via twitpic.com
If you've never seen "Major League 2," this is the explanation for the Cerrano: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKq1uF1T__8
And for crap's sake, watch the movie - it's classic!
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Me First & The Gimme Gimmes - All Out Of Love
All Out Of Love by Me First And The Gimme Gimmes
Download now or listen on posterous
02 All Out Of Love.mp3 (6859 KB) Download now or listen on posterous
I hate Air Supply. I'd rather listen to the Eagles. Or Rod Stewart. That said, the Gimmes have done something great here. Something really, really great.
For the uninitiated, Me First and The Gimme Gimmes are members of several punk bands who get together every other year, record a bunch of covers and then go on tour, partying and rocking the hell out of every city they stop in. They've even played a Bar Mitzvah and managed to be decent enough that they got a live record out of it.
So the new seven-inch is five tracks by Australian artists. It's got stuff from INXS and Olivia Newton-John and, obviously, this Air Supply track. Good times.
Pre-order the new Me First and the Gimme Gimmes album from Fat Wreck Chords.
Buy other Me First albums from Fat Wreck Chords too. Believe me, they're worth the cash. It's not like you've never heard the songs anyway.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Unwritten Law - CPK
Unwritten Law just posted the first single, "Starships and Apocalypse," from their new album, Swan, on the their MySpace page. It's not bad, but it doesn't excite me the way "Superman," the first single from Oz Factor, their 1996 major label debut captivated me for months until the rest of the album came out. And yes, I realize that is a completely unfair comparison.
One of my first great finds in the "nobody wants it" collection in Studio B at WKPX is UL's 1994 full length debut, Blue Room, rereleased in 1995 after they signed to Epic. I can remember listening to the album over and over, it was fast and dissatisfied - the ideal punk record I was on the constant search for. I even excused lead singer Scott Russo for being too wasted to sing any words audibly when the band opened for Bad Religion and Dance Hall Crashers the next year in Fort Lauderdale.
Angsty about parents, girls, politics, people. From "CPK," what a way to start a record, to the heartfelt "Suzanne" to "Obsession," "Shallow" and "World War 3," UL was on it.
The band chose Bad Religion's Greg Graffin to produce it's second album, Oz Factor, which had the same feel and sound but much, much better production value because it was recorded at Graffin's own studio in Ithaca, New York. Whether it had the sound Epic wanted or not, Oz Factor, and solid tracks including "Superman," "Falling Down," "Tell Me Why," and a couple of rerecorded tracks from Blue Room turned UL into Warped Tour superstars.
From there to MTV success, the band changed a few members and changed their sound a bit. No shame, it just wasn't what I was feeling. I got progressively more bored listening to the albums that led up to their major breakthrough. On an urge, I've spent the last few days listening to almost nothing but Blue Room and Oz Factor, and somehow I think I'd enjoy those later ones a lot more.
Either way, those first two records stand up pretty well for anybody that was into skate punk in the mid-90s though.
Buy Unwritten Law's Oz Factor at Shockhound.
Blue Room is out of print. If I find somewhere to download it, I'll update the post. Man is that piss poor and disappointing.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Pink Noise Test - I Can't Stand It
I Can't Stand It by Pink Noise Test
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07 I Can't Stand It.mp3 (6379 KB) Download now or listen on posterous
Pink Noise Test was an L.A. four-piece that put out a couple of EPs and got signed in the golden era of alterna-experimentation - the mid-90s. The first I heard of them was "I Can't Stand It," a beautifully feedback-drenched, Weezer- and Jesus and Mary Chain-ripping slab of Velvet Underground coverness. They even put out a video for "All The Same To Me," with I'm sure got absolutely no airplay on MTV despite the fact that the label should have bought it onto the Buzz Bin.
It was glorious. And then the band disappeared because they didn't sell any records and Interscope had no time for them. It doesn't mean I don't listen to their one full length, Plasticized, at least once a month. The album, as a whole, is really solid. Now that I think about it, there's no way they could have topped it so it's probably better that they were one and done.
While Plasticized is out of print, here's a nice download of the Electric Train EP, which came out just before the full length.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
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