Monday, April 19, 2010

Sam Gopal - Escalator

Escalator by Sam Gopal  
Download now or listen on posterous
07 Escalator.mp3 (6646 KB)

Pop quiz music fans: Who would win in a wrestling match - Lemmy or God?

There are two reasons that anybody knows who Lemmy is. Either they've experienced any of the highly influential and identical sounding Motorhead albums, or they've read an article in the mainstream press about his extensive collection of Nazi crap.

Since he doesn't hate Jews and isn't a Nazi sympathizer, I have no problem acknowledging that Lemmy is a bona fide innovator who has outlasted pretty much everything. He's like a heavy metal Keith Richards - he cannot be killed by conventional weapons.

With Motorhead, Lemmy merged the heaviness of Black Sabbath with what would become the speed of hardcore punk. By the time I heard Motorhead for the first time, I already knew about both so it wasn't so much life-changing as it was life-affirming.

One of the first bands that Lemmy was in, though, was this Sam Gopal, an early psychedelic metal band named for its founder. Handling both vocals and guitars, it's hard to imagine that Gopal thought himself worthy to carry on after Lemmy left for Hawkwind. (He did, but I'm not covering any of that stuff.)

Every song on the album Escalator is worth it's space on the album, but the song "Escalator" is the one that really gets me. From the galloping tribal drums to Lemmy's desperate pleading for worship to what ends up as a dueling guitar solo by the end of the track - this is one incendiary slab. Put it this way: I had it up so loud in my headphones today that I nearly blew my eardrums. Not only am I proud of this, but I've done it three more times today. And not just because I planned to post it here.

Oh, and the answer to the question above. It's a trick question: Lemmy is God.


Posted via email from One Stupid Mop

Monday, April 5, 2010

Solex vs Christina Martinez and Jon Spencer - The Uppercut

The Uppercut by Solex Vs. Christina Martinez & Jon Spencer  
Download now or listen on posterous
05 The Uppercut.mp3 (2847 KB)

Solex hit the scene in the late 90s cutting together a nice groove and a totally different sound. 

Jon Spencer made ear-piercingly addictive noise rock in the 80s, with the emphasis on noise, and then merged punk, blues and noise with the essential Blues Explosion in the 90s.

And Christina Martinez (AKA Mrs. Jon Spencer) brought her own flavor to that blues noise rock with grossly underrated and underheard Boss Hog.

The three have got together for an album, "Amsterdam Showdown, King Street Throwdown," that's got some hip hop, and some blues, and some soul to it. A record like this doesn't come along so often and "The Uppercut" was tough to pick from the album because I can't get the whole damn thing out of my head.

Posted via email from One Stupid Mop

Carson Daly is all up on Bad Religion's jock.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Lissie does "Bad Romance" with guitars and flannel instead of techno and fashion. I love when pop music goes cool...

It may not be as good - or suprising - as Ted Leo's take on "Since You Been Gone," but it's pretty damn good.

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And for the sake of being thorough...

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Posted via email from Stephen Feller