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Levitation Austin – Day 3: No festival? No problem! Thanks, MR Fest!

What do you do when you fly from Indiana for Levitation Austin and it gets cancelled due to bad weather? You go to another music festival in San Marcos not even thirty miles away.

The Levitation coordinators and Travis County Emergency Services were putting out photos of the damaged festival site at Carson Creek Ranch by the time Saturday morning rolled around.

That’s just one photo. Others showed vendor tents wrapped around trees. You can see collapsed tents in the background. The camping area was underwater. There would’ve been many injuries and perhaps worse if campers had been there during the storm.

We got a nice breakfast, my wife got a manicure and pedicure, and we were off to San Marcos for MR Fest. My Radio Fest (AKA MR Fest) is put on each year by Texas State University radio – KTSW. It’s an indie rock festival taking place over one day and two nights in eight different venues in downtown San Marcos. The best part? All the shows are free. They were actively Tweeting for people devastated by the loss of Levitation to come down for it. I was sold once I learned Night Beats were playing Saturday night for free.

We got into town around 2:00pm and happened to park next door to Superfly’s – a wrecka stow that was also one of the eight venues. We walked in and saw a three-piece rock band called Sloe Your Roll who were putting on a good set of blues jam-rock.

We then wandered down to a nice underground bar called Kiva and saw a Hum-like three-piece called Sidechick. “They could play Levitation,” my wife said. She’s right. They have a solid sound that mixes shoegaze with hard rock.

Strange Lot played right after them. They were a mix of psych and stoner rock and so good I picked up their two CD’s after their set.

We got a snack and then came back to see a partial set from Jumping Moons, who were a heavy two-piece that played to the back wall.

We then headed across the street to Stonewall – a local gay bar that was hosting four different bands that night. The first we saw was The Real Hands, who played a set of mellow rock and a lot of songs about relationships. Another fun part about the Stonewall shows was that KTSW was giving away hundreds of CD’s from their archives. I snagged a copy of Bob Mould‘s Life and Times.

Up next were Dayluta Means Kindness, who were the loudest band we’d seen so far. They played a great set of instrumental heavy shoegaze / drone rock. I need to find their material.

We went to dinner at a local brew pub and realized the place was packed due to the NBA playoff game between the San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder starting about the time our food arrived. The pub was full of Spurs fans (as San Antonio is about 40 miles from San Marcos), so we joined in on the fun for the first quarter and then left to see the last half of the set by Mr. Lewis and the Funeral 5 (even though there are only four of them) – who play blues rock with a gothic twinge.

We walked across the town square to The Marc – a nice concert hall venue – to see Golden Graves open for The Night Beats. Golden Graves played to a welcoming crowd who liked their alt-rock style. You could tell they were having a good time, and that energy transferred to the crowd.

The Night Beats came out and put down another killer set. They had some issues with the Marc sound crew not getting stuff right in their monitors, but they soldiered through the difficulties and wowed the crowd by the end. It was their first time playing in San Marcos and they won many fans that night. They are gunslingers on stage, and the crowd knew it. “My face is melting!” yelled one college lad.

That was about the time I realized my wife and I were among the oldest people in the crowd. Truth to tell, I’ll still be going to shows like this thirty years from now.

We left tired but happy. It was a fun day that took us somewhere unexpected. Plus, we got to see the Night Beats twice in three nights – and once for free. I’d also scored tickets to a Sunday Levitation makeup show featuring Golden Dawn Arkestra – who was high on my list for the festival. Sunday was looking good.

Next: Double sitar and tabla, killer BBQ, electric shocks, the Karate Kid, and Ra worship.

Keep your mind open.

Levitation Austin – Day 2: No festival, no rain

We awoke Friday with no plan of what to do or where to go. We weren’t in panic mode, mind you. Austin’s a fun city and you can find plenty to do there. Live music is always happening at some place in town. I snagged a copy of the local alternative newspaper and scoured it for anything fun. The folks at Levitation had also Tweeted they were going to post the schedule and locations of makeup shows as soon as possible.

We decided to see a movie at one of the Alamo Drafthouse theaters in town. I discovered on the way there that many gigs had been scheduled for the weekend, and tickets were only five bucks apiece. I ordered tickets for a Friday night show at Empire featuring Imarhan, Indrajit Banerjee and Gourisankar, Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, Klaus Johan Grobe, and others. The other shows scheduled for the rest of the weekend sold out in minutes. The website crashed from so many people attempting to access it, meaning many were left high and dry for tickets. To make matters worse, scalpers went to the venues and bought fistfuls of the five-dollar tickets so they could attempt to reap a heavy profit from the desperate festival attendees.

We saw Keanu, and it’s good fun. I figured the city would be soaked in the predicted rain by the time we left the theater. Nope. Not a drop. The day continued with warm weather and cloudy skies, but no rain. Twitter was buzzing with angry Tweets to Travis County Emergency Services. Even I Tweeted, “Is your meteorologist of choice going to issue an apology for their erroneous forecast? This is egg on your face.”

They replied that “forecasts change” and they had to go with the information they had at the time. I replied that I understood their position, but they needed to issue a press release instead of the Levitation coordinators being responsible for dispensing all the information. Not doing so made them look even more like the grumpy men who cancelled the festival to spite all the hippies and freaks.

They did send out links to official statements not long after this. Their fire marshal explained that the ground was so saturated from previous flooding that they told the Levitation coordinators that they’d have to find alternate parking before the festival since people would get stuck there if the predicted rain came through, not to mention that it would flood the entire camping area. No alternate parking or camping areas could be found, so the festival was cancelled.

It turned out to be the right call because the predicted heavy storms came through around 4:30am on Saturday. 60mph wind gusts, hail, heavy rain, lightning strikes, and tornado warnings were involved.

But you’d probably like to know about the show we actually saw. We had a tasty ramen meal at a downtown restaurant and got to Empire in time to see Klaus Johan Grobe. They played a fun set of electro funk that we really enjoyed. We probably wouldn’t have seen them at the main festival because their set was during someone else’s I wanted to attend, so it was a lucky break for us.

I wandered to the outside stage to see the beginning of Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats‘ set. I didn’t stay for all of it because the humidity and heat was brutal out there. The venue had put up a long tent over the outside portion of the stage to protect the sound boards and attendees from more potential rain. The rain never came, but the humidity did. It combined with the heat of hundreds of bodies and was stifling. I went back inside to see Nots play their Bikini Kill-inspired rock set .

We were disappointed when sitar master Indrajit Banerjee and tabla master Gourisankar didn’t play. I figured their set must’ve been cancelled. I didn’t find them playing anywhere in the venue and was on my way to get a drink when I saw them in the bar chatting with people. I asked Gourisankar if I missed their set. He laughed and said their manager had mixed up the venues and they thought they were supposed to play the Mohawk (about two blocks away) at 10:00pm instead of at Empire at 9:00pm. He introduced me to Indrajit, and both were very pleasant and asked where I lived. I told them northern Indiana “near South Bend,” and they said they’ve played at the University of Notre Dame many times. I told them I DJ’ed there and they said they were looking for more clubs in Indiana to play gigs. They invited me to a free show they were playing on Sunday at Symphony Square so we could talk more about it.

Up next were Imarhan, a Tuareg band who were high on my list this year. They didn’t disappoint. They played a great set of African / Arabic / desert rock that had the crowd moving, clapping, and cheering.

We stuck around for part of a Prince tribute by local band Foot Traffic, but left once a large part of the outside crowd stuffed into the indoor space and shot up the heat in the room by about 200%.

I couldn’t get tickets for any of the Saturday shows. I was eager to get tickets to see Bayonne and Caribou, but they were already going for at least $40 each on Craigslist. In case you forgot, that’s eight times face value each.

I had to find something for us to do, and I did in a town about 25 miles away. It involved music, and it was all free.

Up next: Mr. Fest, indie rock, Night Beats, and free CD’s.

Keep your mind open.

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Levitation Austin – Day 1: Broken sunglasses and schedules

We flew into Austin for our semi-annual trip to the Levitation Music Festival on April 27th. I dropped my sunglasses in the Austin airport, cracking the left lens. It wasn’t in a spot that affected my vision, but it still wasn’t a good sign. There were no festival-related gigs going on that day, so we spent our first day in Austin getting good food, and checking out the Sfanthor wax museum and a couple wrecka stows before settling in for a nice sleep at the Air BNB house we’d reserved months ago.

Day 1 of the festival was actually April 28th. The Thursday night pre-festival shows are always worth flying into town a day ahead of the full festival. My wife and I have seen great bands at the Thursday night shows: A Place to Bury Strangers, Night Beats, Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor, Elephant Stone, and more.

The festival had expanded the Thursday night shows from two venues to three this year. Unfortunately they also added separate admission prices for each venue. Buying a weekend pass to the festival got you into the Thursday night shows for free in previous years. The Levitation promoters have stated they hope to return to this format in the future. I hope they do, as shelling out another $30.00 (for two people) per venue wasn’t something I couldn’t afford. I had to choose just one of the venues, so I chose the Empire – a converted auto mechanic garage with indoor and outdoor performance areas.

We’d get to see Night Beats, the Blind Owls, the Hollow Trees, Al Lover, the Golden Dawn, and Studded Left there. It meant missing Blaak Heat, The Well, Death Valley Girls, Silk Rodeo, the Turns, Vinyl Williams, and the Coathangers at the other venues, but I won’t skip a chance to see Night Beats, the Golden Dawn are Texas psych legends, and the Blind Owls were a new discovery that sounded like they were good rockers.

They were. The Blind Owls were the first band we saw at Levitation, and they kicked it off well. They, like us, arrived late due to heavy traffic on I-35, so their set was cut a bit short. “No slow ones,” my wife said as they launched into early 1960’s garage-style rock that knocked you back on your heels.

I met most of them afterwards and told them I’d be playing them on WSND this summer. They said they’d send their full-length album for me to play there. Let’s hope so, because everything from it sounds great.

I saw posters at Empire advertising the official app for the festival. I downloaded it and then I learned what everyone else was learning.

Levitation Austin 2016 had been cancelled.

Travis County Emergency Services pulled the plug on the festival due to flash flooding the previous week causing the festival grounds at Carson Creek Ranch to be oversaturated with water. Further flooding was a serious concern, mostly for the camping and parking areas. There were also predicted heavy storms due to hit Austin the following day around 1:00pm – exactly when the festival started. These storms were supposed to bring hail, 60mph winds, rain, and maybe a tornado or two.

We were stunned. We’d flown from Indiana for this. We knew that thousands were descending upon the city for the festival, many from even further away. People and bands come from England, Australia, South America, Europe, Africa, Japan, and even more countries for this festival. Campers would be left without places to stay. Bands would be left without gigs. Vendors would be left without sales.

The Levitation folks were as shell-shocked as any of us, but they promised full refunds for purchased tickets, and that they would scramble to find venues for makeup gigs throughout the weekend. Those gigs would be a separate admission price, unfortunately, and would likely sell out since thousands would be competing for tickets to a small venue. The upside was that the proceeds from these shows would go to victims of the recent flooding.

The word quickly spread as we watched the Hollow Trees play their trippy and heavy psych rock.

After that came a good set by the Golden Dawn, who played to an appreciative crowd.

Back inside, people were drowning their sorrows with any drinks they could buy. We sat in the Control Room, the Empire’s interior performance space, for part of psych-DJ Al Lover‘s set and mused on what we were going to do all weekend. Would we still get to see Brian Wilson, Lee Scratch Perry, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Caribou, Slowdive, the Black Angels, David J and the Gentlemen Thieves, or any of the 20+ bands we wanted to see?

We were cheered by the Night Beats, who have yet to play a bad set whenever I see them. This set was faster and angrier than their Levitation Chicago set in March. It was as if they were saying, “You know what? Screw you, bad weather.” and venting everyone’s frustrations. One great highlight was them including a new cover of Bo Diddley‘s “Mama, Keep Your Big Mouth Shut.”

We caught the first part of Studded Left’s (a side project of Indian Jewelry) set inside before getting some nice food truck BBQ and then heading to our rented bedroom to sleep off our travel exhaustion and blues.

Tomorrow: Scrambling for tickets, crashed websites, breakfast in outer space, Travis County ES faces wrath, and gangster kittens.

Keep your mind open.

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Ceu – Tropix

Brazilian songstress and soon-to-be your new favorite singer Ceu’s new album Tropix is a nice blend of bossa nova, electro, and lounge pop that’s like a breath of fresh air in the nasty political landscapes both here and in Brazil right now.

“Perfume Do Invisivel” is the first single, and it’s a lovely electro song that blends bossa nova beauty with club banging beats during the chorus. I’m sure it’s inspired a hundred remixes in clubs across South America and Europe by now. “Arrastarte-Ei” gets quirky with its beats, but Ceu’s voice remains a constant smooth groove throughout it. “Amor Pixelado” (“Pixelated Love”) is haunting and lovely as Ceu’s voice drifts around you like a heartbroken ghost until the computer beats drop and turn the song into something Thom Yorke probably has on an iPhone playlist.

“Varanda Suspensa” (“Suspended Balcony”) will get your hips moving with its synth horns, and the synths are even more prominent on “Etilica / Interludio” (“Ethyl / Interlude”). It’s a good track, and sounds like something the Pet Shop Boys would’ve created in the early 1990’s.

“A Menina E O Monstro” (“A Girl and a Monster”) starts with a music box and then a synth beat that sounds like a skipping record before it turns into a wonky warbled thing that is as catchy as it is bizarre. “Minhas Bics” has neat, crisp guitar that taps out the beat before the dubstep bass wanders into the room like a fat guy eyeing a buffet.

“Chico Buarque Song” is the first time I’ve heard Ceu sing in English, and it’s a stunning piece. It has a big, bold chorus, spooky synths that border on goth music, and Ceu’s voice at its sexy best. “Sangria” is a lovely ballad that I’m guessing is more about actual blood than the booze.

“Camadas” (“Layers”) is even sexier than “Sangria.” Sade wishes she had a song like this. The drums are exquisite, the bass is smooth, the synths are groovy, and Ceu’s voice is sultry. I’m fairly certain scores of Brazilians are shagging to this song even now. “A Nave Vai” has sharp funky guitar throughout it, and “Rapsodia Brasilis” has the funkiest drums on the record.

It’s a good close to this lovely album of electro-bossa nova, which should be an entire genre if you ask me.

Keep your mind open.

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Rewind Review: Beck – Guero (2005)

Beck was eager to rock in 2005, as evidenced by the opening of his Guero album. “E-Pro” starts off with heavy guitar, stadium drums, and that funky ass white boy delivery of his that only he can pull off without sounding like a fool. I’m sure this was a hit back then, but why isn’t it still now? The breakdown on it alone is worth multiple spins.

“Que Onda Guero” is one of the funkiest tracks Beck had laid on us in years. It has a bit of that “Loser” feel, with Spanglish lyrics and references to things like Burger King crowns and Latino vegetable vendors. The beats from the Dust Brothers on it help, of course. You can’t go wrong there. They come back for “Girl,” on which Beck plays everything else and sings about his girl “with her cheap sunglasses walking crooked down the beach.”

“Missing” has Beck lamenting the loss of his girl. I don’t know if she’s the same one from the previous track, but he was heartbroken when he wrote it. You might not realize it at first due to the bossa nova beats and smooth groove, but can’t miss it with lyrics like “I prayed heaven today would bring its hammer down on me and pound you out of my head. I can’t think with you in it.”

I’m not sure which is funkier on “Black Tambourine” – Beck’s bass or the Dust Brothers’ beats. Money Mark’s organ work on “Earthquake Weather,” might beat both of them, however. The whole track is a great mix of 1970’s funk, trip hop, and acid jazz. “Hell Yes” is vintage Beck, with lots of quirky rapping, snappy electro-beats, and fun lyrics. I think, and hope, that it’s about a janitor who gets his groove on while cleaning floors in an office building and not giving a damn what anyone thinks.

“Broken Drum” is a lament to a lost friend, with nice lonely piano work by Beck. “Scarecrow” is a near-blues toe-tapper. “Go It Alone” is about Beck deciding he’s better off being a cool loner than getting entangled in a marriage that scares the hell out of him (and that’s Jack White on bass, by the way).

With all these songs about weird and doomed relationships, songs about death were inevitable. “Farewell Ride” is something from a dark southern swamp shack sung by someone with weathered skin and gnarled hands from fistfights and hard work. “I don’t see the face of kindness, I don’t hear the mission bells, I don’t smell the morning roses. All I see is two white horses in a line carrying me to my burial ground.” Good, heavy stuff right there.

“Rental Car” is about going as far as one can on borrowed time, and the closer, “Emergency Exit” is about someone coming to grips with death and feeling relief in knowing kindness and life will go on in their absence.

I seriously have no idea how I’ve avoided this album for eleven years. Guero would’ve been in my top 10 of 2005 if I’d heard it back then. Each track is good. There’s no filler here. Shame on me for missing it.

Keep your mind open.

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The Heavy – Hurt & the Merciless

One of the things I love about The Heavy (Kelvin Swaby – vocals, Dan Taylor – guitar, Spencer Page – bass, Chris Ellul – drums) is how they come out of the gate gunning on their new album Hurt & the Merciless. “Since You’ve Been Gone” is a blazing hot track with wah-wah guitar, fat horns, and funky drumming. The Heavy don’t mess around, and we need more bands that ain’t got time for suckers. The album’s title sums up the theme of the record – every song is about nasty relationships or heartbreak.

The album’s title sums up the theme of the record – every song is about nasty relationships or heartbreak. “What Happened to the Love?” is a great example of their sound – dangerous rock with a bit of soul thrown in for good measure. “Not the One” is an anti-love song. It’s not against love, mind you, but Taylor (who wrote it) knows that getting into a relationship with the person mentioned will only bring heartbreak, so he begs them to stop the flirtations and amorous behavior that will only end in ruin. Taylor’s guitar and Page’s bass are extra funky on it.

Speaking of extra funky things, wait until you hear the horns on “The Apology.” They get a Latino / spaghetti western touch-up on “Nobody’s Hero.” “Miss California” brings the humor, with Taylor writing about a former beauty queen turned hellish bitch (“It took more than just a crucifix to keep that thing at bay.”). “Turn Up” brings back the big horns, and “A Ghost You Can’t Forget” swings hard, with Swaby channeling Howlin’ Wolf in his vocals as he sings about returning to haunt the woman who wronged him (“I’ll wipe that look from your face when I’m dancing upon your deathbed.”).

As a former bass player, I love Page’s riff on “The Last Confession.” It thumps along and drives the whole song, really. “Mean Old Man” has Swaby asking his lover why she’s surprised by his behavior when she “knew the kind of man I was before you found yourself begging for more.”

“Slave to Your Love” has Swaby (or Taylor, who wrote it, perhaps) begging for more from a dominatrix. “Roll me over easy meat, pick me off the floor, knock me off my feet.” Ellul goes for broke on the track so hard the rest of the band can barely keep up with him.

The album ends with the soulful “Goodbye Baby,” another example of how the Heavy can switch from blistering rock to something you’d hear on a vintage Stax Records album you found at a thrift store. It’s a sad song about a breakup that hit Taylor like a Mack truck and left him dumbfounded.

Hurt & the Merciless is another fine entry in the band’s discography. They’ve yet to stumble, and are already selling out venues on their current tour. Don’t miss a chance to see them and hear these songs live.

Keep your mind open.

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King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Nonagon Infinity

Holy crap.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard have come to “fuck shit up” (as they put it) on their new record – Nonagon Infinity.

The band (Ambrose Kenny Smith – harmonica, vocals, synths, Cook Craig – guitars and bass, Eric Moore – drums, percussion, theremin, Joey Walker – guitar and vocals, Lucas Skinner – bass, Michael Cavanaugh – drums, Stu Mackenzie – guitar, vocals, flute) is wildly prolific and able to switch musical styles faster than a chameleon changes colors. Their last album, Paper Mache Dream Balloon, is a lovely bit of psychedelic hippy pop music with some rock and blues touches.

Nonagon Infinity, however, is the most blistering rock record I’ve heard in a long while. “Robot Stop” explodes from the opening seconds like a land mine hit by a tank. Each track flows seamlessly into the next. This happens so well that the album loops on itself by the end. I’ve read interviews with the band in which they had planned this all along. The album can be listened to on loop without any noticeable bumps in the road. In fact, you could start Nonagon Infinity on any of the nine tracks and it would still loop itself without stumbling. It’s an incredible piece of audio engineering.

“Big Fig Wasp” emerges from “Robot Stop” like a train emerging from a tunnel. Everything is layered in wall-flattening guitars, double drumming, and slightly distorted vocals before launching into “Gamma Knife” like a rocket leaving Cape Canaveral. The harmonica on “Gamma Knife” is the booster on that rocket, taking the song out of orbit. “People Vultures” follows it, with lyrics about rampant consumerism and a heavy Jethro Tull feel.

“Mr. Beat” has a great trippy groove before “Evil Death Roll” comes in with heavy reverb on the guitars and a cool mix of stoner rock and psychedelia. “Invisible Face” sounds like they recorded it while diving 80mph down a dark desert road. “Wah Wah” refers to both the guitar effects and the near mystical chant lyrics as it builds to mind-blowing intensity. It melts your brain into the closer (or is it the opener?) – “Road Train,” which might crush any sanity you have left by this point.

As stunning as Nonagon Infinity is, I’m sure it is even better live, so don’t miss them on their current tour. You won’t regret it, or buying this record.

Keep your mind open.

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Rewind Review: The Duke Spirit – Neptune (2008)

I first heard The Duke Spirit (Liela Moss – vocals, keys, percussion, Toby Butler – bass, Luke Ford – guitars, Daniel Higgins – guitars, organ, Olly Betts – drums) on BBC 6 Music (the greatest radio station in the world) somewhere around 2010 when they played the title track from the Duke Spirit’s 2005 debut album Cuts Across the Land. I nearly wept and thought, “Where has this band been my whole life?”

I found their 2008 release, Neptune, in a bargain CD bin at a Bloomington, Indiana wrecka stow. It opens with a brief hymn that repeats the lines “I do believe in something you know.” You can take that a couple different ways: Either Moss is telling us she has faith in something we know as truth; or she’s defiantly telling someone, perhaps us, that she has faith despite what we might believe.

The first full track, “Send a Little Love Token,” sums up everything I love about the band: Powerful vocals that evoke Patti Smith, hammering piano, big drums, and shoegaze guitar. “The Step and the Whale” is about Moss realizing too late that she’s sabotaged a relationship. It’s a sharp song for her voice, Butler’s bass sounds like something from an old Cure record, and the rest of the band puts down stuff the Jesus and Mary Chain would envy.

“Dog Roses” might be Moss remembering why she sabotaged the relationship and remembering that it was a good idea after all: “I hope you stay in charge of your mouth…When nothing’s fluid you drink yourself through it. Outside you chalk-draw yourself.” “Into the Fold,” a good rocker, is about rebuilding a relationship (“This heart could heal, if you had courage just to say what you feel.”).

“This Ship Was Built to Last” is a combination sea shanty and shoegaze track. Trust me, it works. The combination of the distorted, echoing guitar (especially after the epic bridge), Moss’ chanting vocals, and coxswain drumming is excellent.

Someone must’ve pissed off Moss when she wrote “Wooden Heart,” because it’s a searing diatribe against a former lover, but delivered with a torch song blues feel. “I would understand your heart if I could feel it,” she sings as guitars reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine riffs snake around her.

She’s not angry in “You Really Wake Up the Love in Me.” Quite the opposite, actually. “You taste so good today you’d get love from anyone,” she sings as Betts puts down some of his best licks on the record and the guitars go into full psychedelic madness by the end. “My Sunken Treasure” is borderline power pop. “Lassoo,” with its nice horn section, is the excellent power rock the Duke Spirit does so well, combining fierce vocals with raw rock instrumentation. It continues with “Neptune’s Call,” in which Moss is feeling frisky again (“I tasted the salt on you. Now I have a tongue tattoo.”). The closer, “Sovereign,” is almost a lullaby.

The Duke Spirit have a new album, Kin, due out later this year. I look forward to it. The first three released tracks are a nice blend of their styles: shoegaze, soul, rock. Neptune picks up where Cuts Across the Land left off, and the band is still moving forward.

Keep your mind open.

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Rewind Review: Kaiser Chiefs – Education, Education, Education & War (2014)

In the liner notes for Kaiser Chiefs’ (Ricky Wilson – vocals, Andrew White – guitar, Nick Baines – keyboards, Simon Rix – bass, Vijay Mistry – drums) Education, Education, Education & War, each track is listed with a year, staring with 1921 and ending with 2014 (when the album was released).

The band comes out swinging with “The Factory Gates” (Year – 1921) – a song about the plight of British factory workers trapped in their clock-in, clock-out lives. “They tell you day after day to walk through the factory gates. What you make on the factory floor, you take straight to the company store…’Til they can’t break your will anymore. You are contractually tied to death’s door,” Wilson sings with the gusto of a man ready to smash his cubicle and walk away from his job.

“Coming Home” (Year – 1951) is a fine example of Kaiser Chiefs’ power ballads, with big instrumentation and clever lyrics about a relationship that might be toxic to both people involved but might also be the best thing they’ve had. “Misery Company” (Year – 1939) is about a young officer wanting to stay off the front lines and going mad at the thought of spilling human blood (as noted by the chorus of hysterical laughter). White’s guitar sizzles on this track.

Mistry’s drums hit hard on “Ruffians on Parade” (Year – 1947). It’s easy to hear this as a song about the high the UK was on after World War II ended, but it’s actually a song about how a lot of us have turned into jerks in a world affected by terrorism. We’ve given up privacy and some of our freedom for the illusion of safety and consumerism (“At the last stand of the day, we lost more than we saved. In the dark of the arcades, we spend more than we made.”). “Meanwhile Up in Heaven” (Year – 1970) challenges us to free ourselves from this trap (“And your mind is the key. It is the key that sets you free.”). It’s another big ballad that casually strolls into power pop, although Rix’s bass is particularly fat on it.

“One More Last Song” (Year – 1991) is about post-1980’s greed, and it has a nice, nearly psychedelic keyboard breakdown in it by Baines at one point before the guitar, bass, and drums roll back in to make it a nice rocker. “My Life” (Year – 2000) is a sharp tune about someone moving on after the end of a relationship that had run its course (much like the 1990’s had and everyone looked forward to a new millennium and new opportunities). The band cooks on it and Wilson’s lyrics are Zen-like in their portrayal of someone waking up from their illusions (“I walk along the sand with my shoes in my hand to the daylight, and I realize the fishermen are heading out to ocean. The café owner turns on the urn, flips the sign round to open, and it goes on.”).

“Bows & Arrows” (Year – 1962) could be about a couple who rely on each other to get through everyday life or about two buddies in Viet Nam who rely on each other to stay alive – or both. It has one of the standards of any Kaiser Chiefs record – the chant-along chorus (“We the people created equal, and if that’s true then we’re not the only ones.”).

“Cannons” (Year – 2014) is a damning tirade against Big Government, Big Brother, The Man, the 1%, or whatever you want to call them. Kaiser Chiefs again remind us that we have compromised much for the feeling of security (“They’re making all the difficult decisions, politicians and children first, followed by their personal physicians who say you will be happy if you expect the worst.”). The song ends with a poem, “The Occupation,” read by actor bill Nighy, and speaks of people letting things fall apart around them while the rich get richer.

“Roses” (Year – 1980) is a low key (at least in the beginning) ending to the record, as Wilson sings about the failure of his generation, most of whom didn’t live up to their claims they were going to change the world or not fall into the rat race (“The bottles in the drug store were all just piss and ink. The flags you wore are rags under the sink.”). It’s not all gloom and doom, however. The song turns into a lovely song about hope (“It’s dark where the roses grow.”) with lush keyboards by the time it’s finished.

Education, Education, Education & War is one of the angriest albums I’ve heard in a while, but also one of the cleverest. Kaiser Chiefs have always been able to hide scathing lyrics in near-pop songs, and this album has some of their best deceptive work.

Keep your mind open.

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Night Beats – Who Sold My Generation

It is fitting, crucial in fact, that the name of the newest Night Beats record isn’t Who Sold My Generation? It’s Who Sold My Generation. No question mark. Night Beats (Robert Levon Breen – bass and backing vocals, Danny Lee Blackwell – guitar, vocals, piano, percussion, bass, James Traeger – drums) aren’t asking who sold their generation to career politicians, multinational banks, and corporations. They already know. It was sold by “spitting news anchors,” people selling toxic junk as food and drink, those in power who let that power corrupt them, and, mostly, damningly, their generation for allowing it to happen.

“Celebration #1” is a spoken word manifesto over a freak-out beat, blues bass walk, and dark alley guitar. “When they come into your down, the sons of a sold generation, they’ll grab what isn’t nailed down,” Blackwell sings. Millennials don’t expect things to be handed to them, but they are tired of their future being bartered, sold, and stolen. They are here to take it back.

“Power Child” makes sure you know this is a Night Beats record because it is full of their usual great grooves, reverb, slick drumming, and sound that would be just as fresh if they’d originally opened for MC5. Blackwell’s shredding solo on it closes out the song, leaving you wanting more. Don’t worry, because “Right / Wrong” is just as good. I always like the vocal effects Blackwell uses. It’s hard to discern sometimes where his normal singing voice ends and where distortion and reverb begins, and I think that’s great.

“No Cops” is the first single from the record, and it’s a burner with Been’s bad ass bass, Traeger’s floor-stomping drums, and Blackwell’s guitar that seems to be everywhere at once as he sings about a couple days in the city gone horribly wrong. It’s nice to hear the band branching out into border rock territory with the Spanish lyrics in “Porque Manana,” which could be translated as “Why Tomorrow?” Since there’s no question mark here either, I’m guessing it’s actually “Because Tomorrow.” Act now, because tomorrow isn’t guaranteed to any of us.

Traeger plays drums and a maraca at the same time on “Sunday Mourning,” creating one of the best beats on the record, and Been’s bass line on it holds the song together so well that I imagine he’s a bricklayer when he’s not on tour. Been is the newest member of Night Beats, and his addition has taken the band to another level. His bass work is a hot mix of boogie blues, psychedelia, and funk. Not to be outdone, Blackwell’s guitar on “Sunday Mourning” might make your jaw fall off your head.

“Shangri Lah” and “Bad Love” reveal the band’s love of surf music. “Burn to Breathe” is a slow burn of excellent psychedelia that calls back to the 1960’s better than most modern psychedelic bands can even attempt.

The Monkees’ “Last Train to Clarksville” is about a young man about to be sent to Vietnam. Night Beats rock far harder than the Monkees, of course (although “Clarksville” is a great tune), but I can’t help wondering if “Last Train to Jordan” might be the band’s tribute to members of their generation who served in the Middle East.

“Ain’t gonna wait for tomorrow, ain’t gonna wait for tonight,” Blackwell sings on “Turn the Lights.” Again, complacency is the enemy of us all. The song has a great harmonica solo. So, as a sloppy player of the Mississippi saxophone myself, I love it.

The album closes with “Egypt Berry” – perhaps the most raucous rocker on the record. Pay attention, upcoming bands: If you’re wondering how to end your album, you might want to take a lesson from Night Beats. End with a song that combines Arabian-flavored guitar, Elvis Presley rhythm section beats, Johnny Cash bass, surf cymbals, and a false ending that gives you one last hit before you go.

This is already in my top records of 2016 so far and will most likely be in the top ten for the entire year. Night Beats get better with each record, so buy this and their whole catalogue. Do not hesitate. Hesitation helped sell a generation to one percent of the populace. Night Beats have warned us to not let it happen again.

Keep your mind open.

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