Tags: Comic books, Garth Freakin Ennis, Garth Freakin Ennis, Punisher, Superman, The Caped Crusader
So they’re called The Demos and their album is called “Lovely.” Now try to google them. Go ahead. I dare you.
In short, it’s hard to find out much about these guys, but I dig this album. It’s very Beatles/Bangles-ish pop—sunny, happy, straightforward and clean, and full of harmonies. They sound young, fun, and full of hope.
Get it for ten bucks on Bandcamp.
Tags: Indie Pop
2 new cool mixtapes….
First, a blendtape. It’s called “The Chronic” but the music is really more like Dr. Dre’s greatest hits…It’s got Dre Day, Deep Cover, Let Me Ride, Bitches Ain’t Shit, Dopeman, St8 Outta Compton…..
Pretty cool.
Taste it: Ain’t Nuthin’ But a G Thang
DJ Fletch: Notorious BIG vs. The Chronic
Next is the sequel to B.O.B.’s “The Adventures of Bobby Ray,” all originals:
01 Intro 4:08
02 Incredible 3:30
03 Ok 3:00
04 Sky High 2:58
05 Pay Attension 4:23
06 Question 1:56
07 Who Are Ya 5:48
08 Trend Setter 0:49
09 Interlude 4:09
10 Who It Is 1:37
11 Just A Holiday 3:16
12 Let Me Talk 3:37
Link.
For a band that shares its name with the name of a song by one of the most vanilla rock stars of all time, “Night Moves” sure are weird. In many ways, the entire album is a lo-fi tribute to 1970s waaah waaah disco–but in others, it’s flat out experimental indie. The mixture of sounds and textures, beats and patterns in “Country Queen,” for example, is bizarre and rich–it will keep you guessing on repeated listens, and is great example of the many places a single song can go. Kind of like the indie rock answer to Dr. Suess. But I can hear the influence of Sinead O’Connor, at least in the delivery, on “Old Friends.” Or is that Queen? I can’t pin it down. And then there’s “Only a Child,” which is Supertramp-meets-Scissor Sisters–a psychedelic, piano-driven anthem about…Well, I confess. I don’t know what any of these songs are about. I can’t even figure out what “Cosmic Titties” is about, and you’d think that would be a gimme.
But don’t come here for profundity or meaning or anything linear. Come here for the atmosphere. It’s some of the best I’ve sampled this year….Mostly because there’s real music underneath it all. It’s not just sounds and random weirdness for its own sake. This is deep and rich sound collage.
Oh, and if you’re still trying to guess what I meant by the first line of this review, the answer is: Bob Seger. They sound nothing like him. In fact, that’s just about the only thing they don’t sound like.
This is a candidate for the best debut of the year.
Headlights
Night Moves Headlights
Cosmic Titties
Night Moves Cosmic Titties
Get it for free here.
Tags: Free Album!, Indie, Indie space rock
Candidate: Indie pop from NYC that was good enuf for a feature on one of the “big name” “established” blogs. If I like them, too, does that make a joiner? Or just a copy cat?
Well, it’s okay if you call me a joiner. I think these dudes are pretty cool
Bandcamp, where you can stream or buy.
Tags: Indie Pop
To all who participate in message board hollering: The 1980s did not suck for comic books. I am so sick and tired of idiots who say that nothing good happened before Miller revamped Batman. To all those who say that Marv Wolfman/Steve Gerber/Jim Shooter/Roger Stern/John Byrne/etc. were hacks, I say: Baloney. You need to change your expectations when you read back issues from the 1980s. You don’t pick up those books for pseudo-realism or long-form, decompressed narratives or gritty violence. You pick them up for (gasp!) fun.
Remember: the average comic reader wasn’t even a teenager back then. Even Bruce Springsteen wasn’t a complete cynic until 1985. And remember as well that comics never sold better than when they focused on telling fun stories and not taking themselves so seriously.
Let’s look at the scorecard: The pre-Dark Knight 1980s (i.e., 1980 to mid ’86) brought us lasting characters, who are still frequently used and/or referred to today. These are all I thought of off the top of my head; I haven’t verified them or anything, but feel free to correct me/add your own in the comments. (And I have to say, looking at a list like that, I’m hard-pressed to come up with that many influential things from the early 2000s.)
Here’s why Marvel/DC didn’t suck:
• Dark Phoenix
• Tony Stark getting too drunk to iron (and being replaced by Rhodey)
• Beta Ray Bill
• Slade Wilson, a.k.a. Deathstroke The Terminator, and the whole Wolfman/Perez run on Teen Titans. Especially Starfire’s bazongas.
• Ambush Bug
• Captain Carrot
• Peter Porker the Spectacular Spider-Ham (okay, that sucked a little—but it was a nice try!)
• Frog Thor
• Spidey’s symbiote costume
• Power Man and Iron Fist!!!!
• The death of Elektra
• The Great Darkness Saga (Legion of Super Heroes)
• Nightwing
• Alpha Flight
• X-Men: Days of Future Passed
• Crisis on Infinite Earths and The Secret Wars
• Moon Knight (he debuted in the 1970s, but his first, best ongoing was in the early 1980s)
• “I’m the best at what I do. But what I do best isn’t very nice.”
• The first appearance of Rogue
• Camelot 3000
• The Starjammers (go Corsair!)
• Lobo
• The Death of Captain Marvel original graphic novel
• The Death of Jean DeWolff
• Spidey fights Juggernaut
Here’s why the indie market was just as strong and vibrant:
• Matt Wagner’s Grendel
• Marvel’s creator-owned Epic Comics line (featuring Dreadstar and Groo, among other titles)
• Steve Rude’s Nexus
• Neil the Horse gets his own comic!
• William Messner-Loebs’ “Journey”
• Badger
• Normalman
• Fish Police
• The Detectives, Inc. Original Graphic Novels by Don McGregor
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Bill Willingham’s “The Elementals”
• Flaming Carrot
• Max Alan Collins’ “Ms. Tree” series
• Elfquest
• Cerebus the Aardvark
—
Now, let us not speak of this again.
Tags: Comic books
When I wrote about The Black Rabbits’ terrific self-titled EP, I compared them to Spoon and said the only bad thing about them was their name.
I stand by those words.
The band’s debut album, Hypno Switch, has every song from that EP, plus several new ones. Of those, we’ve got “All Alone Again,” which is even more Spoon-soundy, and the lead track—and clear single—“Twist,” which adds a little bit of Metric-like power to the pop. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
The band is led by two brothers with rock N roll names– Jetson and Skyler Black—and they just signed to Rock Ridge. Congratulate them by checking them out. Real good stuff.
Tags: Indie rock
Astrid Swan is releasing an album of Pavement covers titled “Hits (Pavement for Girls).” I don’t usually post press release singles, but this is just too great to pass by.
Astrid Swan- Box Elder by Soliti
Tags: Covers
Brooklyn-based indie rockers Field Theory are kinda like post-New Wave, indie poppish, College rockers. Through a somewhat nasal vocal delivery, George Lakis wails about socially relevant things and problems with relationships–you know, the usual stuff of indie rock–and talks about getting older. Which is kind of a good way to think of Field Theory–they sound like a group of guys who are too old and experienced to play something frivolous, but not so old that they are ready to stop being rockers. On repeated listenings, this EP continued to capture my earspace–and that takes a lot these days, what with being inundated with submissions. So give ‘em a try–I think you’ll dig it!
Cop it off of Amazon here.
Tags: Extended Player (EP), Indie rock
