The Turf War Demo EP (free download)

if you are looking for a new rock band fix then i suggest to you TURF WAR out of Atlanta, GA (originally from Augusta). a young band that as burst onto the scene with catchy songs, a love of too much booze, rowdy live shows, and a deep appreciation for The Replacements.

TURF WAR EP tracklist
Where I Belong
Cheers to the Years
A Little Harder This Time
For the Last Time

click to download

I Miss 2002

while reading Pitchfork’s review of the Julian Casablancas solo album (which took about 500 words too many to just say “hey, this shit is kinda boring”. man you know it broke their heart to admit it. all our heroes die.) i was happy to see they posted a link to this performance of the Strokes on Letterman back in 02 when the world was still young and those of us with hope saw these scruffy rich kids from new york not as opportunist poseurs stealing all their good ideas from Blondie and Television but as champions of quality rock n’ roll returning to the airwaves. bask in the glory of what coulda been and try to forget about the fact this decade closed out about the same as the 90s did, with a lot of bad pop music dominating.

20 Underrated Rock Albums of the 21st Century

20 Albums that are a bit overlooked, underrated, or just didn't get the love they deserved and have been a little forgotten....but each one is an indie rock gem for a music lover to enjoy.

1. The Strokes- Room On Fire

the 2nd Strokes record is far superior to the 1st in both song writing, production, and quality...yet the hype from the 1st album and backlash buried any chance this album had of being a huge success.

2. The Icarus Line- Penance Soiree

this is the album that reminded me how fucking awesome rock and roll could be. a perfect combination of The Stooges, Jesus and Mary Chain, and Jesus Lizard rolled into one nice big fuck you of a record. the sound of sex, drugs, and rock n roll.

3. The Stills- Logic Will Break Your Heart

the Canadian answer the Interpol...only with a better pop sensibility. when you listen to the singles "Still In Love Song" and "Lola, Star and Stripes" you can only scratch your head and wonder how these guys weren't fucking huge.

4. Shocking Pinks- Shocking Pinks

this is a compilation CD to introduce this fantastic New Zealand band to the United States but most people i know who would be into them have never even heard of Shocking Pinks. a perfect combo of Clean and Verlaines styled Kiwi Pop and My Bloody Valentine shoegaze...with some dance punk thrown in for good measure.

5. The Radio Dept.- Pet Grief

shoegaze is alive and well in the form of this Swedish band. like if New Order, My Bloody Valentine, and the Pet Shop Boys decided to start a band together. lush and beautiful...the perfect music for a mixtape for your girlfriend.

6. The Warlocks- Phoenix
the only band i hear get compared to the Velvet Underground that i actually agree with. perfect drugged out drone rock.

7. The Lilys- Precollection
one of the under rated indie bands of all time finally released their perfect record.

8. Dead Meadow- Shivering King & Others
this makes me wanna start smoking pot again.

9. The Black Lips- Let It Bloom
the best album by the best garage band of this decade. Atlanta represent.

10. Pleasure Forever- Pleasure Forever
coming out of the San Diego hardcore scene, Pleasure Forever dropped this dark, sexy, and creepy rock album that sounds like Black Heart Procession doing their best Birthday Party impression.

11. Pissed Jeans- Shallow
the return of noise rock. the next best thing to the real Jesus Lizard.

12. Death From Above 1978- You're A Woman, I'm a Machine
snotty and dancey Canadian dance-punk duo unleash sonic pop assault, date Kelly Osbourne, tour with Nine Inch Nails, and then break up...typical.

13. Hot Snakes- Suicide Invoice
the best album by the best hardrock band of this decade.

14. Q and Not U- No Kill, No Beep Beep
the last great Dischord band. i thought these kids were gonna be huge...but like most things i was wrong. like if Fugazi decided to make a disco record. handclaps, woo hoos, and catchy fucking songs.

15. The Kills- Keep On Your Mean Side
like what if would be like if Pj Harvey and the Jesus & Mary Chain made a secret record together that makes you wanna fuck.

16. The Ponys- Laced With Romance
full on ripping off Richard Hell and The Voidoids....but i fucking love it.

17. Radio 4- Gotham!
dancepunks with a message. like a combo of The Clash, Gang Of Four, and Mission of Burma. a political album that you can party to. one of my top 10 albums of this decade.

18. Grinderman- Grinderman
Nick Cave and a few of his Bad Seeds rediscover the punk rock youth with this noisey garage record that's about 8 thousand times better than what most bands half their age are trying to pull off.

19. The Rapture- Pieces Of The People We Love
the 2nd Rapture record expands on the promise of the 1st album with more solid song writing and a ton of catchy dance songs...too bad dance punk never happened.

20. Out hud- Let Us Never Speak Of This Again
after releasing their instrumental funk rock debut, Out Hud decided to make an album that sounded like Liquid Liquid backing up the girls of ESG. if you can't shake your ass to this then you're probably dead.


Other albums worth mentioning:
The Reigning Sound- TimeBomb High School
The French Kicks- Trial Of the Century
Panthers- The Trick
Albert Hammond Jr- Yours To Keep
Black Keys- the Big Come Up
Blood On the Wall- awesomer
The Cribs- The Cribs
The Legends- Up Against The Legends
Dr. Dog- We All Belong
The Faintest Ideas- What Goes Up Must Calm Down
The Gossip- That's not What I heard

Bands I Love: PANTHERS

Brooklyn, New York's Panthers fall into that category of bands that never will be huge...but are totally fucking rad and you should love them anyway. my old band toured with these cats in the UK back in the summer of '03 and got our asses handed to us almost every night. the Panthers are a post-hardcore supergroup that feature members of Orchid, Red Scare, and Turing Machine. their sound would be described as Nation Of Ulysses + 70s Spacerock (mostly Hawkwind & Captain Beyond) with a healthy dose of Jesus Lizard thrown in for good measure = your favorite dude rock band of this decade. they've got 4 releases under their belt, but the 1st album is kind of shitty. the best starting point for them for any new fan would be their 2003 EP Let's Get Serious...which features a 5 song sampling of some of their best work.

Let's Get Serious - Panthers

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.

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"