Category: Rock

The Beths’ first U.S. tour is now underway.

The Beths Announce Fall U.S. Dates
& Kick Off World Tour.Watch The New Video For “Little Death”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuzlZWvTU2I

[“Little Death” video still]

“The debut from Auckland indie rockers is just really impressive—hook-filled songs filled with energy and attitude, written with depth and played masterfully.” – Pitchfork

“A wonderful little record that never lets up, piling on unassumingly buzzy fun until you start realizing you might be in the presence of a true power-pop monument.” – Rolling Stone

“The New Zealand band has two gears: The first is a more classically pop-oriented retro sound, like a ’60s girl group doing the shimmy-shimmy-cocoa-pop but with guitars and a shoegaze influence. The second is a caffeinated ’90s alterna-rock head rush, with Superchunk-level riffs and Velocity Girl vocals courtesy of singer-guitarist Elizabeth Stokes.” – The A.V. Club

“Few bands make angst sound as joyous as the Beths do on their debut LP. As its title suggests, the album is full of songs of both regret and self-doubt, but the group deliver them with some of the strongest power-pop this side of Weezer’s Blue Album.” – Bandcamp Daily

The Beths kick off their world tour this week in support of their acclaimed debut album, Future Me Hates Me (out now on Carpark). Beginning in Australia and New Zealand, The Beths will continue onto the U.S. at the end of September and play many cities for the first time ever. They will then head to Europe through mid-November to round out the year.To mark the beginning of their world tour, The Beths share the new video for “Little Death” via NPR Music. “We made this video while we were on tour,” says Elizabeth Stokes. “[The director] Norwood hit us up saying ‘I made videos for Superchunk in the 90s, let me make a Super 8 video for you guys when you’re in LA.’ So we spent a day larking about and scratching on film and then he edited it up. It’s difficult to tell, but if you look closely you can see there is some green screen footage and special effects added afterwards.”

Watch “Little Death” Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuzlZWvTU2I

Watch “You Wouldn’t Like Me” Video:
https://youtu.be/CV3Bjx-vPTg

Watch “Great No One” Lyric Video:
https://youtu.be/qQYhM48H5zs

Watch “Happy Unhappy” Video:
https://youtu.be/ct8AwQwlbNA

Watch “Future Me Hates Me” Video:
https://youtu.be/iVImwSb4EYU
 
The Beths Tour Dates:
Wed. Sep. 12 – Auckland, NZ @ Neck of the Woods
Thu. Sep. 13 – Auckland, NZ @ Neck of the Woods
Fri. Sep. 14 – Wellington, NZ @ Meow
Thu. Sep. 20 – Dunedin, NZ @ Captain Cook Hotel
Fri. Sep. 21 – Christchurch, NZ @ Blue Smoke
Sat. Sep. 22 – Queenstown, NZ @ Sherwood
Fri. Sep. 28 – Los Angeles @ The Roxy
Sat. Sep. 29 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
Mon. Oct. 1 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir
Tue. Oct. 2 – Seattle, WA @ Timbre
Fri. Oct. 5 – Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen
Sat. Oct. 6 – Lansing, MI @ Mac’s Bar
Sun. Oct. 7 – Columbus, OH @ Rumba Cafe
Mon. Oct. 8 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Tavern
Tue. Oct. 9 – Buffalo, NY @ 9th Ward at Babeville
Wed. Oct. 10 – Boston, MA @ Atwood’s Tavern
Fri. Oct. 12 – Brooklyn, NY @ Alphaville (SOLD OUT)
Sat. Oct. 13 – Philadelphia, PA @ Everybody Hits
Sun. Oct. 14 – Washington, DC @ Songbyrd
Tue. Oct. 16 – Nashville, TN @ Fond Object Records
Wed. Oct. 17 – Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn
Fri. Oct. 19 – San Antonio, TX @ 502 Bar *
Sat. Oct. 20 – Austin, TX @ Stubb’s BBQ *
Sun. Oct. 21 – Fort Worth, TX @ MASS (Main At South Side) *
Thu. Oct. 25 – Prague, CZ @ Klub 007
Fri. Oct. 26 – Krakow, PO @ Klub RE
Sat. Oct. 27 – Berlin, DE @ Arkaoda
Sun. Oct. 28 – Cologne, DE @ Hangende Garten von Ehrenfeld
Tue. Oct. 30 – Paard, NL @ The Hague
Wed. Oct. 31 – Paris, FR @ Le 1999
Thu. Nov. 1 – Angers, FR @ Jokers Pub
Fri. Nov. 2 – Bordeaux, FR @ El Chicho
Sat. Nov. 3 – Rennes, FR @ 1988 Club
Mon. Nov. 5 – Bristol, UK @ Exchange
Tue. Nov. 6 – Manchester, UK @ Mancunia Studio (SOLD OUT)
Wed. Nov. 7 – Glasgow, UK @ Broadcast
Thu. Nov. 8 – Leicester, UK @ Duffy’s Bar
Fri. Nov. 9 – Bournemouth, UK @ The Anvil
Sat. Nov. 10 – Brighton, UK @ East Street Tap
Sun. Nov. 11 – London, UK @ Sebright Arms (SOLD OUT)
Mon. Nov. 12 – Brussels, BE @ Chaff
* w/ Flint Eastwood

[Future Me Hates Me artwork]

Keep your mind open.
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Clutch – Book of Bad Decisions

The winner of Most Intriguing Album Cover of the year might go to Clutch‘s new release – Book of Bad Decisions.  The cover doesn’t feature a book at all, just a painting of a bald eagle on a branch either looking at something off to its right or looking back at us with perhaps apathy or vigilance.  Then there’s the title.  What bad decisions make up this book?  Does it refer to a certain as-yet unnamed book?  Let’s not forget the bald eagle is a symbol of the United States, and that symbol has turned its back on us.  Has it done so because of our bad decisions in recent times?  Is Clutch, who are lovers of history, warning us through a simple image that we are at risk of losing what makes this country great?

The album opens with a tale from the history of the band – “Gimme the Keys.”  It’s the story of one of their earliest gigs when they played a small summer festival / large party in the middle of Corn Field Nowhere, USA, and were accused of stealing a microphone from another band and / or the party’s coordinators.  It opens with fuzzy feedback and then turns into a blistering fire that only Clutch seems to know how to unleash.  One of the best parts is hearing Neil Fallon re-enacting his words to the band’s accusers.  Tim Sult‘s guitar moves back and forth between metal and psychedelia with ease.

“Spirit of ’76” is another history lesson from the band, possibly referring to 1776, the political landscape of 1976 (in which Fallon mentions a “farmer with peanuts in his hand” – Jimmy Carter?), or even the 1975 album of the same name by Spirit.  Knowing Clutch’s catalogue like I do, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s all three.  Jean-Paul Gaster‘s beats on this will have you doing bass drum kicks under your desk before you realize it.  The title track opens with almost drone-metal bass from Dan Maines and talks of dark clouds and leads to killer shredding by Sult.

“How to Shake Hands” has Gaster going bonkers while Fallon takes on elections and political campaigning.  Fallon claims he’s going to release all information about UFO’s and “put Jimi Hendrix on the twenty-dollar bill and Bill Hicks on the five note” once he’s President.  He could probably win on those three promises alone.  “In Walks Barbarella” brings in a horn section as Fallon sings about his childhood love of science fiction, “weaponized funk,” and hot women.  In other words, Clutch has written a tune about yours truly.

Jerry Lee Lewis-like piano runs through “Vision Quest.”  The nearly backward opening drums on “Weird Times” are appropriate, and Gaster’s cowbell was probably begging for mercy by the time he was done laying down the drum tracks.  I like the music box-like underlying sounds of “Emily Dickinson.”  It has a great swagger to it as well that probably flattens crowds when played live.  “Sonic Counselor” has a dirty fuzz to it that makes you feel a bit mean, and it probably should be on your newest workout playlist.

“A Good Fire” starts with bluesy drums as Fallon sings about the joys of bonfires in autumn and the whole band is soon burning up behind him.  “Ghoul Wrangler,” apart from having a cool title, takes off like a dragstrip racer off the line and doesn’t look back.  As much as it rocks, “H.B. Is in Control” rocks even harder (which almost seems impossible).  Gaster sounds like he’s having the time of his life behind his kit and Maines’ groove is so solid that you could build a skyscraper atop it.

“Hot Bottom Feeder,” believe it or not is Neil Fallon’s recipe for crab cakes.  Seriously.  The only thing better than the fact that Clutch put a recipe song on their new album is how damn good the song is.  It’s one of their best blues-laced rockers in a long while, full of Sult’s hot guitar licks and the band’s humor.  “Paper & Strife” sizzles past you at the speed of an out-of-control train engine, and the closer, “Lorelei,” practically has Fallon yelling to the heavens about the murmuring rock of legend in Germany that has possibly lured many ships to a watery grave.

Book of Bad Decisions is another good rocker from Clutch, who never swing and miss.  Historical themes are nothing new to Clutch records, but they’ve woven them into this album with more subtlety and cleverness than usual.  They’ve warned us to always keep history in mind, because, well, you know what happens when you forget it.

Keep your mind open.

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Protomartyr – Consolation

Produced in part with Kelly Deal of the Breeders and Pixies, Protomartyr‘s four-song EP, Consolation, packs more punch than many double albums in the punk, post-punk, neo-rock, or alt-rock genres.

The opening squall of “Wait” is like the sound of the gates opening at the Kentucky Derby, and the band are four horses running in peak form.  Vocalist Joe Casey growls, yells, and snarls while drummer Alex Leonard seems to put down four different beats at once.

“Same Face in a Different Mirror” would be a great title for a giallo film from the 1970’s, and Greg Ahee‘s opening guitar riff is indeed creepy enough for a stylish Italian slasher film.  It’s like Protomartyr put Joy Division, Editors, and Bauhaus in a juicer and extracted the micronutrients from all three for one track.

The last two tracks feature Ms. Deal on backing vocals.  The first is “Wheel of Fortune,” and it’s easily one of the best tracks of the year.  It comes out swinging, not giving you much time to breathe in the first minute before it breaks down into something that sounds like the soundtrack from a ghost film.  Casey’s vocals slowly rise from the ground (lifted by Scott Davidson‘s fine bass work), unleashing some of his inner Nick Cave before the band kicks down the door.  Davidson’s bass walk opens “You Always Win” and Casey sings about a troubled relationship he can’t bring himself to leave while Ahee’s guitar shoegaze riffs are subtle and stunning at the same time and Leonard unleashes a quick drum solo, which are sorely missing from rock nowadays.

Consolation is sharp as a knife and one of the better EP releases of 2018, so don’t skip it.

Keep your mind open.

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Rewind Review: Le Bucherettes – A Raw Youth (2015)

Mexico’s Le Bucherettes manage to combine psychedelia, garage rock, snotty punk, and disco fever all into one band.  Their third album, A Raw Youth, covers everything from pre-2016 election anxiety to serial killers.

“Shave the Pride” gets it off to a loud, wild start with lead singer Terri Gender Bender belting out lyrics about anger and arrogance (“The size of your rage drowns my urge for lovin’.”).  “Mallely” has the disco synths of Jamie Aaron Aux and the powerful drumming of Chris Common throwing you into dance fits.  “Reason to Die Young” has Gender Bender claiming there’s “no sign of life in this hell hole,” but her assured vocals feel reassuring.  Her Iggy Pop influence can’t be denied in her vocals and stage presence, and it’s in full view on “La Uva” (“The Grape”) in which Pop sings guest vocals with her.  It’s a wild, Pixies-like track with its ebb and flow of volume and controlled, distorted chaos.  “Sold Less Than Gold” is a lyrically brutal song about child slavery that’s almost disguised as a pop song with its bright synths.

“Stab My Back” is a giant middle finger to a man who once tried to keep Bender down.  It’s like a Yeah Yeah Yeahs song combined with a kick in the nuts.  “They Fuck You Over” has Bender drawing a line in the sand against the 1% (“‘Winners’ never touch skins.  They know how to eat like bulldogs.  They fuck you over…I try to manage this game by doing the worst that I can.”).

“Witchles C Spot” is a bold, almost Metric-like tune about toxic love, fetish sex, and obsession.  It’s sexy, scary, and sinister all at once.  “The Hitch Hiker” is about a serial killer, and might be an ode to the 1986 film The Hitcher.  “Lonely & Drunk” is a powerful build up of synths, drums, and weird bass as Bender’s vocals slither out of your speakers as she sings about bad decisions made during bad times.  The bizarre title of “Oil the Shoe if the Critter Knew Any Better” is perfect for the weird lyrics about ghosts, eating your vegetables, and how screwed up a relationship can be if one doesn’t face fears.  The closer, “My Half,” is a warped song about love and possibly Bender’s Electra complex with guest guitar and synth-bass work by John Frusciante.

It’s a wild, weird record.  Le Bucherettes were on my list of bands to investigate for a while, and I’m glad I finally got around to it.  You should, too.

Keep your mind open.

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Black Belt Eagle Scout’s North American tour starts today.

BLACK BELT EAGLE SCOUT SHARES NEW SINGLE, “JUST LIE DOWN,”
AND ANNOUNCES NORTH AMERICAN TOUR

LISTEN HERE

photo credit – Jason Quigley
“The electric guitar that starts ‘Soft Stud’ bristles with a coarse riff. The tone is brittle and blunt, rattling from the amplifier as it wordlessly confesses deep frustration. But Katherine Paul’s voice, which glides over the guitar, is an elegant curve, all practiced and gathered.” — Pitchfork

“You’ll hear echoes of early Hole here, but you’ll also hear a powerful new voice grappling with her heritage and her sense of place. ‘Soft Stud’ is a great track, and the crazy part is that it’s not even my favorite track on the album” — Vulture‘s Best New Songs of the Week

“‘Soft Stud’ expresses the complexity of queer desire, layering intimate
lyrics and clean melodies over fuzzy guitar.” — NPR‘s All Songs Considered

“[‘Soft Stud’] . . .  feels surprisingly compact, tight nerves and circuitous guitars
and muddy drums building and breaking.” — Stereogum

“Sludgy guitars clash compellingly with Paul’s rich, yearning vocals, which eventually
dissolve into a chaotic and cathartic instrumental outro.” — Consequence of Sound

“…a sprawling, yet intimate six-minute odyssey on which
Paul pairs tender lyrics with transcendent, seeking instrumentation.” — Paste

Black Belt Eagle Scout (aka Portland-based Katherine Paul) is an indigenous queer musician whose debut album, Mother of My Children, is about “grief and love for people, but also about being a native person in what is the United States today.” Mother of My Children is out September 14th via Saddle Creek. Paul will tour North America surrounding its release (all dates are below). After sharing lead single, “Soft Stud,” Black Belt Eagle Scout now presents “Just Lie Down.”
“I started working on the guitar line for this song at the end of a five year stay at a big duplex I was renting in Portland. This had been the longest period of time I had ever lived anywhere that wasn’t my parents’ home. I was being kicked out of the place because the landlord wanted to renovate and hike up the rent.  This was the case for a lot of Portlanders at that time (and still is) as the city was on a steep course of gentrification. 
My life shifted and I ended up moving in with people I had never met to a smaller, but comfy situation in a different part of town. There was a Corgi named Dayton involved. The room in this house is where I worked on the majority of the songs for Mother of My Children, staying up late and turning up my guitar amp volume when I could. I was in a new place and the feeling of ‘home’ was never really present when I lived there. It was a really disconnected time in my life thus warranting the initial bits and pieces of ‘Just Lie Down.’ 
So many things didn’t feel foundational and at times I felt like I was losing it. I remember thinking, ‘You aren’t yourself right now. What is wrong with you? Why are you acting like this? What even is this?’ and that’s where most of the questioning lyrics in the song came from. I like to find some sort of resolution in my songs be it a feeling I get from playing it, a certain part of the song that has lyrics that reflect it, something. My resolution in this song is when I sing the lyrics, ‘Just lie down, head on the ground, sky looks blue, just like you.’ To me, it was a simple poem you could say to yourself that means even though you are sad, even though there seems like there is no hope, look up and see what is above you. The sky is still blue and beautiful. Hopefully you will see that beauty and move forward.”
Paul grew up in a small Indian reservation, the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, surrounded by family focused on native drumming, singing, and arts. From an early age, Paul was singing and dancing at powwows with one of her strongest memories at her family’s own powwow, called the All My Relations Powwow. Paul reminisces, “When I was younger, my only form of music was through the songs my ancestors taught the generations of my family. Singing in our language is a spiritual process and it carries on through me in how I create music today.” With the support of her family and a handful of bootleg Hole and Nirvana VHS tapes, Paul taught herself how to play guitar and drums as a teenager. In 2007, she moved to Portland, Oregon to attend college and get involved with the Rock’n’Roll Camp for Girls eventually diving deep into the city’s music scene playing guitar and drums in bands while evolving her artistry into what would later become Black Belt Eagle Scout.
Listen to Black Belt Eagle Scout’s “Just Lie Down” –
https://BBES.lnk.to/MOMC

Listen To “Soft Stud” –
https://youtu.be/LXsfiYigeg4

Black Belt Eagle Scout Tour Dates:
Fri. Aug. 31 – Columbus, OH @ Wexner Arts Center #
Sat. Sep. 1 – Detroit, MI @ Deluxx Fluxx *
Sun. Sep. 2 – Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen ^
Tue. Sep. 4 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Spirit Lodge #
Wed. Sep. 5 – Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall #
Thu. Sep. 6 – New York City, NY @ Bowery Ballroom #
Fri. Sep. 7 – Philadelphia, PA @ PhilaMOCA #
Sat. Sep. 8 – Richmond, VA @ The Camel #
Sun. Sep. 9 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat (Backstage) #
Tue. Sep. 11 – Durham, NC @ The Pinhook #
Wed. Sep. 12 – Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn #
Thu. Sep. 13 – Tampa, FL @ Crowbar #
Fri. Sep. 14 – Tallahassee, FL @ The Wilbury #
Sat. Sep. 15 – New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa #
Mon. Sep. 17 – Austin, TX @ Barracuda #
Tue. Sep. 18 – Ft. Worth, TX @ Main at South Side #
Wed. Sep. 19 – Norman, OK @ Opolis #
Thu. Sep. 20 – Lawrence, KS @ Bottleneck #
Fri. Sep. 21 – St. Louis, MO @ Off-Broadway #
Sat. Sep. 22 – Davenport, IA @ Village Theater #
Mon. Sep. 24 – Lexington, KY @ The Burl #
Wed. Sep. 26 – Omaha, NE @ Reverb $
Fri. Sep. 28 – Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive $
Sat. Sep. 29 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Diabolical Records $
Sun. Sep. 30 – Boise, ID @ Funky Taco $
Wed. Oct. 3 – Spokane, WA @ The Bartlett $

* = with Varsity
^ = with Shortly
# = with Saintseneca
$ = with Guerrilla Toss

Pre-order Mother of My Children —

Mother of My Children cover art
Keep your mind open.
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The Beths – Future Me Hates Me

Coming in with possibly the wittiest album title of the year (Future Me Hates Me), New Zealand’s the Beths show up with some much-needed pop-punk and joie de vivre right now.

The fun fuzz that opens “Get No One” is somehow topped by the delightful rhythm guitar that follows it.  You’re tapping your feet right away and wanting to blast the album’s opener out of your car as soon as possible.  The title track is as fun as you’d hoped it would be as lead singer Elizabeth Stokes tells us about how she’s setting herself up for “future heartbreak, future headaches,” but she’s still going through with a relationship.  “Uptown Girl” isn’t a cover of the Billy Joel song (although I’m sure they’d have fun with that), but it is a raucous salute to partying all night and the aftermath that often brings.

“You Wouldn’t Like Me” has Stokes warning a potential lover about the hazards of dating her.  “You wouldn’t like me if you saw what was inside me,” she sings, but the peppy nature of the song leads us to believe that was she thinks are faults are in reality charms.  “Not Running” has an urgent energy to it (despite the title) with Jonathan Pearce‘s guitars constantly moving forward and not looking back.

“Little Death” is a rocker about orgasms.  “Happy Unhappy” has Stokes both lamenting and loving the start of a new relationship and how its going to break her out of her comfortable rut.  “River Run: Lvl 1” might refer to a video game I’ve never played, but the theme of a lovers’ game seems to run through the whole tune.  The groovy grooves, rock anthem drums (by Ivan Luketina-Johnston) and vocal harmonies of “Whatever” make it one of the catchiest tracks of 2018 (and I love the subtly heavy bass by Benjamin Sinclair on it).  The album ends with “Less Than Thou,” another love song in which Stokes gets in her own way when it comes to love, but powers through it with shining guitars and happy beats.

Future Hates Me is one of the peppiest and most clever albums of the year.  It’s a perfect summer rock record, or a perfect record for breaking your winter blues if you’re in New Zealand this time of year.

Keep your mind open.

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Wharf Cat Records has brought us a new post-punk supergroup -Public Practice.

DARK OPTIMISM IN DEADPAN VOCALS AND FUNK GROOVES – STEREOGUM

Wharf Cat Records is pleased to introduce Public Practice – a Brooklyn DIY supergroup of sorts, featuring members of freshly-dead punk project WALL and local pop band Beverly. Comprised of singer Sam York, guitarist Vince McClelland, synth/bassist and vocalist Drew Citron, and drummer/programmer and producer Scott Rosenthal, their serious chops and dance-inducing live set are already pulling them into the sharp foreground of a scene growing all too warm-and-fuzzy.

Public Practice’s debut EP, Distance is a Mirror, is a confident, juried testimony of love steeped in dark optimism. Dry, deadpan vocals chant over skittish guitar and danceable 70s grooves—songs snapping like rubber bands—seesawing between post-punk and its insomniac twin sister disco. With contradicting references as overt as Talking Heads (without the shoulders), but as specific as Haruomi Hosono of Yellow Magic Orchestra (with some polka dots), the band is carrying a funky torch that does not get lit too often.

By the end of the short and bitter-sweet 4-song EP, punctuated by Sam York’s sign-off of “no you can’t take it back now,” Public Practice anchors themselves as a new band with wisdom like their influences, bringing songs distinctly fresh as they are familiar. Public Practice will privately change your mind about where guitar music is going. Tired of the familiar? Seeing dots? Wake up!

TBR 10/26 // First 150 EP’s Hand-Numbered // Special Edition EP’s (limited to 250) Feature Flexi-Disc w/Remixes by Austin Brown (Parquet Courts) and House of Feelings // All LP’s Include Insert w/Lyrics // Also Available on CD
PRE-ORDER: PUBLICE PRACTICE – DISTANCE IS A MIRROR EP SPECIAL EDITION W/REMIXES FLEXI ($20)
PRE-ORDER: PUBLICE PRACTICE – DISTANCE IS A MIRROR EP REGULAR EDITION (14$)

Keep your mind open.

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Live: The Flaming Lips and Le Bucherettes – August 16, 2018 – Clyde Theatre – Ft. Wayne, Indiana

It was a grey night.  Rain had been falling.  My wife was on the phone with her boss and trying to sort out work drama that had been bothering both of them for a week.  She and the whole Ft. Wayne area, it seemed, needed a boost of love and fun.  They got it from the Flaming Lips and Le Bucherettes at Ft. Wayne’s Clyde Theatre on August 16th.

My wife had never been to a Flaming Lips show.  All I told her was that it would be wild and there would be balloons and confetti.  I didn’t want to spoil anything for her.

We walked in just at the start of Le Bucherettes’ set.  I’d heard of them somewhere before and made a note to check out their stuff, and this was my first full exposure to their work.  It was a wild mix of psychedelia and art punk fronted by a wild Latina (Le Bucherettes hail from Mexico) who seemed to be the child of Iggy Pop and Poly Styrene after they’d had sex in an Aztec temple.  They threw down a wild set that even had Wayne Coyne from the Flaming Lips crouching at stage right to take photos of them.  My wife and I thought they needed to play next year’s Levitation Music Festival in Austin.  They’d fit in perfectly there, and we picked up their last album at the merch table not long after their set.

Le Bucherettes

The beginning of the Flaming Lips’ set began with their cover of “Also Sprach Zarathustra” and then “Race for the Prize” off The Soft Bulletin, which included the following (of course):

My wife was already grinning by this point, and the grin never left her face the entire night.  She laughed in disbelief at the giant inflatable robot that stood at center stage over Wayne Coyne during “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” – which Coyne described as a song not just about a young, female Japanese karate master fighting evil robots, but more about “Your friend who tells you they’re going to do something impossible, but they don’t know it’s impossible, and instead of you telling them it’s impossible, you tell them…Yoshimi you won’t let those robots defeat me.”

“Fight Test” is always a welcome addition to their sets, and the “Golden Throat” microphone version of the national anthem was a weird treat.  This show was the first time I heard “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song” as well as “The Castle,” which Wayne Coyne described as a sad song, but it doesn’t feel overwhelmingly sad when he sings it.  It still sounds hopeful to me.

“The Castle”

Coyne then put on rainbow wings and jumped on a light-up unicorn that was pulled through the audience while he sang “There Should Be Unicorns,” which took on a near deep-house beat and feel live.  It’s cool on Oczy Mlody, but it’s better live.

They busted out “She Don’t Use Jelly,” which was well-received by the crowd (and was one I’d hoped they’d play), and “The Captain” after that.  There was a small temporary stage in the middle of the crowd, and I figured it was for when Coyne stepped into a giant plastic sphere and crowd surfed to it during their cover of “Space Oddity.”  I’d seen him do it at the inaugural Middle Waves Music Festival two years earlier.  I was right, and my wife, a big Bowie fan, nearly cried when she realized what song was coming.

They wrapped up the set with “How??”, “Are You a Hypnotist?”, “The W.A.N.D.”, and “A Spoonful Weighs a Ton” before coming back for “Do You Realize?”

“That made me happy,” my wife said afterwards.  “I needed that.”

We all did.  Thanks, Flaming Lips.

Keep your mind open.

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Rewind Review: Thin Lizzy – Jailbreak (1976)

It’s easy to forget that Jailbreak was Thin Lizzy‘s sixth album because Jailbreak was their commercial breakthrough and is so good that it often overshadows some of their earlier work.

The title track kicks off the album, and it’s essentially a line in the sand for every rock album that came after it.  If you’re a rock band currently practicing in a garage or basement, you need to hear “Jailbreak” and realize that you had better come up with an opener with as much fire as this or your band is already doomed.  Good luck with that, by the way, because matching the crunchy groove of it is nearly impossible.  The groove on “Angel of the Coast” is almost as jaw-dropping.  Drummer Brian Downey doesn’t screw around on this or any other track.  The slight bluesy sound of “Running Back” (with nice keyboard additions by Tim Hinkley) is a nice switch-up by the band.

The way Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson‘s guitars play off each other on “Romeo and the Lonely Girl” is impressive in its subtlety and talent.  “Warriors,” a song about drug addicts, has vocalist / bassist Phil Lynott singing and playing with swagger.  I can’t figure out how he keeps up his killer bass line while singing like Iggy Pop, and the guitar solo on it is a thing of beauty.

“The Boys Are Back in Town” is, of course, their biggest hit in the United States (and pretty much everywhere else).  It shouldn’t surprise anyone, really.  The beat is straight-up rock, Lynott sings about guys everyone knows, and Gorham and Robertson’s guitars play for the cheap seats.  “Fight or Fall” could almost be a Steely Dan track with it’s jazz guitar and drum touches.  “Cowboy Song” is a rocking ode to rodeo riders, cattle wranglers, and heartbreak.  The closer, “Emerald,” has enough guitar shredding for two albums, let alone one song.  Remember how I suggested you should try to match “Jailbreak” when opening your album?  It wouldn’t hurt to close with something as excellent as “Emerald” either.

Jailbreak is a classic that actually wasn’t heralded much in its time until “The Boys Are Back in Town” won the NME Award for Best Single in 1976.  It has since grown to influence hundreds, if not thousands, of other bands, and to blast out speakers around the world.

Keep your mind open.

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Rewind Review: Windhand – Grief’s Infernal Flower (2015)

Windhand (Parker Chandler – bass, Dorthia Cottrell – vocals, Garrett Morris – guitar, Ryan Wolfe – drums) say they’re from Richmond, Virginia, but I think they secretly might be from Hyperboria, Jupiter, or beyond the Black Veil of Space and Time due to the heavy riffage they unleash on their 2015 record Grief’s Infernal Flower.

The opener, “Two Urns,” unleashes enough doom bass by Chandler to power a mission to Mars and soon Cottrell’s incense voice wraps around you like a black velvet cloak, Wolfe pounds out the rhythm of your jittery heart, and Morris shreds open your eyelids.  If that’s not enough power for you, don’t fear.  “Forest Clouds” comes next and it’s the sound of Tolkien ents marching toward a battle with orc troops from Mordor.  Cottrell sings about something dark waiting to awaken from an eight hundred-year sleep.  I love how Cottrell’s vocals have a quality that lies between sexy and menacing.  She can sing strange incantations, dire warnings, and tales of mystery and the fantastic with equal skill.

Not dark enough?  The title of “Crypt Key” should cheer you up.  It starts with an acoustic guitar over synths that sound like a faint wind, but then turns into powerful sludge.  Cottrell’s vocals on “Tanngrisnir” (a song about one of the goats who pull Thor’s chariot) are layered with just enough reverb to make them spookier than normal, and Wolfe’s drums sound like he’s been transformed into a giant doom metal centipede.  “Sparrow” is almost a blues ballad.  It’s a nice center to the album that lulls you into a peaceful place amid the dark creatures that lurk throughout the album.

“Hyperion” is the most upbeat song on the record – not necessarily by the lyrics, but definitely by the beat and straight-forward rock riffs by Morris and Chandler.  I’m not sure if “Hesperus” refers to the Greek god of the planet Venus / the Evening Star or the poem The Wreck of the Hesperus by Henry Longfellow, but both are appropriate for over fourteen minutes of great stoner metal.  Chandler’s bass and Wolfe’s drums are like primordial monsters rising from the depths to bring down a sea vessel, and Morris’ guitar and Cottrell’s vocals seemed designed to herald the arrival of a Venusian god.  It abruptly ends, much like the fate of the ship in Longfellow’s poem.  “Kingfisher” is about the same length as “Hesperus” and just as heavy.  Cottrell sings about something or someone, perhaps even her, being “all-seeing, all-knowing” while Morris throws down riffs powerful enough to probably make him levitate.  The album ends with “Aition” (a term for how religions explain the origin of a myth or legend), leaving one to think that the end of the record is actually the beginning to another journey…and Windhand does have another album coming out this October.

It’s a solid record of stoner metal that isn’t angry but certainly is menacing.

Keep your mind open.

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