawbreaker's emo/punk masterpiece "24 Hour Revenge Therapy" and suddenly could care less about what the fuck was going on in England. then 1997 happened and England became obsessed with Electronica and Radiohead put out OK Computer and that pretty much put the nail in the coffin of BritPop. Oasis never fully conquered America and Blur started trying to sound like an American Indie Rock band with their last couple of albums. and that was that. if you are at all interested in the genre then you should watch the documentary Live Forever. it's got some really entertaining interviews with Noel Gallagher and Jarvis Cocker of Pulp (the real star of the movie). here's a trailer.

actually it looks like you can watch the whole damn movie on youtube.

here's a few of my favorite BritPop era music videos.

Blur- The Universal


Pulp- This Is Hardcore


Elastica- Connection

Cover Me

i wouldn't really consider myself much of an art fan...i mean i like some arty shit now and again, but it's not something i spend a lot of time thinking about. the one form of art i really do care about is the art of the album cover. it's actually the biggest draw back of the digital music age because a new generation of music fans won't be able to appreciate how awesome album covers really are.

here are my top 10 favorite album covers of all time. apologies to Pink Floyd, the Beatles and Stones...but those were too damn obvious for me.

1. ROXY MUSIC- Country Life


2. IGGY & THE STOOGES- Raw Power


3. SONIC YOUTH- Goo


4. THE CLASH- London Calling


5. THE NATION OF ULYSSES- Plays Pretty For Baby


6. JOY DIVISION- Unknown Pleasures


7. THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN- Psychocandy


8. THE SMITHS- Meat Is Murder


9. SLAYER- Reign In Blood


10. NIRVANA- In Utero


and a special place in my heart belongs to this masterpiece

BIG BEAR- Doin' Thangs

Guitar Wolf! Rock N' Roll Attack!

i've decided my band of the day will be the single loudest band i have ever seen live (besides Mogwai...but that was just ridiculous), the greatest punk rock band from Japan ever GUITAR WOLF. first off their name has the two coolest words in the English language Guitar and Wolf together...that in it's self would make them worthy of band of the day status. but since i am highlighting them i won't just leave it at that, secondly they are LOUD AS FUCK...as in the ear splitting and headache inducing variety. it sounds like if the Ramones were just a bunch of japanese kids who wanted to play the Stooges song "search and destroy" at the the highest volume possible. which is to say totally awesome. also they coined a phrase for their style of music called Jet Rock N' Roll. what does that mean? who cares? it's awesome. and finally they made a zombie movie called Wild Zero that's like Spinal Tap crossed with Night Of The Living Dead. rock n' roll zombie movies are boss as fuck. buy Jet Generation and start living your life by the code of the wolf. it's really that simple.

"Jet Generation"


and a trailer for Wild Zero

America, America Is Killing It's Youth

today we salute the founders of electro punk and new york city cool, Suicide. who actually started in 1971 and predate pretty much every punk band from new york. Bruce Springsteen loves them and so should you. every band that ever made a buck off new wave pop in the 80's probably should be writing them royalty checks. every artschool dropout in the east village who started a no wave band or started doing performance art in rock clubs owes them their career. everybody else should just buy their first two albums and we'll call it even.

"ghost rider" live. best song ever.

Can You Believe That The Shape Of Punk To Come Is Ten Years Old?

what were you listening to in 1998? well if you are around the same age as me and had even a passing interest in punk rock or hardcore you were probably blowing out your speakers with Refused's hardcore masterpiece, and one of the most underrated and influential records of all time, The Shape Of Punk To Come.

Jesus, has it really been 10 fucking years since this album landed in my life and helped change the entire underground punk scene (probably for the worse to be honest)?

yes it has.

released October 27th, 1998, The Shape Of Punk To Come officially became a decade old this week. granted most people discovered this record in 1999 or 2000 when MTV2 began regularly playing their video for "New Noise" but by then the group had already broken up and all we were left with was the music. it's impossible for me to explain what breath of fresh air that Shape was in the late 90s. fusing together elements of hardcore, electronica, jazz, Nation of Ulyssess style doctrine, and riffs that could chop down a fucking tree, Refused was able to create one of THE most important records of the last 20 years. to say that this album is as important to the punk/emo/hardcore scene that would end up dominating much of the 21st century mainstream modern rock music as Nevermind was to the early 90s would not be an exaggeration. Fall Out Boy and the rest of the horrible shit that passes itself off as emo or punk should be praying at the alter of Refused and thanking these Swedish hardcore kids for creating something so new that it was impossible to go back into the underground afterwards. hell the rise of the entire San Diego hardcore scene, At The Drive In, and underground music in general in some ways owes its success to this one album. hell Hot Topic should be paying Refused royalties for existing in every fucking mall in America.

i mean honestly, this video is the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" of the emo generation.

and i STILL have that haircut.

i'm not gonna attempt to write a review of this album because it's been so very long and i've listened to it so many times that the original impact is now completely gone and i'm not sure if i could accurately explain WHY it was SO fucking important to me, but it should be acknowledged that in the history of music this is a watershed record. so put on your tight black jeans, comb your hair into your eyes, grab your At The Drive In shirt, slip on your fake glasses, and bust out this record because it's 1998 all over again. CAN I SCREAMMMM?!!!

I'm Losing Touch With My Mind

so everyone is so into psychedelic rock amd spacerock and acid and the 60s to the point that i want to barf everytime i see a reference to Hawkwind when describing someone's record...anyways the original band that jumped on that bandwagon and made stealing from the 13th Floor Elevators cool was today's band of the day, SPACEMEN 3.

they were fronted by Jason Pierce aka J Spaceman who later went on to form Spiritualized. their sound was very minimalist with droning guitars, softly sung or spoken lyrics, and monolithic drumming. lots of feedback and they lived by their motto of "Taking Drugs To Make Music To Take Drugs To" . they created the basis for the whole post-rock movement of the 90s and their drumming style was ripped off by nearly every shoegazer band. The Velvet Underground, The Stooges, Suicide, Silver Apples, Sun Ra, and 13th Floor Elevators were just a few of their name checked influences. they released their debut Sound Of Confusion in 1986 and released several albums and Eps until 1991 when the band broke up...in post breakup labels have reissued tons of live and demo recordings as well as numerous greatest hits style packages. it's difficult to pick a best place to start if you aren't familiar with the band. the first album i ever bought was "The Perfect Prescription" and i was pretty much hooked after that, so i'd say that one is as good as any.

the video for "walking with jesus"

Look Out! Soul Is Back

so i've decided to start doing a public service with this blog and highlighting a few bands a week that defined who i am as a music nerd and influenced my ears and my thoughts. i'm sure a lot of these bands you probably are already into. hopefully some of them you will grow to love as much as me.

my first band to highlight is one of my all time favorites, when i think about the coolest bands that have ever existed or when i think about bands that i have tried to rip off the most The Nation Of Ulysses is always at the top of the list. equal parts MC5, free jazz, and art school noise, The N.O.U. spawned from the very fertile DC hardcore scene to become something that was nothing like anyone had seen before. i got into them after the band had already broken up so unfortunately i never saw them live.

their live performances were notorius as the band would sometimes set their shoes on fire while they played as singer Ian Svenoius flayled around wildly and spouted his pseudo political ramblings to the crowd. the group emobodied a rejection of the 60's and 70's rock n roll culture and often called themselves "the real anti-parent culture sound". style was important as they often dressed in suits with their hair slicked up into pompadors. their debut album "13 Point Program to Destroy America" announced them as not a rock n roll group but as a politcal party of the teenage movement concerning themselves with a relentlessly provocative (and entertaining) jumble of teenage rock 'n' roll rebellion, leftist radicalism, anarchist punk polemics, and abstract intellectual rambling.

the band's second album "Plays Pretty For Baby" goes down in my top 5 records of all time. after that they broke up and most of the band went on to form the Make Up while former guitarist Tim Green formed the instrumental metal band The Fucking Champs. since the band only has two real records i just suggest you buy both of them. Plays Pretty is the best but 13 point is a little more straight forward and easy to digest.

here's a couple of live clips of the band
"cool senior high school"

"spectra sonic sound"

give me a Leonard Cohen afterworld

it's very cold outside and i very much just want to lay in bed and listen to Leonard Cohen all damn day. "Chelsea Hotel #2" being a personal favorite.

songs from a room and songs of leonard cohen will get lots of spins this week.

2 Quick Record Reviews

so what is it with cool New York bands and their 3rd albums? the Strokes and Interpol both put out incredible freshman and sophomore releases that remain some of my favorite records and this decade, but when it came for album number 3 i was left with a big, "uhhhhhh". in the Strokes case they misfired by trying to write a record that would appeal to modern rock radio and with Interpol it was just more of the same shit as before with worse songs. and so now TV On The Radio joins this group of failed 3rd records with their new album Dear Science.

i wouldn't exactly call this a bad record. actually the first 3 tracks are all pretty good and could have fit in on any of their previous albums but after that this album takes a dramatic turn for the bland. with the exception of track #5 "The Golden Age", which sounds like a lost song from Off The Wall if Michael Jackson suddenly developed a deeper voice and Quincy Jones suddenly got influenced by Kraftwerk and Suicide...seriously with a little remixing this could be the dance party jam of 2008, there aren't any standout songs from there on out. mostly the rest of the album sounds like throwaway songs and left over b-sides from their last 2 albums. after 1 amazing EP and two very solid LPs, TV On the Radio have gone from a band that i declared would be the next Radiohead to a band that no longer excites me at all. who knows though...maybe it'll grow on me.


a record that has already grown on me after about one listen through is Jay Reatard's latest singles collection Matador Singles 08, which is a collection of...duh, singles he did for Matador records. Jay Reatard continues to be my favorite writer of poppy and catchy indie/punkish songs. but where Reatard has mostly in the past conjured up new-wavey and LA punk-ish cuts, some of these newer singles are calling to mind one of my favorite sub-genres of all time...low-fi 80s Indie Pop. bands like the Clean, the Tall Dwarfs, and Go Betweens all can be heard as influences on a number of these songs. "No Time", "You Were Sleeping", and "I'm Watching You" being the strongest tracks that carry that low-fi influence...which also happen to be the final cuts on the album and one could assume his next record might explore that sound a little more (crosses fingers and hopes for the best). either way Jay Reatard has unleashed another set of perfect pop that my itunes gladly gives a home to. if you liked Blood Visions or the early singles collection that came out this year then it's a safe bet that the Matador Singles collection is right up your alley.

When You Were Young

LCD Soundsystem are feeling my pain. Losing My Edge pretty much nails what it's like to be a 30 year old music geek who has stopped trying keep up.

can you still call yourself a music geek if you don't really keep up with new music? the only new bands i'm remotely interested in are No Age (who just sound like a 90s Indie Rock band), Vampire Weekend & The Virgins (who could have easily been part of the 2001-2002 New York Hipster band revival), The Black Lips (Atlanta band), and The Shocking Pinks (sad bastard music for a sad bastard like me). i'm not really sure where i was going with this post but The Faint are playing at the 40 Watt tonight and when i heard about that my first thought was, "Why?". i mean seriously, is there gonna be anyone under the age of 25 at that show? The Faint are a perfect example of a band that's time passed years ago but they just keep on keeping on despite a lack of interest. it's like when i first moved to Athens and The Posies played at the 40 Watt and i went just because and noone at the show was a college kid. it was just sort of sad. just a bunch of older people who wanted to hear them play "Dream All Day" and then go home. whatever. i don't even know why i am rambling on about this. i'll be at The Faint show. i'll probably dance and have a good time. and so it goes.

anyways the Faint top my list of Five Bands I Thought Were Gonna Be Huge (like MTV HUGE and kids at your local mall wearing their t-shirts. not indie big. nobody gives a shit abou tthat in the real world.) but it never happened.

1. The Faint
2. The (International) Noise Conspiracy
3. Q and Not U
4. ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead
5. The Stills

Darlin' Don't You Go And Cut Your Hair

remember the days of Alternative Nation and 120 Minutes when you could still discover new bands on MTV? actually by the time this video came out i was already listening to Pavement, but still it was a pretty cool time in the early 90s for music for about 2 years...and then of course Kurt Cobain offed himself, Smashing Pumpkins and Nine Inch Nails became all the rage with highschool kids and cooler indie-ish bands like Guided By Voices, Pavement, Sonic Youth, Archers Of Loaf, Superchunk, etc... sorta went back to their indie rock ghetto. i quit growing my hair long and started listening to emo and hardcore bands and the rest was history. here's my list of the top 20 Indie Rock Albums of the 1990s.

1. Sebadoh- Bakesale
2. Neutral Milk Hotel- In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
3. Fugazi- Repeater
4. Pavement- Slanted and Enchanted
5. Modest Mouse- The Lonesome Crowded West
6. Built To Spill- There's Nothing Wrong With Love
7. Belle & Sebastian- If You're Feeling Sinister
8. Elliott Smith- Either/Or
9. Superchunk- Tossing Seeds
10. Archers Of Loaf- Icky Mettle
11. Guided By Voices- Alien Lanes
12. Jesus Lizard- Goat
13. Sunny Day Real Estate- Diary
14. Yo La Tengo- I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One
15. Flaming Lips- The Soft Bulletin
16. Dinosaur Jr- Green Mind
17. The Magnetic Fields- 69 Love Songs
18. The Promise Ring- Nothing Feels Good
19. Sleater Kinney- Dig Me Out
20. Unrest- Perfect Teeth

I Heart Nick Cave

5 Nick Cave videos through the years.

Boys Next Door- Shivers
Nick's first band. "i've been contemplating suicide, but it really doesn't suit my style. So i think i'll just act bored instead, and contain the blood i would have shed." is one of my favorite openings to a song ever.


The Birthday Party- Junkyard
seriously was there ever a cooler fucking band than The Birthday Party? goth punk noise. a friend of mine once said to never trust a girl who says she liked the Birthday Party because she's either lying or she's a cutter.


Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds- The Mercy Seat
Johnny Cash does a really great version of this song. i think this was the first Nick Cave video i ever saw back when i was in highschool and it was a blast from the past video on 120 Minutes.


Nick Cave- Into My Arms
this is my favorite love song of all time.


Grinderman- No Pussy Blues
Nick Cave proves that he can still rock even if he's an old man. the Grinderman record was the album the Stooges should have made.

Top 25 Current Bands That I Don't Like, For No Particular Reason

1. M.I.A.
2. My Morning Jacket
3. Animal Collective
4. Decemberists
5. Of Montreal
6. The Oxford Collapse
7. Okkervil River
8. Black Kids
9. Sigur Ros'
10. Wolf Parade
11. Girl Talk
12. The Kooks
13. Tokyo Police Club
14. Justice
15. The New Pornographers
16. Battles
17. Brazilian Girls
18. Chromeo
19. Blonde Redhead
20. Deerhoof
21. Deer Hunter
22. Yeasayer
23. Bat for Lashes
24. Modest Mouse
25. Weezer (why do they keep putting out records?)

Take This Job and Shove It.

call me just another casualty of the shitty American economy, but i was informed recently that my job will be coming to an end October 24th. this is what i get for betting on the wrong horse i suppose.

top 10 songs about work

1. Johnny Paycheck- Take This Job and Shove It

2. The Minutemen- This ain't No Picnic

3. Black Flag- Clocked In

4. The Clash- career oppurtunities

5. Bob Dylan- Maggie's Farm

6. The Smiths- Work Is A Four Letter Word

7. John Lennon- Working Class Hero

8. Elvis Costello- Welcome To The Working Week

9. The Replacements- I Need A Goddamn Job

10. Johnny Cash- Oney

I Used To Really Be Into That Band

top 25 bands i used to like a lot that now i don't listen to at all.

1. At The Drive In
2. Weezer
3. The Promise Ring
4. Les Savy Fav
5. Modest Mouse
6. Soundgarden
7. The Beastie Boys
8. Outkast
9. Refused
10. Sebadoh
11. Superchunk
12. Beck
13. Built To Spill
14. Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
15. Jawbox/Burning Airlines
16. Nine Inch Nails
17. Sleater-Kinney
18. The Locust
19. Red House Painters
20. Converge
21. Lightning Bolt
22. Sunny Day Real Estate
23. Smashing Pumpkins
24. Hum
25. The Fucking Champs

Top 10 Anal Cunt Song Titles

ah, Anal Cunt. never was a punk band so dumb and juvenille with their song titles. here's a list of my all time favorites.

1. Living Colour is my favorite black metal band
2. Your band's in the cut-out bin
3. I Just Saw the Gayest Guy on Earth
4. Big Pants, Bigger Loser
5. When I think of real punk bands i think of Nirvana
6. art fag
7. still a freshman after all these years
8. No, we don't want to do a split seven inch with your stupid band
9. Recycling Is Gay
10. I Sent NAMBLA pictures of your kids.

yep...it's saturday, i'm at work, and i am fucking bored as hell.

10 Of My Favorite Music Videos Of the '80s

the birth of mtv changed the world...probably for the worse. whatever, there were still some awesome videos that we got out of it. here's ten of my favorite music videos of the 1980s.

1. ah Ha "take on me"


2. Black Flag "TV Party"


3. The Replacements "Bastards Of Young"


4. The Smiths "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before"


5. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds "The Mercy Seat"


6. Musical Youth "Pass the Dutchie"


7. Metallica "One"


8. The Jesus and Mary Chain "Just Like Honey"


9. Joy Division "Love Will Tear Us Apart"


10. N.W.A. "Straight Outta Compton"

10 Of My Favorite Videos of the 2000s

MTV sort of disappeared in the 2000s so it was difficult to find cool new videos. this isn't really a top 10 favorites, just a list of Ten videos i really really liked. unfortunately my favorite video of this decade, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Y Control" is under youtube lockdown and i can't embed it here. you should check it out though because it's totally awesome. anyways, enjoy.

1. The (International) Noise Conspiracy "Smash It Up"


2. The Faint "Agenda Suicide"


3. Silversun Pickups "Lazy Eye" (essentially just a remake of Sonic Youth's "Dirty Boots")


4. The Horrors "Sheena Is A Parasite"


5. Spiritualized "Stop Your Crying"


6. Grinderman "No Pussy Blues"


7. M83 "Don't Save Us From The Flames"


8. The White Stripes "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself"


9. TV On The Radio "Wolf Like Me"


10. Bat For Lashes "What's A Girl To Do"

10 of my favorite videos of the '90s

ah the days of Alternative Nation and 120 Minutes. MTV showing videos...what a novel concept. thank god for youtube.

1. Jon Spencer Blues Explosion (featuring Beck and Mike D.) "Flavor"


2. Sonic Youth "Dirty Boots"


3. The Chemical Brothers "Elektrobank"


4. Blur "Coffee & TV"


5. Radiohead "Just"


6. Air "Kelly Watch The Stars"


7. Daft Punk "Da Funk"


8. Dinosaur Jr. "Feel The Pain"


9. Aphex Twin "Come To Daddy"


10. The Jesus and Mary Chain "Reverance"

25 Cds that were the soundtrack of my High School Years

1. Nirvana- In Utero
2. Nirvana- Nevermind
3. Pavement- Slanted & Enchanted
4. Beastie Boys- Check Your Head
5. Dr. Dre- the Chronic
6. Rage Against the Machine- Rage Against The Machine
7. Smashing Pumpkins- Siamese Dream
8. Soundgarden- BadMotorFinger
9. Mudhoney- Superfuzz Bigmuff
10. Jawbreaker- 24 hour revenge therapy
11. Helmet- Meantime
12. Nirvana- Unplugged In New York
13. Nine Inch Nails- Pretty Hate Machine
14. Pixies- Doolittle
15. The Smiths- Hatful of Hollow
16. Sex Pistols- Nevermind the Bollocks
17. The Clash- Story Of The Clash
18. Joy Division- Permanent
19. Sebadoh- Bakesale
20. Dinosaur Jr.- Where You Been?
21. David Bowie- ChangesBowie
22. A Tribe Called Quest- The Low End Theory
23. Jesus & Mary Chain- Honey's Dead
24. Blur- Parklife
25. Oasis- What's The Story Morning Glory

69 Love Songs

in honour of Valentine's Day i'm listing 69 of my favorite love songs, breakup songs, broken heart songs, etc.... of all time.

1. joy division- love will tear us apart
2. velvet underground- pale blue eyes
3. thurston moore- psychic hearts
4. the smiths- there is a light that never goes out
5. nick cave- into my arms
6. joe tex- the love you save may be your own
7. jesus and mary chain- just like honey
8. sonic youth- superstar
9. t rex- mambo sun
10. lou reed- perfect day
11. billy bragg- a new england
12. radiohead- exit music for a film
13. the clean- anything could happen
14. ramones- i wanna be your boyfriend
15. the replacements- i will dare
16. jackson browne- somebody's baby
17. the beatles- two of us
18. unrest- make out club
19. the rolling stones- beast of burden
20. syd barrett- love you
21. david bowie- soul love
22. big star- thirteen
23. john lennon- jealous guy
24. donovan- colours
25. nico- i'll keep it with mine
26. nirvana- love buzz
27. the byrds- have you seen her face?
28. suicide- dream baby dream
29. modern lovers- astral plane
30. my bloody valentine- when you sleep
31. new order- age of consent
32. spiritualized- ladies and gentlemen
33. flamin' groovies- you tore me down
34. tim buckley- it happens everytime
35. magnetic fields- i don't wanna get over you
36. the cure- close to me
37. the strokes- under control
38. the go betweens- people say
39. gram parsons- a song for you
40. 10cc- i'm not in love
41. the gun club- she's like heroin to me
42. pixies- la la love you
43. echo and the bunnymen- lips like sugar
44. foo fighters- everlong
45. mazzy star- halah
46. nick drake- pink moon
47. blondie- in the flesh
48. beach boys- wouldn't it be nice
49. roxy music- more than this
50. sebadoh- soul and fire
51. the faces- stay with me
52. bob dylan- don't think twice, it's alright
53. the pastels- nothing to be done
54. van morrison- straight to your heart like a cannonball
55. elliott smith- say yes
56. the stone roses- this is the one
57. roky erickson- starry eyes
58. the zombies- this will be our year
59. leonard cohen- chelsea hotel #2
60. lilys- will my lord be gardening
61. teenage fanclub- what you do to me
62. love- always see your face
63. jawbreaker- kiss the bottle
64. the misfits- hybrid moments
65. wilco- i'm the man who loves you
66. yeah yeah yeahs- maps
67. neutral milk hotel- naomi
68. broken social scene- lover's spit
69. black heart procession- it's a crime i never told you about the diamonds in your eyes