Thursday, March 31, 2011

Obits - I Want Results

I Want Results by Obits Listen on Posterous

The first album from Obits, a band that includes members of Drive Like Jehu and Hot Snakes, two longtime rock favorites of pretty much everybody who's watching the great indie rock underground, met high expectations because of the teaser 7-inch, "I Blame You"/"Get It In Writing." No shock, but it delivered. Hard.

So with the mix of surf and garage rock set for a sequel, Obits decided to deliver again, this time harder, with Moody, Standard And Poor

This is the album you'll want to be dancing to. There's just no way around it. I mean, sure, the lyrics are a little bitter, what with the regrets and the giving up on dreams and begging for a break but hot damn are these some bad ass rock and roll songs from some bad ass rock and roll men.

"No Fly List," "Killer", and "You Gotta Lose" stand out for their shimmying in your face on an album full of such tracks. Even when Obits goes instrumental "I Blame Myself" or nearly instrumental on "Spot The Pikey" (which, for my money, is a surf-y "Bankshot"), Moody, Standard and Poor is the right album for the end of a long week.

Yes, it's still Thursday. Which means you've got time to make this the Friday soundtrack. See that, I've got your back. Or at least your ears.

Buy Moody, Standard and Poor on mp3, CD or the all glorious vinyl from Sub Pop Records.

Posted via email from One Stupid Mop

All I want is to do my time card but I got the RED SCREEN OF DEATH? Seriously, I've got six days left. I hope.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Death From Above 1979 - Blood On Our Hands

Blood On Our Hands by Death From Above 1979 Listen on Posterous

For the last 24 hours, my Windows laptop has been uploading about 760 mp3s (about 4.2 gigabytes) to my Amazon Cloud Locker. Since I've been playing around with it, and did a very fast review of what was actually hitting the cloud, I ended up listening to very little new music today. 

(OK, the truth is I've been listening to the new TV On The Radio album all day, but I'm not ready to write anything about it yet, so just go with me on this. The album is stunningly mind blowing and on level with much of their greatest efforts. But really, I need to listen to it more before I pontificate.)

The one full length Death From Above 1979 put out, You're A Woman, I'm A Machine, is a mind bender, and an automatic add to any iPod, cell phone or cloud service that I'm filling with music.

So what has me posting about DFA1979 is that while I thoroughly enjoyed that album while working on community news about traffic calming devices and city bus routes was the riot that happened outside their set at South-By-Southwest, wherein the band played and people freaked the hell out. After the earth-shattering news that they were getting back together for a few big shows though, who could be surprised?

Enjoy the rock and roll. Buy this album is you don't already have it. For real, you need it. Now. Then you'll understand why, like me, you'd riot for these Sebastien and Jesse too.

Buy You're a Woman, I'm a Machine from Shockhound.

Posted via email from One Stupid Mop

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Wagon Christ - Manalyze This!

Manalyze This! by Wagon Christ Listen on Posterous

Luke Vibert has two speeds: super fast jungle, which was mostly done under the name Plug, and which he really hasn’t done since the mid-90s; and everything else, which is just slower, and usually comes close to hip hop and techno, though often abstract and sometimes very danceable.

Wagon Christ, a great moniker if ever one has been created, has been home to abstract hip hop and sometimes ambient efforts for the full length of Vibert’s career. On Toomorrow, the first WC full length in seven years, it sounds like Vibert could bust out with Plug-style drum ‘n’ bass at any second. This album veers back and forth between dancey and laid back, but is never confusing and flows unshockingly well.

Vibert is an evil genius, somewhere between Richard D. James and Tom Jenkinson for actually portraying evil, but all three are equally responsible with a few others, for creating the mind-bending and stupidly-named but none the less obsessive attraction of Intelligent Dance Music.

While recording Wagon Christ, Plug and a few other names, Vibert explored rhythms and sampling in ways that require the listener to want to be there, much like his contemporaries. Put on any of his albums and watch the room clear, leaving only those aurally adventurous enough to nod their heads and wonder how long that beat can continue for.

“Manalyze This,” the third track on Toomorrow, is almost a pure techno track, and wouldn’t sound out of place in the 90s. This new album deserves to sit comfortably on the shelf with Musipal and Tally Ho!. It’s refreshing. Now if only Vibert would really drive us nuts with a new album from Plug, it would really feel like 1996.

Buy Toomorrow from Shockhound.
Buy other Wagon Christ albums from Shockhound.
Blow your mind with the classic Plug track “DBC.”

Posted via email from One Stupid Mop

Monday, March 28, 2011

Folk Implosion - Nothing Gonna Stop

Nothing Gonna Stop by The Folk Implosion Listen on Posterous

My children like to go through my CD racks and pull out the albums that interest them. By interest, I mean whatever album art catches their eye. The four faces on the soundtrack to the 1995 movie "Kids" gets them every time. This time, I didn't put it away though and instead threw the disc in the stereo.

Since Netflix doesn't even have "Kids" to rent on DVD, let alone stream, which is really piss poor, I couldn't immediately meet the urge to watch what is easily a favorite movie. And no, it's not a favorite simply because it offended and scared the hell out of so many parents and downright old people. "Kids" is entertaining. Though it was nothing like my real life at any point, I find it at least a little believable that it's a little like somebody's life.

The soundtrack, like so many others of the mid and late 90s, is exquisite. Two tracks from Daniel Johnston, two slow-burning and understated but no less significant ones from Sebadoh and Slint, and the handful of tracks from a then-unknown Folk Implosion, Lou Barlow's not really post-Sebadoh until it was post-Sebadoh groove-heavy hip hop influenced not-a-rock band.

The big hit was, and is, "Natural One," which is simple and sneaky and undeniable in bassline and beat. Barlow is calm, or stoned, in his delivery. Like a teenager about smack to the shit out of somebody with the wrong side of a skateboard. Or at least like a different teenager carelessly spreading his AIDS throughout his filth-mongering drunken hoard.

"Nothing Gonna Stop," the third track on the album, is no less steady or hauntingly perfect than "Natural One." The Folk Implosion, as good as they were on the albums after the "Kids" soundtrack, were never as good as on these two tracks. Forgive me for basking in the 90s, but you're not gonna try to tell me this song doesn't feel like perfect teenaged bliss, are you?

The soundtrack to "Kids" is out of print, but you can buy it from Amazon, as well as lots of other Folk Implosion stuff. Do that here.

Posted via email from One Stupid Mop

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Is that Donkey Kong on my banana? Wii!

Imag0190

Now that's a clever bit of marketing. Gotta give the Nintendo folks credit for a good idea.

Posted via email from Stephen Feller

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Screeching Weasel - What We Hate

What We Hate by Screeching Weasel Listen on Posterous

Ben Weasel's whole gig has been hating on everything. Last weekend at South by Southwest, he took it to a new level by punching two girls in the face after getting heckled, and the second one he hit more than once. As a result, his band has quit and pretty much nobody is accepting the apology. Look, that bitch who threw ice at him and then spit beer deserved to be escorted out, but Weasel should be able to be a professional.

I've loved Screeching Weasel (and the Riverdales, and the solo stuff) since the first time I heard Boogada Boogada Boogada sometime in 8th grade. It's still one of my favorite records, and that and both My Brain Hurts and How To Make Enemies And Irritate People have never been off any iPod I owned because I crave them. I listen to their records all the time. I even follow Weasel on Twitter, despite the fact that he comes off like a douche bag most of the time - which has always been his deal. I don't agree with a lot of what he thinks, especially when it comes to politics and usually when it comes to music, but his music has always been pretty good. New Times summed up just what he's known for pretty well. Check it.

There's a good chance I'll keep listening to those old records. There's also a good chance I'll talk a bunch of shit about Weasel while listening to them. What an asshole.

Don't buy anything from Screeching Weasel. Steal it if you can find, but don't give that dickhead a penny.

Posted via email from One Stupid Mop

Friday, March 25, 2011

Less Than Jake - Magnetic North

Magnetic North by Less Than Jake Listen on Posterous

I like to skank and drive, and with the discography of Less Than Jake taking up something like two-thirds of a gig on my cell phone right now, there's a good chance that I'm going to get some kind of ska-core thundering through the speakers of my unassuming Saturn and out the open windows into the world. Which means I'm gonna get some strange looks at red lights while bouncing around behind the wheel like a fool.

LTJ formed and built their legend in Gainesville, Florida, the sprawling college town that is home to the greatest university on the face of the planet. (Full disclosure: I'm a Gator - Class of 2003. Deal with it.) Studio output notwithstanding, it's the live show that gets people coming back to the band over and over, even if they don't own a single, physical record. Every show is a party, as I'm sure the one I missed last weekend in Fort Lauderdale was, and once you've been to one, you NEED to go back.

"Magnetic North" comes from the band's Fat Wreck Chords debut Borders and Boundaries. In the best way I could possibly put this, it's another hard-charging pop-punk horn-filled effort from the band. There are a lot of songs on B&B about getting out of whatever town you're in or doing some vague something, and this is one of them.

Partially, I'm posting this song because I think it applies to everybody who lives in Florida, myself included, who complains about this ridiculous state. That said, I'm not gonna go too deep on the lyrical content though because, while they cover some stuff, I'm really posting this because I think the world could use a good skank to blow off steam. Watch the news for a second and you'll know why. For the record, I mean the dance, not the woman. Though I can think of a few people that could use that kind of skank too. Again, watch the news, you'll see a few of the people I refer to. Awesome.

Buy Borders and Boundaries from Shockhound.
Buy other Less Than Jake albums from Shockhound.

Posted via email from One Stupid Mop

Thursday, March 24, 2011

I thought very seriously about trading license plates with this guy.

Pinhead Gunpowder - Kathleen

Kathleen by Pinhead Gunpowder Listen on Posterous

Green Day put out a live album and DVD called Awesome As Fuck today. The album includes songs from every one of the band's albums, played faster and louder than any of the studio versions, with screaming fans shouting every word at them. I opted not to post a track from it because, aside from the videos they posted, it seemed like overkill. Also, I've already made my case for them.

Instead, here's a track from Pinhead Gunpowder, a band made up of Aaron Cometbus, Bill Schneider, Jason White and, obviously, Billie Joe Armstrong. They formed a few years after Green Day, in 1990, though they've obviously taken a back seat to Armstrong's day job.

Pretty straightforward, melodic pop punk, PG is probably a nice break for Armstrong because he's not the center of attention. Then again, Schneider and White both work with him in Green Day (Schneider is their tour manager and White is the "other guitarist" that tours with them), so it's not totally different from what he's usually doing.

Though they have put out albums sporadically in their 20 years of existence, Pinhead Gunpowder got a little mass attention in 2008 with the release of the Kick Over The Traces collection while the world waited for Green Day's follow-up to American Idiot21st Century Breakdown.

From the first time I heard it on its original release on the Shoot The Moon EP, "Kathleen" caught my ear because of a well-used harmonica - which to me gives it a bit of Springsteen. Where the Boss comparison drops is that the song is supposedly about Kathleen Hannah, the original riot grrrl and frontwoman of Bikini Kill and Le Tigre, wife of Ad-Rock (yes, that Ad-Rock) and the person who inadvertently named Nirvana's biggest song when she wrote "Kurt smells like teen spirit" on Kurt Cobain's wall. She's a big fucking deal, and yes, I love her too.

The song is about a lesbian who saves the singer's life and how he'd like to love her but can't because he's a dude. It's weirdly romantic in an empty-headed teen punk way, and the harmonica kills. It's some next level shit as far as I'm concerned. And it's almost as good as "Christie Road."

Buy Pinhead Gunpowder's Shoot The Moon EP or their other albums from Amazon.
Buy Green Day's Awesome As Fuck from Shockhound

Posted via email from One Stupid Mop

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

The Hold Steady - Your Little Hoodrat Friend

Your Little Hoodrat Friend by The Hold Steady Listen on Posterous

I spent much of my 5-day vacation on Long Island last week trying to figure out the right song to link to the trip. The problem, for my college-damaged memory, is that the year I spent there was the beginning of a stretch of pseudo-laziness, mostly in tracking and obsessing over my listening habits. I was head-long into turning myself into a community reporter. What the hell did I need to waste time on anything beyond just listening to great records?

Regrets aside, what I remember is "With Teeth," "American Idiot," "The Empire Strikes First," "To The Five Boroughs," and an endless stream of burned mix CDs, though what, exactly, was on them is long gone. Until, that is, one of my absolute favorite tracks from The Hold Steady hit my iPod yesterday while running errands yesterday and it hit me: Two tracks from The Hold Steady, ripped from magazine samplers, spent a lot of time on repeat in my car while driving up and down the North Fork and around Riverhead during those 12 months.

As I've written previously, I hold Separation Sunday up as the high water mark for The Hold Steady, despite how good an album Boys and Girls In America turned out to be. I'm hopeful that these guys can turn out another album that lives up to either. Maybe they should record it somewhere other than Brooklyn, just like those two classics. Not that I would blame them if they ignore the suggestion.

Buy Separation Sunday at Shockhound.

Posted via email from One Stupid Mop

Saturday, March 19, 2011

The Strokes - Taken For A Fool

Taken For A Fool by The Strokes Listen on Posterous

I was on Long Island visiting family when Angles, the new album from The Strokes finally leaked. It was another 12 hours before I filled my ears with NYC's favorite sons on the plane back to Fort Lauderdale. What I got, from the first track to the last, is the best album the band has released since Is This It, and I loved Room On Fire. A lot.

What I've seen in the last several days though, with the exception of a really strange review from Rolling Stone's David Fricke, is a bunch of overly bitter hipster critics telling the world that The Strokes sound bored and the album is mediocre at best. Are you guys for real? It's one thing when fans, who have been trained to expect the Is This It until they're told not to, express disappointment. In another week, when they're still listening to it, something will hit them in the face. That's fine. But critics, have you lost your damn minds?

Unless you hate The Strokes, and if you do then you likely haven't read this far anyway, Is This It was probably the first perfect record of the new decade and century when it came out. All 10 songs are flawless and, for the time, sounded like nobody else getting mass market attention. The follow-up, Room On Fire, was a progression, though slight, from its predecessor, and was referred to as a copycat album. The great irony is that on the third album, First Impressions of Earth, The Strokes tried to completely remake things and, though they were commended for the effort, the album tanked and the band took a much needed break.

Around the point that people started wondering if they'd ever be back together, because nearly all the members had been putting out solo albums and apparently not talking, word came that the band had started to slowly work on new stuff. Based on the interviews that have come out in the last several weeks, leading up to next week's actual release, Angles was not an easy album to write and record.

The big difference this time around is that rather than the other four Strokes building on top of frontman Julian Casablancas song ideas, everybody contributed and sort of worked together. What we've got, really, is an album that brings in all sorts of stuff from the first three albums - most notably that classic Strokes sound of the first two albums - that meshes with influences as disparate as reggae, 70s AOR and all sorts of 80s stuff. Like any great record, the more you listen, the more you get. And boy, is there a lot here.

On Is This It, there's a part of the band that sounds unsure of itself. On Room On Fire, they new exactly what they were doing and had the world in their palm of their hands. With Angles, it's almost like they're starting over, but they know that each of the band members has pushed each other to the limit and now its time to get down to business. Why else would we be "singing the same song for the last 10 years?" "Last Nite" wasn't that good of a song. Well, yes it was, but still, you see where I'm coming from.

I've been through this album at least twice a day since Monday. Every song sticks out, and the band doesn't sound bored. They sound just like they did on Is This It - flipping the bird to the world, effortlessly and with fake disinterest. What a great damn band.

Buy Angles from Shockhound.

Posted via email from One Stupid Mop

Reaganomics - Chireland

Chireland by Reaganomics Listen on Posterous

I haven't posted anything from the new Reaganomics album, Lower The Bar, just yet but St. Patrick's Day seems as good a time as any because of this very song, which nails the fake Irish who think they've got a good reason to get wasted once a year.

Aside from that, Lower The Bar is more of what Reaganomics has set themselves out as, snotty skate punk that's just a good listen. Yeah, I'm keeping it simple. Enjoy that green beer, posers. (I certainly will.)

Buy Lower The Bar from Shockhound.

Posted via email from One Stupid Mop

Friday, March 18, 2011

I don't usually wade into the Israeli-Palestinian argument, but I can't help myself right now...

If you didn't know, some douchey prick murdered a sleeping Israeli family last week. I'm not sure what kind of political statement this is supposed to make, but it's not effective. This cuts the Palestinian cause off at the balls. Israelis don't do this stuff either, so it's not like it's an in-kind retribution.

Now, I know that Israel has had a hand in pushing the decades-long war the Palestinian leadership over land. It's kind of tough though to make a case murdering sleeping families is the way to push that battle forward. The goal of the groups who use - that's right, they use - the Palestinian cause is to eliminate the existence of Israel. It's about that one decision, in 1948, that created the state of Israel, and endless attempts to reverse it. Um, that's not gonna happen guys, so let's move on.

The other thing is that's bugging me is this Israel Apartheid Week. Well, let me point something out for those who think that Israel is engaging in some kind of apartheid-like practice: Palestinians have more rights in Israel than any other country in the Middle East. Oh, you didn't know that? Yeah, look it up. The only restriction on Palestinians in Israel is to not fucking kill people. Sorry, that's not oppression.

Regardless, it's piss poor that nobody is talking about these gruesome murders, because they should be. If you want a reason to be at least as angry about this I am, take a look at the reality: http://bit.ly/i65Sre.

Posted via email from Stephen Feller

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Red Dons - Enemy Ears

Enemy Ears by Red Dons Listen on Posterous

The Red Dons would have fit in perfectly in, like, 2002, with all the "garage rock" of the times. They're an outlier now, though, which makes it easier to get drawn in to a sound that is really easy to listen to. Scoring like Man or Astroman if they sounded a little more like both The Damned and The Hives, The Red Dons spend their second album burning through ten distinctly punk songs.

Released last July to rapturous review from bloggers and magazines, Fake Meets Failure is a set of catchy, hard-charging songs don't let go. You shouldn't have to think about how much to listen to The Red Dons, I certainly haven't. Hence the simple review: Just set it to repeat. That way you don't have to hit the button again.

Buy Fake Meets Failure on CD from Deranged Records or download it here.

Posted via email from One Stupid Mop

Rocky road cake? On a stick? Starbucks FTW!

Blink-182 - Carousel

Carousel by Blink - 182 Listen on Posterous

If the bassline on Blink-182's classic "Carousel" isn't inspired, if not stolen outright, from the main guitar riff on The Cure's "Just Like Heaven," then I am either insane or proving that there is a limited number of things that can be done with a guitar. Well, I'm pretty sure I'm insane regardless.

There is a very good chance I'm completely insane, but at 9:00 this morning, after three cups of coffee, when this song came on the shuffle, all I heard was The Cure's biggest hit. (And I heard The Cure's version, despite my preference for the Dinosaur Jr. version because, on the whole, I'd rather listen to Dinosaur Jr. That's another story though.)

That it's taken me 15 years to notice is a little disappointing, because I should have noticed earlier. Finding a similarity to a huge pop song, however, does not surprise me. In the early days, Blink was writing punk songs just poppy enough to lure in everybody who heard them. Literally everybody loved Cheshire Cat.

Listening to that album now, it's no shock that two albums later, or three, at the most, Blink-182 would be one of the biggest bands in the world. Their lasting influence wasn't as predictable as, say, Green Day's 90s heyday, but the celebration upon their return last year proves that Mark, Tom and Travis were somewhat underestimated 10 or 15 years ago.

The other thing worth noting, especially about Cheshire Cat, if not the other albums, which I unabashedly embrace because they too were part of my teenage and college soundtrack, is that even the most elitist punk fan will admit that they cannot kill the soft spot they've got for that one album. No matter how hard they try to kill it, "M&Ms," "Strings," "Ben Wah Balls" and "Carousel" (and the rest of the album) got stuck in their heads at some point and get them excited on the off chance they hear them now.

Buy Blink-182's Cheshire Cat from Shockhound.

Posted via email from One Stupid Mop

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Tricky - Mellow

Mellow by Tricky Listen on Posterous

It's been a while since I listened to Tricky's third album, Angels With Dirty Faces, and felt comfortable with all all of it. This morning, while attempting to clear a strange post-NyQuil haze with Red Bull and coffee, everything clicked into place like it hasn't since the first few times I listened to it the week it was released.

At his best, Tricky's albums are filthy sex albums. It doesn't matter what he's rasping on about, his best records are made for making the beast with two backs. (I could have just gone with the obvious curse word there but a childish euphemism seemed like so much more fun, especially considering the frame of mind I was in when this track hit my headphones for the first time at 7 a.m. this morning.)

There's nothing deep about this song. No meaning. No well-stolen sample or clever reference or anything but what it is - an ode to a woman who, ahem, takes care of her man.

The rest of the album, while it seemed like a somewhat bloated overreach after two perfect albums that each had it's own blunted sexually violent tension, actually fits in well. Angels With Dirty Faces is grimy. It's the underworld that Tricky started touching on Pre-Millenium Tension and wished for on Maxinquaye. Amazing. Now I think I need a shower.

Buy Angels With Dirty Faces and the rest of Tricky's discography at Shockhound.

Posted via email from One Stupid Mop

Here's a clue why America is so fat and unhealthy. When's national fresh fruit and vegetable month??

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Beastie Boys - Here's A Little Somethin' For Ya

Here's A Little Somethin' For Ya by Beastie Boys Listen on Posterous

Last week, I gleefully punched a touch screen jukebox into playing "B-Boy Bouillabaisse." That, for the sorely uncultured among us, is the epic final track on the classic and underrated-no-matter-how-credited-it-ever-gets Paul's Boutique. I was less than sober at that moment, but stand by it, because it was, as always, the right thing to play.

Of late I've had a hankering for something outside the Beastie box. I was going to post something like "Skills To Pay The Bills" or something forgotten like "The Move," but you can just get off your ass and dig out the deluxe reissue of Check Your Head or any copy of Hello Nasty and grab them yourself. Instead, I went with one of the tracks from the super-limited to 1000 copies Super Surprise 12-inch pumped to select record stores last year on Record Store Day.

That special release has two tracks on it: "Lee Majors Come Again," which is the rhymes from a new track scratched over Daft Punk's "Da Funk," and this one, "Here's A Little Somethin' For Ya." Neither of them will sound this way on Hot Sauce Committee, part 2, guaranteed. Why would I dare guarantee such a thing? Because there's no way DJ Shadow is going to be cool with the Boys remixing and rapping over "The Number Song (Cut Chemist remix)." 

There's no confirmed release date for the new album though, so this will have to do for the moment. And in the meantime, I'll keep terrorizing middle-aged drunks with classic late-80s white-boy rap references to legendary football players and rhymes about peeing between subway cars.

Buy the reissues of Pauls Boutique, Check Your Head, Ill Communication, and Hello Nasty directly from the Beastie Boys.

Posted via email from One Stupid Mop

Friday, March 4, 2011

Campaign - Old Haunts

Oid Haunts by Campaign Listen on Posterous

I don't remember how I stumbled on the free download of the new EP from Atlanta post-hardcore five-piece Campaign. Aside from making me think about Hot Water Music, among other similar-sounding Gainesville bands, there's a lot to like about these guys.

The songs are easy to listen to, and they've got a blog - It Likes To Party - which they use as a home base, mostly to give their music away. The latest EP, Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! is made up of four songs, each of which includes the word "old" in the title. It's a little weird, but the band is singing about combining cheap wine and old records for a more than satisfying night shutting out the world. I can dig that sort of thing, which should explain how they ended up on this blog.

My only complaint is that they're all wearing jean jackets on the cover of the EP. Come on guys, you can do better then that. Hit up Goodwill for some old t-shirts or something cause all that denim is really freaking me out.

Download Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! for free at It Likes To Party, AKA Campaign's band website.

Posted via email from One Stupid Mop

Thursday, March 3, 2011

If nothing else is true about @CharlieSheen, this proves that he is #winning. And unstoppable.

Vivian Girls - Sixteen Ways

Sixteen Ways by Vivian Girls Listen on Posterous

One of the complaints about "modern" recording techniques is that they sound sterile. You know, they don't have the pops and clicks of tape, and they don't change over time, because they're not physical the same way that tape is. The arguments are the same for vinyl, because the recordings change (or breathe) over time, unlike on a compact disc or MP3, where they sound the same as the day they were recorded.

Why am I mentioning this? Because Vivian Girls don't like how they're referred to as "lo-fi," the movement that critics and a lot of indie fans grabbed at desperately in the last couple of years. They think it's bull shit, which it is. Because there are only two ways you get the sound of a record that is referred to as lo-fi: Either by using shitty equipment, or by making it sound that way. That's it. That's how it happens.

For Times New Viking, well, they're doing that on purpose, which is a damn shame because they write some really great songs that you have to work to hear through all the static. (Which is exactly what they want.) In the case of Vivian Girls, who say they record in modern, beautific studios, I think this is just the way they sound. I'm not sure what the problem is, frankly. I like it. 

Sounding a lot like a classic 60s girl group, these three chicks kick more ass then the label-controlled girl crooners of that time. The songs are catchy, melodic and I imagine that when they do this live, it's loud as shit. What more can you want? Oh, how bout that solo halfway through "Sixteen Ways?" Yeah, that's what did it for me too. 

Stop hating on the critical buzz words and bury yourself in the rock and roll of Vivian Girls. 

Buy the new Vivian Girls album, Share The Joy, from Polyvinyl Records. (You'd be pre-ordering either a CD or vinyl album, and get an instant MP3 download of the album. Great deal, straight from a great label.)

Posted via email from One Stupid Mop