make music that is hard to describe. It lands somewhere between punk, garage rock, and noise rock. It’s full of fury and powerful riffs and their Levitation Austin set (April 27th at Barracuda, starting at 11:30pm) will surely be one of the loudest at the whole festival. I’m glad I have new earplugs.
Keep your mind open.
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Art punk Ron Gallo will be playing one of the first time slot at Levitation Austin this year – 6pm at Stubb’s on April 26th. He’s also playing the next day at 5:30pm on Barracuda, both times in support of Ty Segall. I caught Mr. Gallo and his crew in Fort Wayne a couple years ago and was immediately impressed with his chops on guitar and witty lyrics wrapped in punk attitude. His debut album, Heavy Meta, was one of my top picks of 2017. Check him out while tickets for him are still reasonably priced.
Keep your mind open.
[It would be really nice if you subscribed.]
US:
July 1 – Oakland – Burger Boogaloo Festival
It’s a bit difficult for me to believe that it took me nearly three months to see some live music this year, but it’s true. January and February were filled with crazy work schedules that weren’t conducive to making a trip even an hour’s drive away to see any bands or performers.
That all changed with getting to see Shopping, Tyvek,and Ganser at Chicago’s Beat Kitchen two nights ago. I’d been keen on catching Shopping since hearing their newest album, The Official Body. I knew nothing about Tyvek and Ganser going in, apart from a few video clips and digital tracks here and there. Tyvek was loud and brash garage punk. Ganser was darker and local post-punk. This was also my first time at the Beat Kitchen. It’s a nice, small venue, and the food there looked pretty good.
One thing I’ve discovered about Chicago shows is that, for the most part, the set start times are rigid. Ganser kept up this tradition by starting at promptly 8:00pm. They played an impressive set to a hometown crowd that included multiple tracks from their upcoming album Odd Talk. Their stuff was sassy, jagged, and assertive. Odd Talk should be a fine record based on what I heard at the Beat Kitchen.
Up next were Detroit’s / Philadelphia’s Tyvek. They were as loud and hammering as I’d expected, and throwing saxophone riffs into the mix only made it better. Lead singer / guitarist Kevin Boyer‘s axe looked like it had been bounced off a few floors and used as a cutting board, and the blaring chords he drew out of it only seemed to confirm my suspicions.
Shopping had a large crowd by the time they took the stage. I was glad to see so many people for the U.K. band that had spent most of the last couple months zig-zagging across the U.S. They had the crowd jumping almost from the first note, and encouraged dancing throughout their entire set. They sounded great. Rachel Aggs‘ gets notes of her guitar that jump like water across a hot griddle. Every song had a bouncing energy to it that was inescapable. Highlights from the set included “The Hype,” “Wild Child,” and “My Dad’s a Dancer.”
The best way I can sum up their set is by what a woman yelled out from the crowd between songs: “You guys are so fun!” Bassist Billy Easter said, “Thanks. It’s fun being up here, too.”
Shopping set the bar high for live bands to follow this year. Catch them if you can. You need to get in on the fun they’re delivering.
Keep your mind open.
[Thanks to Sam McAllister from Pitch Perfect PR for hooking me up with a press pass for the show.]
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TRACKLISTING:
1. Standing On The Edge Of Tomorrow
2. Devil In Disguise
3. We’re So Nice
4. Look Left
5. Evil Spirits
6. Shadow Evocation
7. Sonar Deceit
8. Procrastination
9. Daily Liar
10. I Don’t Care
Catch the band on tour this January and February. Main support comes from fabled Stray Cats drummer Slim Jim Phantom (*except Koko), whilst support at Koko and The Forum comes from Kristeen Young.
See The Damned on their ‘Evil Spirits’ tour 2018:
27th January – Dundee, Caird Hall
28th January – Glasgow, O2 Academy
30th January – Leeds, O2 Academy Leeds
31st January – Manchester, Academy 1
1st February – Birmingham, O2 Academy
3rd February – Leicester, O2 Academy
4th February – Nottingham, Rock City
6th February – Folkestone, Leas Cliff Hall
7th February – Southend, Cliffs Pavilion
9th February – Cardiff, Great Hall
10th February – Bristol O2, Academy Bristol
11th February – Bournemouth, O2 Academy
13th February – Southampton, O2 Guildhall
14th February – Bexhill De La Warr Pavilion
16th February – Koko, London*
17th February London, O2 Forum
Tickets available HERE
Follow The Damned at:
Keep your mind open.
[No evil spirits will visit if you subscribe…I think.]
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There aren’t many better ways to start a new year than a release from L7, and it’s ever better when it’s a recording of a crazy 1990 live show in Detroit. Detroit begins with the band apologizing for arriving late, co-lead vocalist and guitarist Donita Sparks making fun of a drunk guy in the crowd, and then having issues with guitarist / co-lead vocalist Suzi Gardner‘s microphone before unleashing a sonic assault with “Fast and Frightening.” Thankfully, Gardner’s microphone works just fine for “(Right on) Thru” as she belts out the vocals like a professional boxer.
“Scrap” chugs along like a monster truck. “Broomstick” is a forgotten metal classic. “Packin’ a Rod” seems to fly by at 100mph (and ends with more great banter of Sparks taking down the rude drunk). The inclusion of one of their earliest hits, “Cat-O’-Nine-Tails” is a welcome one, and the first time I’ve heard it live. It’s crazier (and better) than I’d hoped it would be. “Deathwish” is like a saw slicing through a log while the lumber mill is being swarmed by killer bees. It ends with more fun banter like Sparks promising she’ll learn how to play guitar before their next tour.
“Till the Wheels Fall Off” has drummer Dee Plakas going bonkers through the whole track and probably terrifying most of the men in the crowd. Gardner’s vocals on “Shove” are, as always, more like a hockey check than a push. They end on “Bloodstains” before coming back for a fiery encore. They initially offer to take requests, but that quickly devolves into drunken chaos in the crowd and Sparks dealing with tuner problems. Bassist Jennifer Finch briefly teases playing some Black Sabbath before they announce “This is really going to suck, but we’re gonna do it anyway,” and launch into “Shitlist.” This was when “Shitlist” hadn’t reached its levels of popularity that it has today. This is the first time I’ve heard reverb effects on Sparks’ vocals (as she dedicates the song to her broken tuner), and they push her voice to the back wall of the venue.
Detroit is a welcome edition to L7‘s catalogue, and a nice time capsule of raw 1990’s rock. By the way, they haven’t lost a thing. They still hit as hard almost thirty years later.
Keep your mind open.
[Shove your e-mail address in the subscription box before you go.]
Austin, Texas punk / no wave legends Terminal Mind only blazed through the Austin scene for three years (1978 – 1981), but they are back with a powerful release of rare cuts from their short time together. Recordings collects a rare four-song 7″, live cuts, and unreleased studio tracks. It’s a solid collection and already in the running for best reissue of 2018.
Opening with the skronky, bold “I Want to Die Young,” the band’s powerhook guitars are put front and center right away. “I see life as a TV at midnight, nothing but static and outdated reruns,” Steve Marsh sings as he dreams of becoming something better than he is now before he gets old and waits for a heart attack.
“Refugee” has Marsh continuing his themes of alienation as he sings, “In a war, there are winners and losers. I’m in-between.” The post-punk attitude of “Sense of Rhythm” is sharp as a hatchet (and so is the drumming). “Zombieland” sounds like an early Devo cut as Marsh sings about the joys of “living in negative space” and ignoring the suffering and injustice around you. The guitars on it devolve into a wild cacophony that almost sounds like air raid sirens by the end.
“Obsessed with Crime” has a raw energy not unlike something you’d hear from the Stooges. Terminal Mind once opened for them, so the influence shouldn’t surprise anyone. The guitars and bass on “Fear in the Future” are downright dangerous. Marsh growls “Time is a trigger, I hold it in my hand. I point it at the future. I think you understand.”
The live tracks begin with the snappy “Radioactive,” in which Marsh sings about hoping to have super powers so he can survive a nuclear war and watch everything burn around him. The equally speedy “Bridges Are for Burning” follows it.
“No one wants to know the meaning of life anymore,” Marsh sings on the angry “(I Give Up on) Human Rights.” “Black” is like Joy Division if they decided to speed up the beats and crank up the distortion. You can almost feeling the audience grooving during “Missing Pieces.” The keyboards on “Bureaucracy” slather the song in a glorious, distorted noise that ends the album on a high, post-punk note.
Three years was too short for a band this good, but at least we have this reissue to remember Terminal Mind. Let’s hope for some new material in the future. I’d love to hear their take on modern times.
Keep your mind open.
[I don’t want you to die young. I just want you to subscribe.]
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Terminal Mind premiere track from forthcoming retrospective Recordings
Extremely rare collectors’ fave 7″, Live at Raul’s compilation cuts and unreleased studio & live tracks from Austin first wave punk trio
Hear & share “Refugee” (Soundcloud) (Austin Chronicle)
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“Grayscale art-rock with punk desperation channeled through instrumental and songwriting legitimacy…Terminal Mind remains an act locals still celebrate despite a short lifespan and being under-recorded.” — Austin Chronicle
First-wave Austin, TX punk trio Terminal Mind premiere the first track from their forthcoming retrospective album today via Austin Chronicle. Recordings collects the short lived band’s 4-song 7″ (which fetches upwards of $100 on eBay), Live At Raul‘s compilation cuts and outstanding unreleased studio and live recordings. Hear and share “Refugee” HERE. (Direct Soundcloud.)
Terminal Mind, formed in 1978, was one of the early first-wave punk acts in Austin, TX. Based far from the urban roots of a genre in its earliest stages, the band absorbed influences as disparate as Pere Ubu, Roxy Music, John Cale, and Wire. The life span was short, but their influence touched many of the next generation of Texas noise and hardcore acts as they shared bills with fellow proto-punks The Huns and Standing Waves at Raul’s, The Big Boys on the UT campus, and even opened for Iggy Pop at the Armadillo World Headquarters.
Founding members Steve Marsh and the Murray Brothers, Doug and Greg, started as a trio before adding synthesizer player Jack Crow. Steve Marsh moved to New York with his experimental noise band Miracle Room (before eventually returning to Austin and forming space/psychedelic rock band Evil Triplet and beginning an experimental solo project dubbed Radarcave), while Doug Murary joined the Skunks and Greg Murray played in a later version of The Big Boys. Jack Crow passed away in 1994.
This collection of songs is a journey back to the ‘anything goes’ first steps of American punk as it left the dirty streets of New York and Los Angeles and made its way into the heartland. Like the Austin of 1978, Recordings is a small outpost of musical individualism that planted seeds for the alternative music explosion familiar to later generations.
Recordings will be available on LP, CD and download on January 19th, 2018 via Sonic Surgery Records.
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 Artist: Terminal Mind
Album: Recordings
Label: Sonic Surgery Records Release Date: January 19, 2018
01. I Want to Die Young
02. Refugee
03. Sense of Rhythm
04. Zombieland
05. Obsessed With Crime
06. Fear In the Future
07. Radioactive
08. Bridges Are For Burning
09. (I Give Up On) Human Rights
10. Black
11. Missing Pieces
12. Bureaucracy
On The Web: |
I’d heard a lot of good things about Sleaford Mods, one of the best being that they were Iggy Pop‘s new favorite band. That alone makes them worth a listen, but if you come for the Iggy Pop suggestion, stay for what might be the most punk record you’ve heard all year…and there doesn’t appear to be a single guitar on it. It’s just Jason Williamson‘s half-rap, half-stream of consciousness social commentary and Andrew Fearn‘s minimalist electronic beats. When you first hear a Sleaford Mods song, you might think, “This shouldn’t work.” Yet, it does. It does every fucking time.
English Tapas, the band’s newest, is a punch to the gut of subjects like Brexit, working class blues, one-percenters, consumerism, Donald Trump, hipsters, and everything else currently annoying. The album title itself is a play on the gentrification of working class neighborhoods.
Opener “Army Nights” has them taking down weekend partiers. Fearn’s electro-bass is instantly addictive, as are most of his beats. They get stuck in your head and you find yourself humming them throughout the day. “Just Like We Do” has Williamson making fun of music snobs. “You walk around like a twat, just like we do,” he says, not caring about people who dwell on past accomplishments.
“Moptop” has Williamson worrying that he can’t cope with what’s happening around him (mostly having to deal with inane bands, internet overload, and annoying British politicians) while Fearn’s synth-bass gets downright groovy. It’s even groovier on “Messy Everywhere,” as Williamson sings about people being stuck in dead end jobs (“First it’s this, then it moves on to that…”) yearning to get out and shake up things.
I love how Fearns loops crickets chirping in “Time Sands” to mock the crickets in our heads as we see chaos and inequality all around us yet we stand and often do nothing. Williamson warns us that time, and history, is passing by us so we’d better “turn it upside-down” by getting off our asses and making our voices heard (or at least lending a hand now and then). “Snout” immediately trashes people creating perfect, fake images of themselves to project to the world via social media. “Felt like I was trying to be trendy, when I’m not,” Williamson says. “I don’t fuck about, I’m making sure I don’t give my kids anything to feel fucking embarrassed about.” Preach it, Jason. Seriously, this might be the angriest track I’ve heard all year.
“Drayton Manored” refers to an amusement park in Staffordshire, England and is a funny song about Williamson and Fearns lamenting about a long trip there and all the odd looks and attitudes they receive there. “Carlton Touts” has Williamson flat-out referring to English politicians and ticket touts (scalpers, as we call them here in the U.S.) as “fat bastards.” “Cuddly” has slick beats from Fearns that any hip hop producer would love to have in their back pocket. “What does a million quid a week bring when your brain can’t tell your legs to kick the fuckin’ thing?” Williamson asks, making us question our addictions – whatever they may be (iPhones? Drugs? Booze? Recognition?).
“Dull” lashes out at those who voted for Brexit (“Safe bet, all the oldies vote for death.”) and “B.H.S.” is a lament for over eleven thousand people who lost their jobs (and more lost their pensions) when a British businessman, Sir Philip Green, bankrupted the B.H.S. department store chain and skated to the Mediterranean with hundreds of millions of pounds. “I Feel So Wrong” has Williamson feeling conflicted over his own success with a chorus of him repeating the song’s title and lyrics like “I looked at myself tonight, I know I’m richer. It turns itself inside and burns that little bit deeper.”
This is one of the smartest, wittiest, best,and most punk albums of 2017. Sleaford Mods might not be for everyone, but they’re speaking for all of us.
Keep your mind open.
[I don’t have a moptop, but I could use a subscription.]
