Quite honestly, I'm clueless when it comes to the band Jawbox.
Back in college, my dorm mate and I were sifting through any and all things Deftones, and we came across a cover of this song called 'Savory.' An amazing cover version and--after listening to the original--a classic track.
A quick album clip-through of "Special Sweetheart" yielded nothing quite as remarkable, but I'm satisfied with just the one.
Sometimes a song is all you need.
Jawbox - Savory
(From the album "For Your Own Special Sweetheart," 1994)
Monday, July 19, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
I've Been Tired
Eyes swollen shut, tottering forward and discharging spittle on an unsuspecting crowd, my 2004 ACL attendance was as if Black Francis's biblical mayhem had manifested itself in my very own eyes.
Fittingly, the sole positive that day was seeing those incalculable legends, the Pixies, perform a reunion set at the evening's end.
I'm very pleased to report that my aforementioned semi-aware state, battling through allergen hell, will not be the final condition nor final word on witnessing this seminal act.
Soon to arrive in the mail, I have two tickets to ...
Pixies
w/ F*ck Buttons
Sept. 22
@ Austin Music Hall
Yeah!
To celebrate, here's a classic clip for everyone's viewing pleasure.
(check out the lyrics too if you have a moment; this song is freakin' hilarious)
Pixies - I've Been Tired
(From the EP "Come on Pilgrim," 1987)
Fittingly, the sole positive that day was seeing those incalculable legends, the Pixies, perform a reunion set at the evening's end.
I'm very pleased to report that my aforementioned semi-aware state, battling through allergen hell, will not be the final condition nor final word on witnessing this seminal act.
Soon to arrive in the mail, I have two tickets to ...
Pixies
w/ F*ck Buttons
Sept. 22
@ Austin Music Hall
Yeah!
To celebrate, here's a classic clip for everyone's viewing pleasure.
(check out the lyrics too if you have a moment; this song is freakin' hilarious)
Pixies - I've Been Tired
(From the EP "Come on Pilgrim," 1987)
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Tell 'Em
Popular music's heyday ended just as the 80s came to a close.
Okay, let me rephrase, "worthy" pop music ended.
Perhaps Nirvana's breaking-of-the-dam and alternative's influx was the cause: Suddenly, the underground had a voice and a say in mass consumer culture.
No matter the reason, seasoned (and talented) pop artists like Madonna, Michael Jackson, and even The Cure had to redefine their place in the musical landscape, abandoning the songcraft that made their past hits so artistically relevant.
Even worse were the millennial *NSYNCs, Aguileras, and Dursts.
"Pop" became "pap," and the listening public either teenyboppered along or hung their heads in shame.
Personally, I affiliated with the latter crowd and have been waiting for a second coming of sorts.
That time has (perhaps) arrived.
The initial fresh breathe came in 2003--OutKast's 'Hey Ya!' burst on the scene with its Polaroid-shaking entourage in tow. This Music Nouveau firmed even more in 2007 with the arrival of M.I.A.'s 'Paper Planes.' The crucial element was a sample ... four gunshots and a weapon cock.
I declare said sample as pop's resurgence and revolution.
Expanding on the promise of this "assault pop," here is Sleigh Bells' lead-in track from their debut album.
Sleigh Bells - Tell 'Em
(From the album "Treats," 2010)
Okay, let me rephrase, "worthy" pop music ended.
Perhaps Nirvana's breaking-of-the-dam and alternative's influx was the cause: Suddenly, the underground had a voice and a say in mass consumer culture.
No matter the reason, seasoned (and talented) pop artists like Madonna, Michael Jackson, and even The Cure had to redefine their place in the musical landscape, abandoning the songcraft that made their past hits so artistically relevant.
Even worse were the millennial *NSYNCs, Aguileras, and Dursts.
"Pop" became "pap," and the listening public either teenyboppered along or hung their heads in shame.
Personally, I affiliated with the latter crowd and have been waiting for a second coming of sorts.
That time has (perhaps) arrived.
The initial fresh breathe came in 2003--OutKast's 'Hey Ya!' burst on the scene with its Polaroid-shaking entourage in tow. This Music Nouveau firmed even more in 2007 with the arrival of M.I.A.'s 'Paper Planes.' The crucial element was a sample ... four gunshots and a weapon cock.
I declare said sample as pop's resurgence and revolution.
Expanding on the promise of this "assault pop," here is Sleigh Bells' lead-in track from their debut album.
Sleigh Bells - Tell 'Em
(From the album "Treats," 2010)
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Like Rats
Here's a novel question for you all: If given a quarter century, how many bands/side projects could one musician take on?
Justin K Broadrick makes his case and "streetcleans" the competition:
The JB Tally
1. Final
2. Napalm Death
3. Fall of Because
4. Head of David
5. Godflesh
6. Techno Animal
7. God
8. Painkiller
9. Ice
10.The Sidewinder
11.White Viper
12.Curse of the Golden Vampire
13.Jesu
14.J2
15.Greymachine
16.Council Estate Electronics
17.Blood of Heroes
18.Pale Sketcher
Witness Justin circa 1990: a mere 20 years old and at the peak of his apocalyptic power.
Godflesh - Like Rats
(From the album "Streetcleaner," 1990)
Justin K Broadrick makes his case and "streetcleans" the competition:
The JB Tally
1. Final
2. Napalm Death
3. Fall of Because
4. Head of David
5. Godflesh
6. Techno Animal
7. God
8. Painkiller
9. Ice
10.The Sidewinder
11.White Viper
12.Curse of the Golden Vampire
13.Jesu
14.J2
15.Greymachine
16.Council Estate Electronics
17.Blood of Heroes
18.Pale Sketcher
Witness Justin circa 1990: a mere 20 years old and at the peak of his apocalyptic power.
Godflesh - Like Rats
(From the album "Streetcleaner," 1990)
Monday, May 10, 2010
Uptown Girl
Here's another childhood favorite that would be a guaranteed embarrassment for most, yet I hold it up and display it proudly.
What a fool I am ... but an unabashed, fun-loving one.
Billy Joel - Uptown Girl
(From the album "An Innocent Man," 1983)
What a fool I am ... but an unabashed, fun-loving one.
Billy Joel - Uptown Girl
(From the album "An Innocent Man," 1983)
Monday, April 12, 2010
Fall on Me
Hindsight is a funny thing.
I remember when R.E.M.'s "Monster" debuted in 1994 and was heralded as the band's triumphant crossover into rock.
Being 14 at the time, and knowing just enough to get this was a big deal, my friends and I ponied up and got our copies in double-quick time. We were convinced it was a classic album, a real masterstroke.
Once again, hindsight is a funny thing.
"Monster" wasn't a bad album. It was actually a pretty fair stab at going electric. It's just that it didn't measure up to the undeniable genius of the band's landmark I.R.S. releases.
Since my introduction to R.E.M., I've oscillated between their early and latter-day works: "Murmur"'s crisp-sounding beauty, "Automatic for the People"'s heart-wrenching reflections. Bouncing back and forth throughout the years, my internal compass continues to center on this song, once proclaimed by Michael Stipe to be his favorite from the band's catalog.
R.E.M. - Fall on Me
(From the album "Life's Rich Pageant," 1986)
I remember when R.E.M.'s "Monster" debuted in 1994 and was heralded as the band's triumphant crossover into rock.
Being 14 at the time, and knowing just enough to get this was a big deal, my friends and I ponied up and got our copies in double-quick time. We were convinced it was a classic album, a real masterstroke.
Once again, hindsight is a funny thing.
"Monster" wasn't a bad album. It was actually a pretty fair stab at going electric. It's just that it didn't measure up to the undeniable genius of the band's landmark I.R.S. releases.
Since my introduction to R.E.M., I've oscillated between their early and latter-day works: "Murmur"'s crisp-sounding beauty, "Automatic for the People"'s heart-wrenching reflections. Bouncing back and forth throughout the years, my internal compass continues to center on this song, once proclaimed by Michael Stipe to be his favorite from the band's catalog.
R.E.M. - Fall on Me
(From the album "Life's Rich Pageant," 1986)
Monday, April 5, 2010
Go to Hell
"We were already almost out of America and yet definitely in it and in the middle of where it's maddest. Hotrods blew by. San Antonio, ah-haa!"
- Jack Kerouac, "On the Road"
San Antonio is one of those strange cities that, to me growing up, seemed anything but.
My first 11 years were spent in its sheltered, scenic suburbia. Everything appeared established and anchored: people were who they were and places never changed. This afforded me a wealth of security, yet left me with a faulty worldview. San Antonio didn't change and, if you lived there, you didn't change. People went about their lives being who they were and meeting their day-to-day responsibilities.
It wasn't until my parents' separation that I detected a different, darker undercurrent. A fair comparison might be the introductory scene in David Lynch's "Blue Velvet": white picket fences, neighbors waving, quite picturesque ... until the pent-up pressure explodes. Then, and only then, does one see the "black bugs" squirming beneath the grass.
I then came to know San Antonio for what it was and is: a bipolar metropolis.
I grew up knowing the yin, and grew out knowing the yang.
Music too was white or black: you either sided with good ole country standards and Tejano or you rejected that crap and took up the flag of hip-hop and heavy metal.
Yours truly chose the latter.
To this day, I continue to credit metal's promotion of the self and inherent cathartic qualities for equipping me with the tools to transition from childhood to adulthood. Its unflinching look at life's visceral sludge and putrid decay brought me back to earth and moved me forward.
In the summer of 1991, "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey" was released. Fittingly, this was the very film my brother and I would see following the announcement of our family's dissolution. One song from that soundtrack served as my rite of passage.
Megadeth - Go to Hell
(From the soundtrack to "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey," 1991)
- Jack Kerouac, "On the Road"
San Antonio is one of those strange cities that, to me growing up, seemed anything but.
My first 11 years were spent in its sheltered, scenic suburbia. Everything appeared established and anchored: people were who they were and places never changed. This afforded me a wealth of security, yet left me with a faulty worldview. San Antonio didn't change and, if you lived there, you didn't change. People went about their lives being who they were and meeting their day-to-day responsibilities.
It wasn't until my parents' separation that I detected a different, darker undercurrent. A fair comparison might be the introductory scene in David Lynch's "Blue Velvet": white picket fences, neighbors waving, quite picturesque ... until the pent-up pressure explodes. Then, and only then, does one see the "black bugs" squirming beneath the grass.
I then came to know San Antonio for what it was and is: a bipolar metropolis.
I grew up knowing the yin, and grew out knowing the yang.
Music too was white or black: you either sided with good ole country standards and Tejano or you rejected that crap and took up the flag of hip-hop and heavy metal.
Yours truly chose the latter.
To this day, I continue to credit metal's promotion of the self and inherent cathartic qualities for equipping me with the tools to transition from childhood to adulthood. Its unflinching look at life's visceral sludge and putrid decay brought me back to earth and moved me forward.
In the summer of 1991, "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey" was released. Fittingly, this was the very film my brother and I would see following the announcement of our family's dissolution. One song from that soundtrack served as my rite of passage.
Megadeth - Go to Hell
(From the soundtrack to "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey," 1991)
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