JON LANGFORD AND SKULL ORCHARD-Old Devils and Jon Langford, A to Z

Posted on August 3rd, 2010 by ekko

When Joe Strummer died, a piece of him stayed behind inside of Jon Langford. Langford, a Welsh singer-songwriter, is one of the rare examples of a drummer (as part of the seminal punk band The Mekons) who was able to transform into a guitar-playing bandleader. Like Strummer, he infused his raw, energetic, and unrehearsed punk sensibility with elements of country and folk, playing with bands like Waco Brothers and Three Johns (with John Hyatt) before forming the Skull Orchard band. There are few artists today whose albums I instantly take to as strongly as Langford, and his 2010 release, “Old Devils,” is no exception. Simple rock and roll/punk/country tunes about love, loss and pain played with a terrific band (fellow Waco Brothers Alan Doughty and Joe Camarillo on bass and drums respectively and the Zincs/Horse’s Ha dapper, finger-picking Englishman Jim Elkington on guitar).

I’ve listened to this album straight through half a dozen times already. If this isn’t one of the best albums of the year, then we’re in for a great second half of 2010.

Here’s a song from the new one:
Getting Used to Uselessness

BONUS JON LANGFORD LIVE, A to Z!

I love this dude so much, I want to pay a full tribute . . . All are direct links, so no need for a zip file. (And I know that much of the Mekons stuff is post-Langford, but I still dig it, and his fingerprints are all over that band.)

A is for American Pageant-Jon Langford and his Sadies.

B is for another cover: Big River-The Mekons.

C is for children’s music. Langford isn’t always all about the grown ups. You can find a great kids show here, featuring all kinds of classics like “I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly” and “Big Rock Candy Mountain.”

D and E are forDeath of the European-John Langford (acoustic).

F is for Fantastic Voyage-The Mekons

G is for Getting Used to Uselessness, from the new album!

H is for Kelly Hogan’s appearance with Jon on Time Changes Everything.

I is for I Fought the Law (Bobby Fuller Four cover)-Waco Brothers.  Millions of people cover this song, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard a bad version.  Makes me wonder if I could do it…..

J is for Johnny Cash’s Long Black Veil-Jon Langford.

K and L are for Key Largo-Jon Langford.  No, it’s not a cover of that schmaltzy guilty pleasure by Bertie Higgins.

M is for Mekons, and N is for the Mekons anthem Never Been in a Riot.

P is for Pill Sailor-Jon Langford.  I love the image of a pill sailor.

R is for Reno, where Johnny shot a man, just to watch him die, in the classic Folsom Prison Blues-Jon Langford.

S is for Stay a Little Longer-Jon with Neko Case.

T is for a three-song medley: Take This Hammer/Goodnight Irene/I Got Stripes-Jon Langford (acoustic).

V is for that comely vixen in the Tom Jones cover Delilah-Jon Langford (acoustic).

W is for the classic country cover What a Good Year for the Roses-Mekons.  I know Elvis Costello had the balls to cover this song first.  Elvis’ “Almost Blue” record is one I played the crap out of.

Y is for You Ain’t Going Nowhere, a song made famous by The Byrds.

Z is for Big Zombie-Mekons.

If you’re not a fan of Jon’s after downloading these tunes, you’re hopeless.

Tags: A to Z, Indie rock, Punk

THE TEST TUBE CASANOVA BRIGADE-The Cold Feet EP

Posted on July 8th, 2010 by ekko

You have to admire this ska-ish indie rock foursome’s wiseass myspace page (“Musical influences: Music we listen to/Sounds like: Music we play”) and their high-energy live performances. Their free too-short 3-song EP, available free, is a party and a blast. Remember when Tokyo Police Club and We Are Scientists were good?  Remember when Jack and Meg played more than they posed?  That’s what this is like.

I hope to hell these guys play the Iota down here in Arlington, VA.  They kick ass.

Get it free here.

Taste one of the songs here:

Feng-Schui Cabaret

Tags: Free Album!, Indie rock, Punk

TELEVISION PERSONALITIES-A Memory is Better Than Nothing

Posted on June 24th, 2010 by ekko

What the hell is this?  It sounds a little like Billy Bragg or Frank Turner or Joe Strummer . . . Or maybe The Libertines?  Sex Pistols?

After a couple weeks of generally mediocre submissions hitting the mailbag, in comes Television Personalities latest “last” album, A Memory is Better Than Nothing.  The band, the brainchild of Dan Treacy, has been making arty punk for a while now, like since 1978.  Is this new album their best?  No.  But it’s damn good.  Standout, rousing bar sing-alongs like “She’s My Yoko” and “Walk Towards the Light” are sentimental yet genuine; “Except for Jennifer” is moody psychedelia at its best; and “The Girl in the Hand Me Down Clothes” is a nice little pop number, albeit a slow one.  There’s no barnburners here, no radio-friendly hits, and none are needed.  It’s very cool to hear a guy who has been around for so long and can still punch out a solid, contemporary-sounding album.

She’s My Yoko

BONUS THOUGHTFUL BRITISH PUNKFOLKSTERS

Substitute-Frank Turner

Time For Heroes (The Libertines cover)-Graham Coxon

Tags: Indie rock, Punk

PICTURE OF THE DAY + Plus some tunage!

Posted on June 3rd, 2010 by ekko

9.  POST SOME TUNES!!

I don’t usually post singles or review a band who only have a few songs to offer, but today I am making an exception.

First, a cover of Candi Staton’s “Young Hearts Run Free” by The Swell Season.  This is far and away the best cover I’ve heard this year.

Young Hearts Run Free – The Swell Season

Second, a submission from New York’s “The Enthusiasts”, whose two-song single In The City is available from Infirmary Phonographic records. Solid newbie Punk.

In the City

Tags: Covers, Picture of the day, Punk

PICTURE OF THE DAY: Hardcore Edition

Posted on May 6th, 2010 by ekko

Ain’t this the truth . . .

Tags: Picture of the day, Punk

HELLRIDE EAST (J. MASCIS and MIKE WATT)

Posted on April 26th, 2010 by ekko

Hellride East is the cover project by Minutemen bassist Mike Watt; Dinosaur Jr.’s J. Mascis and Murph. There were other iterations of Hellride, but this was the New York one. And best of all: All they did was Iggy. From July 22, 2000, at NY’s great Knitting Factory venue . . .

SETLIST:*
01. real cool time
02. little doll
03. not right
04. 1969
05. 1970
06. funhouse
07. down on the street
08. loose
11. i wanna be your dog
(Taste this track, to see if you want the zipfile below):

12. i got a right
13. “evan”
14. no fun
15. search & destroy

ZIPFILE

*A few tracks are missing, and there might be some from another show mixed in here . . .

Tags: Bootleg, Covers, Punk

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Posted on April 14th, 2010 by ekko

And that, my friends, is what Punk Rock is really about.  All you new punk poseurs take note.

Tags: Picture of the day, Punk

DUM DUM GIRLS-I Will Be

Posted on March 29th, 2010 by ekko

There’s this thing about the modern versions of the punk/garage universe occupied by folks like The Strange Boys, Nobunny, etc.: Lots of it sounds the same.  It’s a driving beat with occasional flourishes, a chainsaw guitar, vocals with echo, and ample fuzzy guitar breaks that sound like The Byrds on crystal meth.  I must receive a submission a week from bands that sound like this.  So when I heard the first song (“It Only Takes One Night”) off the new debut full-length from the Dum Dum Girls, I wasn’t impressed.  (If you’re a regular reader, though, you know I don’t write about bands who don’t impress me.  So don’t stop reading here!)  It’s shoegaze garage punk.  Then I saw the bio and found that the bandleader’s name is Dee Dee, they’re from L.A., on Sub Pop, and produced by veteran Richard Gottehrer (The Vovoids, Blondie, The Go-Go’s).   Again: Ho-hum.

But it’s my policy that unless the first song absolutely sucks, I will give every album a fair shake.  So I listen on. And it gets better.  There’s no overmodulated screaming.  The hooks are 1960s garage grind, sure, but the drumming is . . . Special.  Frankie Rose (Crystal Stilts, Vivian Girls) sounds ordinary until you really listen.  She’s  not just keeping time–she’s the person in charge here.  On the title track, for example, she runs ahead of the vocals and the rest of the band.  That’s unusual.  Unhead of, actually, because most of these D.I.Y. bands aren’t capable of chasing of the drummer and when they try, they sound like mud.  But on the very next song, “Lines in Her Eyes,” they take the opposite track, and the entire band can’t seem to keep up with lead singer Kristin “Dee Dee” Gundred. This is not to take away from the rest of the group, either: All play an important part in the overall sound here. That’s really the thing that makes Dum Dum Girls stand out: They play like a team, without losing that loose “we’re figuring it out as we go along” punky vibe.  This “power quartet” of four ladies has something.

Jail La La (direct download)

D.A.L. (non-album track) (direct download)

Tags: Punk

THE HOT RATS-Turn Ons

Posted on March 5th, 2010 by ekko

Cover albums are usually a collection of songs that sound pretty much like the originals, with some really eclectic choices to show how cool the band is.  In other words, they’re about establishing credibility for musical tastes, but not so much for musical skill.  It’s much easier to be creative when someone else already did the creating part of the job.

But not so, “Turn Ons,” the debut album by Supergrass side project Hot Rats (starring Gaz Coombes and Danny Goffey).  The songs here are more than covers—they take on the originals in meaningful ways, even changing the very composition.  The most obvious example is their falsetto, almost emo cover of The Beastie Boys anthem, “Fight for Your Right To Party,” which I didn’t even recognize until I did a double-take on the lyrics.  But there are subtler examples as well.  The Lovecats, for example, is beautifully reworked from goth to psychedelic punk, and Bike is reworked from psychedelic rock to psychedelic new wave, while Squeeze’s “Up the Junction” goes from soulless Europop to a song with painful meaning.  Honestly, I knew all the lyrics to that song and must have listened to it a hundred times at college parties, but I never realized it was a desperate song about an alcoholic who destroys his own marriage.

You’ll be curious about this album because it’s a covers album and, hey, who doesn’t love covers?  But you should get it because it’s very, very good.  And unlike most covers projects, it might actually surprise you.

Fight For Your Right to Party (YSI)

BONUS!

Party for Your Right to Fight-Atmosphere (YSI)

Tags: Indie rock, Punk

STRANGE BOYS-Be Brave

Posted on March 1st, 2010 by ekko

Last April, I prayed that a group of really obnoxious looking kids called The Strange Boys would get some hype and love. Sometimes, dreams come true.  In the Red Records (Black Lips, Jay Reatard, Mystery Girls) will release the Austin, Texas band’s latest foray into organ-driven, 1950s garage-style nasal punk this month. The band has grown a little bit, but they still sound a bunch of weirdos practicing in their basement.  And that D.I.Y. sound is what makes them so much fun . . . And so damn good.  It’s the kind of music where anything can happen.  The single, “Be Brave,” is freakin’ awesome.  And you gotta dig the lyrics, too, even if you have to strain to understand them sometimes.  A favorite is from the lead-off track, “I See,” which goes: “Tonight’s dinner is tomorrow’s shit/Enjoy it before it stinks.”  It sounds like it’s trying to be profound, but comes off as just rude.  Love that.

The album is already out in Europe, and I’m warning you: Don’t sleep on it.  The Strange Boys fucking kick ass.

I See

Video for “Be Brave,” with lightswitch-flickering strobe effects!

Tags: Indie rock, Punk