Today is David Bowie‘s birthday. He would’ve been 71. There are many ways to celebrate this day, but one of the best comes from Neil Rodgers of Chic, who produced Bowie’s big comeback single, “Let’s Dance.” Rodgers has released a demo version of the track, with himself on guitar and Bowie having a fun time with the lyrics. It’s the skeleton of what would become a powerhouse single and the rest of the Let’s Dance album.
Keep your mind open.
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Spiny Normen premiere lead track from unreleased album 40-years after recording via Paste Magazine
1978 outsider psych-rock from Brown Acid compilation faves’ long-lost unreleased album coming soon from RidingEasy Records
Hear & share “Arrowhead” (YouTube) (Paste Magazine)
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“A dark masterpiece.” — Paste Magazine
Spiny Normen premiere the first track from their forthcoming posthumous album — 40 years in the making — today via Paste Magazine. Hear and share album opener “Arrowhead” HERE. (Direct YouTube.)
Spiny Normen is an incredible mid-70’s Houston hard rock, progressive, psychedelic rock band (yes, all that and more) that featured mellotron, vox jaguar, crunchy, heavy guitars, flute with echo effects, and lots more. A totally lost relic this album is, recorded at the community college and never released. This band has a very English, dark, mysterious and proggy but very acid drenched feeling to it.
Vocalist/guitarist Steve Brudniak dishes on the band’s founding and this exceptional recording:
Circa 1976, Gerry and I would skip class, smoke whatever scrap of contraband we could scrape together and meet in the high school auditorium where there was a piano and bang out crunchy rhythms…. At home I shoved a mic into the family upright piano and overdrove a cheap recorder and home made echo-plex to get an impressive cacophony. Gerry was playing guitar, listening to Alice Cooper, hair down to his back and about the only Mexican American in a white bread school. He was cool! So when he said one day, “Hey man we should jam some time!” I was stoked. We did, man it was fun! I was soon on the lookout for a keyboard to become legit with. I found the already ancient Vox Jaguar in the Houston paper that had belonged to Fever Tree, one of the original psychedelic bands of the late 60s. I didn’t know how famous they were at the time but I bought it for $160 and a Kustom blue sparkle vinyl amp with a speaker that I blew out just right, that made the most beautiful distortion, accompanied by a beloved phase shifter.
We began torturing our parents in various suburban garages and bedrooms after adding Norman Davis on drums and Steve Koch on bass. Back then it was a Black Sabbath sounding, blues based crunch. Songs like “Carry Your Water” and “Space Age Flyer” were early comps.
We made a 4-track recording in a local studio around then that our drummer didn’t show up to the session for. All of us being Monty Python fans, and the Norman-no-show gave us the name Spiny Normen (with an E) which two more bands have since taken.
Over the next three years we began to experiment, waaaay off into the beaten path, spending months penning intense, bizarre, surreal and mind affecting pieces influenced by King Crimson, Pink Floyd, film soundtracks, Vandergraaf Generator, and the like along with some bad bad acid trips on my part. I was collecting keyboards …a melotron (hell yes!) a single key play moog. Gerry was adding echoes, early guitar synth and tons of pedals. I learned the flute. New bass player Bruce Salmon and a try at another vocalist Bob Riley and various drummers, my favorite being Robert Winters, were in and out. In we went with a hired stand up bass player and a little Gerry Diaz engineering knowledge to the Alvin community college 8-track recording studio and just played like psychedelic Mozarts. Timpani, live effects, sound effect records, backward echo, violin bow on guitar and plenty of echo. Gerry and I on vocals now. What came out was still, to this day, in my humble opinion, some very complex, untouched territory, holy-what-the-? stuff. We were all about 19.
It didn’t last long and we were way behind and way ahead of our time. I’m so ffffn thrilled though at 54 to see what this world of open-ended listeners will think of Spiny Normen now. The 19 year old Steve is getting his dream fulfilled. Gerry and I still experiment here and again with guitar and theremin in an effort called Psylobison. Just as touched, but its not going to give you such bad dreams.
Spiny Normen will be available on LP, CD and download on March 2nd, 2018 via RidingEasy Records. Pre-orders are available at RidingEasyRecs.com.
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 Artist: Spiny Normen
Album: Spiny Normen
Label: RidingEasy Records Release Date: March 2nd, 2018
01. Arrowhead
02. Wrecko Wild Man Ride
03. Carry Your Water
04. The Monkeyweasel
05. To Meet the Mad Hatter
06. The Bell Park Loon
07. In The Darkness of Night
08. The Sound of Younger Times
On The Web: Keep your mind open.
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It’s my top 10 of the year. Who’s here? Read on for the first five.
#10 – Sleaford Mods – English Tapas
Bold, brash, and at times brutal, this is a punk rock album disguised as a hip hop record. The minimalist beats get under your skin and the scathing lyrics stick it to the Man, ourselves, and everyone in-between.
#9 – Gary Numan – Savage (Songs from a Broken World)
This industrial powerhouse of a record was a great return for Gary Numan and a fantastic concept album (about life in a post-apocalyptic world) to boot. It has some great riffs and Numan’s synth work is top-notch. He shows no signs of slowing or aging.
Recorded beginning to end in just one take, this amazing record combines three drummers with four other people playing vintage synthesizers, drum machines, and sequencers. It’s an impressive piece of work and it produced one of my favorite singles of the year – “Missing Wires.”
I picked up this album after hearing just one song from it, “Dream Come Now (another one of my favorite songs of 2017),” and was astounded by the rest of the record. It’s fierce and chock-full of garage-punk riffs that flatten nearly everything else I’ve heard this year.
This is one of the most beautiful records of the year and marked a big return for not only Slowdive but also the entire shoegaze genre. Everyone wondered how this record would sound once Slowdive announced their reunion, and it exceeded everyone’s expectation. It’s easily the best shoegaze release of 2017.
Who makes the top five? Tune in on New Year’s Day to find out!
Keep your mind open.
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We’ve arrived at the top 5 live shows I saw this year. Here they are.
#5 – LCD Soundsystem – Aragon Ballroom – Chicago, IL November 7th.
This was the second of a three-night residency at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom for LCD Soundsystem. It was the second time we saw them in 2017, and they were healthier and a bit goofier than the first time. It was also the best show we’d seen at the Aragon in a long while.
#4 – Slaves – House of Blues Chicago – Chicago, IL September 20th.
Slaves‘ opening set for Kasabian at this show was, without question, the best punk rock show I’ve seen in a couple years. They came out with cocksure swagger and proceeded to freak out the entire crowd. My friend, Portia, and I had a “rock moment” with them when we were the only ones in the audience who knew to yell “Fuck the hi hat!” when they began telling the story behind the song of the same title and they pointed us out in the crowd. Win.
#3 – Gary Numan – Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL November 29th.
I hadn’t seen Gary Numan in concert for about ten years, but he hasn’t lost a step. He actually has become better in that time. His band was tighter, his vocals were sharp, and the spectacle of the performance was top-notch.
#2 – LCD Soundsystem – Pitchfork Music Festival – Chicago, IL July 14th.
No, this isn’t an error. LCD Soundsystem are in my top five live shows of 2017 twice. This was the first time my wife and I saw them, and we were instantly hooked. They became one of our “We’ll see them anytime.” bands thanks to this performance that closed the first night of the 2017 Pitchfork Music Festival. The crowd was wild, erupting into two mosh pits during the show, and LCDSS threw down a raucous set despite dealing with injuries and mild illness.
#1 – Midnight Oil – The Vic Theatre – Chicago, IL May 18th.
Within moments I knew this sold-out Midnight Oil show was going to be the best show we saw all year. It was their return tour after twenty years and they sounded like they’d stepped out of a time machine. Lead singer Peter Garrett even appeared to not have aged in that time. They proved they were still one of the most relevant and best live acts in the world. It was uplifting to see and hear them again, and left everyone hoping for new material soon.
There you have it. Go see a bunch of live music in 2018. Your favorite band is depending on you.
Keep your mind open.
[You can still subscribe before the end of year. I won’t judge.]
We’re halfway through my list of top live shows of the year. Who’s in the top half?
#15 – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Scottrade Center – St. Louis, MO May 12th.
This was an impressive show with a sold-out crowd. Tom Petty and his crew had a fun time tearing through a lot of classic hits, and the performance took on a deeper meaning to my wife and I after Petty’s death at the end of this tour. We’d wanted to see him for a long while, so we were thankful we caught him in time.
#14 – Buddy Guy – Lerner Theatre – Elkhart, IN September 9th.
Blues legend Buddy Guy is pushing 90 and still shredding better than guitarists a third of his age. He dazzled with his skill and spoke openly about the importance of love and compassion in these tough times.
#13 – Depeche Mode – Air Canada Centre – Toronto, ON September 3rd.
Depeche Mode were a big part of our high school years, so it was surprising that it took my wife and I so long to finally catch them live. It was a solid set with new and classic tracks and one of the best encores we saw all year.
#12 – Deap Vally – Valley Bar – Phoenix, AZ March 11th.
Deap Vally are easily one of the best live bands of this decade. This set at Phoenix’s VIVA PHX festival was a stunner. I always feel bad for any band that has to follow them, and getting to chat with them after the show was an added treat.
#11 – The Black Angels – Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL May 11th.
I won’t skip an opportunity to see the Black Angels. I’ve already bought tickets to see them at next year’s Levitation Austin festival. This set in Chicago was a great start to a fun weekend with my wife, and the Black Angels played more aggressively than I’d seen them in a long while.
Who cracks the top 10? Tune in tomorrow to find out!
Keep your mind open.
[We’re still in the season of Advent, so you can still give the gift of subscription.]
Are the winter blues getting to you? Are you tired of snow? Is the Christmas season bringing you more stress than joy? Don’t worry, bossa nova legend Bebel Gilberto has a cure. It’s her new live EP – Live at the Belly Up.
Beginning with the lovely “Samba E Amor,” the album instantly relaxes you and brings to mind images of spending a warm night on a Brazilian beach with your lover. Thankfully, she has included her cover of Radiohead‘s “Creep,” which never fails to make my eyes misty.
“Momento,” the title track from one of her many fine albums, is dreamy and a bit mischievous as Ms. Gilberto and her guitarist play back and forth. “Bananeira” is even more playful as she gets the audience to clap and sing along with her before putting down some of her sexiest vocals.
She gets even friskier on her classic “So Nice,” which is about wishing for a lover even to just stroll with on any given day. The audience has fun with her, too. If your winter blues haven’t melted by now, they probably will during “Baby” – another one of her classics that belongs on every make-out mixtape.
You might want to save room on that mixtape for the closer, “Preciso Dizer Que Te Amo,” because it’s the type of song that can change the mood of an entire room to amorous in just a few chords.
Bebel Gilberto is a great performer, and this EP is a nice slice of her wonderful live shows. I think it’s impossible to be blue while listening to this. Get it and get out of your winter funk.
Keep your mind open.
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We’ve reached the top 20 live shows I saw this year. Read on to see who made the cut.
#20 – A Tribe Called Quest – Pitchfork Music Festival – Chicago, IL July 15th.
It was one of their first performances without Phife Dawg, and they paid him many great tributes during it. ATCQ also came to preach and teach, and Q-Tip was absolutely fierce on the mic. The whole crowd was with them the entire time.
#19 – Cut Copy – Mamby on the Beach – Chicago, IL June 25th.
Cut Copy were easily the best band we saw on Day 2 of Mamby on the Beach. They played an energetic set that had the whole beach crowd jumping before it was even halfway done.
#18 – Will Clarke – Mamby on the Beach – Chicago, IL June 24th.
Speaking of great Mamby sets, DJ Will Clarke‘s was our favorite DJ set by far. He seemed to be having a great time behind the decks and inspired me to dust off my digital turntables.
#17 – Nicolas Jaar – Pitchfork Music Festival – Chicago, IL July 16th.
We ended our Pitchfork experience with Nicolas Jaar, and it was a lovely, trippy way to end the festival. He created a neat soundscape that drifted and swirled around the crowd like a warm fog.
#16 – Derrick Carter – Pitchfork Music Festival – Chicago, IL July 16th.
If you need a boost to start your final day of a big music festival, go see Chicago house music DJ legend Derrick Carter. His set in the early hours of the last day of Pitchfork was outstanding. Everyone worked up an early sweat and enough energy to make it through the rest of the day. He put on a clinic.
Who’s in the top 15? Come back tomorrow to see.
Keep your mind open.
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Who cracked the top 25 of my live shows I saw this year? Read on!
#25 – Temples – Valley Bar – Phoenix, AZ March 11th.
Temples were the last band to play on the Desert Daze lineup at the VIVA PHX music festival. It was my first time seeing them in a small venue, and they nailed it. They sounded perfect and delivered a solid set that earned them many new fans.
#24 – The Damned – House of Blues – Chicago, IL April 23rd.
I’d wanted to see punk rock legends the Damned for a long while, and this show was pretty much what I’d hoped it would be. The crowd was a fun mix of punks, goths, and horror film fans, and moshing to “Neat Neat Neat” with the Damned only a few feet away was a delight.
#23 – Thundercat – Mamby on the Beach – Chicago, IL June 25th.
I’d heard a lot of good things about Thundercat prior to seeing him live at this music festival, and he didn’t disappoint. He and his two-man backing band played a great jazz fusion set in the middle of a festival mostly devoted to electronic dance music. He’s an amazing bass player, and seeing him shred live makes you appreciate his skill even more.
#22 – Marian Hill – Mamby on the Beach – Chicago, IL June 24th.
Speaking of Mamby on the Beach, Marian Hill were one of the best bands we saw there. They played a great set of sexy dance rock that might be the best new makeout music you need to hear.
#21 – Goblin – Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL October 25th.
This performance from Italian prog / horror rock masters Goblin had a criminally light attendance, but they didn’t care. As usual, being at a Goblin show is like being in a giallo film. The whole atmosphere is creeping and fascinating. They also played a nice tribute to the late George Romero. Shame on you if you missed this one.
Who cracks the top 20? Tune in tomorrow to find out!
Keep your mind open.
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I’ve arrived at the end of my live music year for 2017. I saw over 60 performances this year, and the majority of them were a fun time. There were some that might’ve had lame crowds or that just didn’t thrill me, of course, but 2017 was good for live music. To save time (and my sanity and your patience), I’m counting the top 30 live shows I saw this year. Here are the first five.
#30 – A Place to Bury Strangers – Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL May 11th.
I’ll see APTBS at any opportunity, and seeing this set where they opened for the Black Angels was a no-brainer for me. It was also the first time they played Thalia Hall, and they sounded great in there. I was lucky enough to chat with front man Oliver Ackermann before and after (along with the rest of the band – Dion Lunadon and Lia Braswell) the set, so that made the show extra special.
#29 – Joe Walsh – Scottrade Center – St. Louis, MO May 12th.
Joe Walsh had a fun time opening for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. He joked with the sold-out crowd, played every hit you’d want to hear at one of his gigs, and had a huge, excellent backing band. He also showed that he could still shred on guitar, and his performance of “Take It to the Limit” brought my wife to tears.
#28 – Bebel Gilberto – City Winery – Chicago, IL December 20th.
The last show I saw this year turned out to be a delightful night with bossa nova legend Bebel Gilberto. It was a lovely set in an intimate venue. Everyone needs to see Ms. Gilberto at least once, and hear her often.
#27 – Bleached – House of Blues – Chicago, IL April 23rd.
If you’re in a band, I wish you could’ve seen Bleached with me twice within six months because you’d have seen a perfect example of how to step up your game. This show, which had them opening for the Damned, was the second time I’d seen them in that time period. The first was at a gig in Cleveland in October 2016. I thought they were good then, but this performance left me gobsmacked. They’d become tighter and stronger in just half a year. It had been at least a couple years since I saw so much improvement in one band.
#26 – Partner – Schuba’s – Chicago, IL January 22nd.
This was Partner‘s first gig in Chicago, and one of their first in the United States. Shame on you if you missed it, because they are now indie rock darlings and their debut album, In Search of Lost Time, is one of the best of 2017. This show was an absolute home run and wowed everyone there.
Stay tuned for #’s 25 – 21!
Keep your mind open.
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Chicago’s City Winery is a wonderful intimate venue, and seeing a lively performer like Bebel Gilberto there is a treat that should never be missed. Thankfully, my wife and I got to attend her second performance there in as many nights, and Ms. Gilberto was in a playful mood.
Ms. Gilberto shimmied and shook all over the stage and worked through some of her bossa nova classics like “Aganju” and “So Nice,” stopping now and then to put on some more lip gloss or sample some of the venue’s white wine.
She was also a bit feisty, throwing in some political jokes like, “I’m glad this year is almost over, because that means we only have three more left…if you know what I mean.” Other highlights included her covers of Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” and Radiohead’s “Creep.” Her cover of “Creep” brings my wife and I to tears anytime we hear it, and I felt bad for the couple across from us who went out for a smoke break before she and her two-man band played it.
She had the crowd singing and even bouncing multiple times throughout the night, calling on us to help her sing rhythms and uplift each other. “Uplifting” is probably the best way I can describe her performance. It was a delightful way to end a year that has been rough for many we know and a shining way to start the winter solstice. More light comes to this half of the world as of yesterday, and I can’t help but think Bebel Gilberto had something to do with it.
Keep your mind open.
[Thanks to Vickie Starr for bringing me and my wife some Christmas cheer with press passes to this show.]
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