3.23.13

(Editor’s Note – In an effort to get caught up, the next few posts, 3/21-3/25 are gonna be like my underpants… brief! Between my MP3 player deleting 140 gigs of music, thank you ghost of Steve “Hand” Jobs, being five days behind in write-ups, and still having to make a playlist for April, the next 15 records I listen to will be lucky to get a line written about them.)

On March 23rd I listened to Ween Pure Guava, Primus Pork Soda, and Dutch Uncles Out Of Touch, In The Wild.

I was a few songs into Pure Guava when I started wondering why I wasn't enjoying it as much as I used to. I chalked it up to not being a 20-year-old puke anymore and/or not being high... enough. The brilliant novelty of Ween will never wear off, but sometimes I'm just not in the mood.

Did you ever try listening to this album with a person that has no idea who Ween is?

“Who is this?”

“It’s Ween.”

“Is he saying ‘Hey fatboy, asshole. Come here, you killed my mother?’”

“Yeah, classic Ween. Do you wanna hear ‘Touch My Tooter?’”

“No.”

“’Poop Ship Destroyer?’”

“No thanks.”

“It’s actually one of my favorites, on their live album, Paintin’ The Town Brown, they do a twenty-six minute version of it.”

“What a treat.”

“I know, right? Wanna hear the hit?”

“Sure.”

“This is called ‘Push Th’ Little Daisies.’”

“This is a hit?”

“Yep.”

I didn't realize it until just now, but now I understand why my mother thinks I’m an asshole.

Really quick… I feel like Tenacious D stole their entire schtick from “Don’t Get 2 Close (2 My Fantasy).”

“My Name Is Mud,” is my favorite Primus song! Pork Soda is still my favorite Primus album. “Welcome To This World,” “Bob,” “Mr. Krinkle,” and “The Air Is Getting Slippery” are just some of my faves!

Me and my asshole friends used to listen to this album so much. When Roundboy was the bartender at the Essex Street Pub, we threw Pork Soda on all the time. 

I wish albums were more like old movies and you could come across them more without trying. It’s like if you have 50 fucking HBOs, Showtimes, Cinemaxes, Starses, Encores, and whatever.  Every other day a movie you used to love comes on and reminds you how much you liked it. Albums just sit around and you gotta pull them out yourself. It’s like, I didn't know I wanted to watch the Dirty Harry movie “The Enforcer” the other night, until I was halfway through it. Spoiler Alert! Tyne Daly gets shot in the boobs and dies! I wish I was just flipping around the TV and “Oh cool! Pork Soda is coming on in ten minutes!” I dunno, maybe?

I’m gonna do some name dropping here, so watch your toes.

I was hanging out with the band The Joy Formidable in 2011 and Ritzy Bryan told me to listen to a band called Dutch Uncles. I promptly did not listen to them and now years later, here we are. So, to anyone that has recommended a band to me and I didn't listen to them... I don't even listen to shit hot chicks in bands I love tell me to listen to. 

Well anyway, they suck. 

I think I’m being too hard on the new albums I listen to this year, because I’m usually hearing them after listening to a cherished classic. How do you follow Pure Guava and Pork Soda? You certainly don’t do it with wussy little songs that clunk along with feminine sounding vocals, no hooks and a generally perky annoying tempo. This record made me think Hot Chip was good.

Ritzy And I Have The Same Color Eyes! Coincidence?

Tomorrow I listen to The Cranberries, Liz Phair and Bruno Mars!

Here's the March Playlist!

3.6.13

On March 6th I listened to Primus Sailing The Seas Of Cheese, Cake Fashion Nugget, and Puscifier Donkey The Punch The Night.

I am not a Super Fan of any one particular band or artist. Yes, I have spent a few years here and there obsessing about somebody’s music, but that usually fades a little. There are probably several hundred albums that I’ll say are in the top 20 ever recorded and I could listen to them endlessly, but because I try and listen to and appreciate so much, some albums just become known for one or two songs, to me.

If I was a really really into Primus than Sailing The Seas Of Cheese would mean a lot more to me then just two songs. That happens with a lot of bands I like, but I just can't connect with everything single thing they do. Jack of all trades, master of none... and I can live with that.

“Tommy The Cat” and “Jerry Was A Race Car Driver” are the biggies here. Two jams drenched in Les Claypool’s obese bass and odd narrative lyrics that I'll never tire of hearing. Hearing “Those Damn Blue Collar Tweekers” for the first time in a long time was my "oh shit," moment during this listen.

I went Sailing The Seas Of Cheese while I was doing other stuff, so it didn't have my undivided attention. I’m not going to laundry list other cool songs, but I will say that it's a very busy, hard and complicated album, and yet I found it to be very relaxing. I liked that.

The album that gave us “The Distance!” I was so taken with that song as it was enjoying its arc as a Alternative Rock smash hit, I devoured this album! As charming, soothing, funny and compelling John McCrea and the crew from Sacramento can be, there is a thin line between that and being a one trick pony. That’s not a criticism, but sometimes too much of a good thing can be bad. The more you listen to Cake and just look at their album covers, the easier it is to see the similarities in much of their music.  So, man cannot live on Cake alone.

We're undecided.

Having said that, I still love this album! McCrea’s deadpan delivery of “I Will Survive” is classic! “Frank Sinatra,” “Sad Songs And Waltz,” and “Nugget” are just some of my faves! “Learn to buck up!”

We're still undecided.

Having been completely and thoroughly unimpressed with everything Puscifier has ever done, I was shocked that this E.P. was a pleasant little enterprise. To tell the truth, I don’t think I ever bothered with Conditions Of My Parole, their second album, because their first, V Is Vagina, was so dumb. Which is so weird because I love Tool, A Perfect Circle and Maynard, but look at that cover! What are the odds it wouldn't sound like that picture... dumb.

Their spot on version of Queen's “Bohemian Rhapsody” was met with some head scratching, but then I thought it’s rather impressive. And how could you not like a Pillow Fight Mix of “Balls To The Wall.”

I’m gonna put Conditions Of My Parole on my playlist for next month, it better not suck!

Tomorrow I will listen to The Red Hot Chili Peppers Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Weezer Weezer (The Blue Album), and Free Energy Love Sign.

Here is my whole March Playlist!

And why not check out the January Playlist and February Playlist. 

1.13.13

On January 13th I listened to Talking Heads 77, Primus Frizzle Fry, and Beach House Bloom.

I noticed a couple of parallels between 77 and Frizzle Fry. The first one is quite simple; both of these bands have basically figured out their sound on their debuts and don't fudge with the formula too much as they move forward. The second is that both bands are kind of weird. I know I just dismissed weirdness for the sake of weirdness (That doesn't even make sense.), but there is a purity to the Talking Heads and Primus weirdness. 

I’ve talked about how a Greatest Hits release will stop people from bothering with a band's albums and the Talking Heads early work is kind of a victim of that problem because of their wonderful 1984 live album Stop Making Sense. I spent so much time listening to that I never bothered with their albums.

(EDITOR'S NOTE - I’m going to set up a month down the road, where I listen to tons of “Live” albums.)

I never heard 77 all the way through before this and “Psycho Killer” is the only track I really know well. I do have a vague memory of “Pulled Up” though, which was the biggest standout for me from this listen.

Other standouts include “Uh-Oh Love Comes To Town,” and “The Book I Read.”

Getting back to what I was saying earlier about them fleshing out their style, “Tentative Decisions” basically has every element of the band’s sound all wrapped up into one song. It seems, to me, like this track became their blueprint.

77 is another album that I’m sad passed me by, but I am looking forward to getting cozy with the Talking Heads catalog as this year progresses. That's me and David Byrne just chilling down in Austin, Texas. We're buds. 

Frizzle Fry was released the day after my 19th birthday. I had just started working at my college radio station and I remember playing “Too Many Puppies” on the air, without every hearing it. When it was over, I went on the air and said something to the effect of, “those puppies pooped all over that one.” I then ignored Primus until the following year when I went to the Concert Hall in Toronto to see Fishbone and Primus was opening. Sailing The Seas Of Cheese had just come out. They blew Fishbone off the fucking stage! 

Quick story. There was six of us in the car to the Fishbone/Primus show in Toronto. It's about 90 minutes from Buffalo up the QEW. We brought a couple joints with us and when we went over the border, Crybaby Tim's date, I totally forgot her name, stashed them in her panties. When we were in the clear we stopped, probably at a Tim Horton's, and she claims she lost the joints. I was so pissed! I remember saying "did you check your asshole?" To this day, I know that bitch and Crybaby Tim hogged those joints! Fucking Jerks! Tune in to tomorrow's post, and read all about how Crybaby Tim gets whats coming to him!

Although I came to love Primus, I never really went back to try and appreciate Frizzle Fry.

The albums opener “To Defy The Laws Of Tradition,” couldn’t be more aptly titled and much like Talking Heads’ “Tentative Decisions,” has the band’s entire sound completely on display right outta the gate. Also on this album, you can see Les Claypool's jam band future pretty much written on the wall. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this album and I’m really pissed I didn’t give it the time of day because my initial reaction to “Too Many Puppies,” was so unfavorable. I guess at that time in my life I couldn't defy the laws of tradition.

“Mr. Knowitall” (Not to be confused with Kelly Clarkson’s “Mr. Know It All.”), “Pudding Time,” and “The Toys Go Winding Down” are all heavy and dense and dumb and all over the place and I love them!

I honestly thought there was no way in hell I was going to like this album or this band. I don’t know if Beach House's Bloom caught me in the right mood or what, but I LOVE IT!

One of those albums that creates a atmosphere all around you. Plus the broad singing is French! Did you ever smell a French girl? Regardless, Victoria LeGrand and Alex Scally will have me scurrying backwards to listen to their previous three albums. Hey Sleigh Bells! YOU SUCK! (Sorry, I don't know where that came from.)

Not that I have an area of expertise, but this band’s sound is way outside of it, so I’m not even going to try and describe it. Dream Pop is how Wikipedia describes their sound, and Wikipedia is usually right on just about everything. Reminds me of something from the 90’s, but I can’t remember what. Saint Etienne? Lush? I dunno, maybe?

Is it ironic that I dismissed The xx two days ago and loved Beach House today? I guess its the duality of man, sir. (Full Metal Jacket reference there. I'm explaining it for all the dummies.) 

Lick that cone, Frenchy! Lick it! Dude, comb your hair and stop trying to look like a creep.