Love both the intro and outtro here. Owns the studio version. Filmed for Old Grey Whistle Test, London, England. Qu'est Que C'est. Fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa far better . . .
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
Fellow Elvis weirdos know that sometimes you just have to track down every conceivable version of the man's hits. So it was with Jackie DeShannon's cover of the Leiber/Stoller penned "Trouble" made famous by the king in his film King Creole, and seriously revamped in the '68 Comeback Special. A very early entry in DeShannon's career, the track was efficiently used this past week during the . . .
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
Most of the "new" music I'm interested in these days is the aural equivalent of throwing gasoline all over an amp/guitar/whatever, flicking a lit cigarette on it and watching it burn. And yeah, that's a good thing. I'm more than happy to take a pass on the whole Thompson Twins-esque stuff that's passing for 'innovative' right now. I instinctively get off on crunchy, fucked up, rock & roll --- the kind of stuff Ike Turner and the gang started 50 years ago with their blown out and brokedown, newspaper-stuffed, amplifier on . . .
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
Over the past six months I've been inviting some of my favorite voices online (and beyond) to guest DJ during my weekly show on SIRIUS XMU. For those of you sans satellite radio we've been turning the sets into mixtapes. They range from the sunkissed 70s grooves of Rising Storm and Cold Splinters to the blown out bootcut of DJ Turquoise Wisdom, with a delicious side of international taboo courtesy of Ponytone. Today we catch up with impresario/manager/gentleman Scottie Diablo.
Entitled THE CRAP OUT, Diablo's two-part mix draws completely from the burgeoning 90s underground garage rock circuit. Memphis...London...Detroit (and beyond) are all represented. Listening to this mix in 2010 is a fierce kick in the ass from a time (not so long ago) when "lo-fi" and "garage rock" weren't just music PR buzz words. So go ahead, indulge your inner teenage delinquent and press play.
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
Occasionally, when the mood strikes, I'll make seasonal recommendations, and folks, today is one such occasion. Newly reissued by Fat Possum, Sonny & The Sunsets' LP Tomorrow is Alright (originally released in 2009 via Soft Abuse) deserves a place in your summer soundtrack. Tailor made for sunburns, balmy nights and road trips, this is a record that already sounded good, and now, having given it the obligatory beach/campfire test, I'm reminded why some . . .
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
Sure, Richard Hell may have taken more than a few liberties with "Blank Generation," but what's that old adage again; "good artists borrow, great artists steal"? Before Hell dubbed his generation 'blank,' Bob McFadden and Dor were talking their own jive on "The Beat Generation" parodying all the hep cats that were emerging on the "scene." Can ya dig?
MP3: become a member or log in.
J. Neas reporting from the final day of the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago at Union Park. A hard and fast thunderstorm tore through the park area right before kick-off today and the result was a muggy, hot afternoon. But as I said yesterday, Sunday was no slouch of a line-up, and it seemed bands were determined to make sure people remembered today as the best of the weekend.
The first band I caught was L.A.'s Best Coast. Bethany Cosentino and the band put on a fantastic set. However, I wish they had been just a bit louder as the A stage would prove to be a problem for B stage performers off and on throughout the day. Sounds bleeding through were worse than in past times and it made for a bit of confused listening at times if you weren't solidly close to the B stage. They did "Boyfriend" and that was more than enough to satisfy me when it was time to go catch Girls on one of the main stages. Opening with "Laura," the band performed a dynamic set full of ballads and pure noise that was sequenced beautifully. Christopher Owens teased the crowd when, later in the set, people began shouting out for lead track "Lust for Life." "Yeah, we don't do Iggy Pop covers," he deadpanned. But they soon ran through one of their best songs in excellent form.
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
J. Neas reporting here from Chicago and Day 2 of the Pitchfork Music Festival in Union Park. The theme of the day was, again, sun and hydration. I at times feel, weather wise, like I haven't left the South, except that there are fairly common breezes and far less humidity. Safety was the rule of thumb. I witnessed a gate bag-checker praise a festival-goer for having sunblock. I've also seen quite a few parents of small children with the wherewithal to provide hearing protection, something I don't always see parents remember. Good job, folks.
Saturday started with a jolt of rock and roll courtesy of Free Energy, DFA Record's latest signing, setting up interesting bookends for the day. The crowds have been coming earlier this year and Free Energy had a large audience to wake up. They did so admirably with some amazing guitar work including some guitar tapping that just felt good to the ears. New Jersey's Real Estate had a more low-key approach in the increasingly hot afternoon, but their brand of lilting jangle was a crowd pleaser as well.
A tandem that worked well together, though in radically different ways, were Delorean and Titus Andronicus. Delorean's electronic flavored dance rock was an energetic lead in to the brutish, punkish, Springsteen of Titus who may well have been the day's best performance. Opening their show with The Monitor's "A More Perfect Union," the set was a relentless onslaught of powerhouse rock that sent lead singer Patrick Stickles into the audience crowd surfing. There has to be some measurement of how far back from the stage you see people either putting their fists in the air or dancing to gauge how well a band went over and, aside from one other band I'll discuss later, they probably had the deepest penetration into the audience of the day.
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
J. Neas here reporting from Chicago. The opening day of the 2010 Pitchfork Music Festival is done and what a wild ride its already been. The park feels more full than last year (did they release more tickets or something, or am I imagining things?), but the atmosphere is still great. I'll return to some of the daily production notes in a second, but first to the music.
I arrived in time to catch the Tallest Man on Earth's set. Kristian Matsson openly complained (in his low-key, Swedish, non-griping way) of having had little sleep and the sun being unbearable. It was a warm Chicago afternoon and the cloudless sky was making it quite the oven down on the field. But he worked through his set with the same energy he has brought to other performances. All solo acoustic or slow-tempo performers face the same uphill battle at an outdoor festival: keeping a hot, sweaty audience from getting antsy. He did a noble job of it and the crowd reacted accordingly.
But as soon as he was done, El-P took the stage and brought energy to an afternoon that sorely needed it. Pulling out new songs, a handful from I'll Sleep When You're Dead and even one or two from the legendary Fantastic Damage, the set was full of fist pumping works. Even on the more dour, depressing material, his band, hype man and himself put on a great show. It was a great lead into the day's first certifiable noise act, Liars. I wish I could say I caught more of their set, but the rather punishing sun was making the stage where stand-up comedians had now begun, which is under a complete canopy of trees, way more inviting.
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
Our weekly two hour show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 26 (SIRIUS), and channel 43 (XM), can now be heard twice, every Friday — Noon EST with an encore broadcast at Midnight EST.
SIRIUS 150: Jean Michel Bernard - Generique Stephane ++ The Beach Boys - Papa Oom Mow Mow ++ Carlos & The Bandidos - Mexicali Baby ++ Alan Vega - Jukebox Babe ++ The Kinks - Picture Book ++ The Yardbirds - Stroll On ++ Conspiracy of Owls - Ancient Robots ++ Family Portrait - Mega Secrets ++ The Rock*A*Teens - R*A . . .
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
Ahoy there, J. Neas here. AD is once again heading to the Pitchfork Fest at Union Park in Chicago later this week. I'll be posting daily recaps of the previous day's festivities here on AD as well as updating my personal Twitter account during the day. No promises that you won't have to read the occasional tweet about lines at port-o-johns, but for the most part it'll be live tweet reactions to the artists on stage and anything else awesome that goes down. Below are a handful of the bands I'm most looking forward to catching if you're looking to stalk and/or buy me beers.
Once again, the opening day of the festival changes its focus. This year the festival goes back to a more traditional opening day lineup with an earlier start on Friday (3:30 PM CST). No gimmicks this year (like last year's Write the Night fan requests or previous years' Don't Look Back-style complete album performances), but Friday does include a first: stand-up comedians. I'm especially looking forward to The Daily Show's Wyatt Cenac (6:30 PM), The State/Stella member Michael Showalter (7:15 PM) and the incomparable Eugene Mirman (8:00 PM). In the realm of music, Tallest Man on Earth (4:00 PM) gets the festival off to a great start early on, but he's sure to get some noise competition quickly as El-P (4:35 PM) takes his awesome show to the stage. It's been a number of years since I last saw El-Producto, but he was an amazing performer then and no doubt now. The always intriguing Liars (5:30 PM) go on to give a nice pre-dinner performance for people and, for dessert, Broken Social Scene (7:20 PM). The night's headliner is Modest Mouse (8:30 PM), a band that I have never seen live, so am greatly looking forward to finally catching.
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
One more track from the garage off the (forthcoming) Where The Boys Aren't mixtape. Holly Golightly and co. may not have written "Meet Jacqueline" (that would be the Troggs), but in terms of sheer attitude and swagger their version is without question the definitive. Powered by an ever present Bo Diddley . . .
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
When a band comes rumbling out of nowhere with a sound that artfully evokes the past, it's typical to wait for the eventual downfall the second time around. Conventional wisdom goes that you have a whole lifetime to write your first album and maybe a year for the second. The Love Language's Libraries, however, is the antithesis of the sophomore slump. A radiant, glowing expansion of the sound of their self-titled debut . . .
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
By the time of Attempted Mustache's 1973 release Loudon Wainwright III had been kicking around for some time, releasing several critically acclaimed folk albums throughout the early 70s. One of Loudon's finest efforts, the LP is a loose, low key, affair with brutally honest lyrics coupled with a few shambolic, drunken performances that are highly entertaining. So while the playing and atmosphere is relaxed, this LP . . .
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.
Any silence on my part per the recent reissue of the Stones Exile On Main Street has more to do with the fact that I've written about the album and its contents so much in the past that I have very little left to say on the subject (versus any implied lack . . .
Only the good shit. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by its patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support.
To continue reading, become a member or log in.