A huge thanks and a thunderous round of applause for the sublime guest episode programmed by my good friend DJ Dr. He managed to play one of my very favourite bands and one that I really, really dislike! Bonus points if you can guess the latter.
I had a moment this week when I finally "got" a band that had been making me work really hard to like them. After listening to a couple of albums over the last two years I was almost ready to give up. But then I was reorganising some CDs in my "studio" and I threw their debut offering into the player and, BOOM, it made sense. The band is question is The Hold Steady and when I thought about their music as almost sort of beat poetry put to indie rock then I began to enjoy it. Their lyrics are worth reading and listening to. After this revelation I'll go back and listen to them some more. Are they the grungy American bastard child of John Cooper-Clarke? Maybe. Oh, and they sing about Ybor City. More about that in a minute.
The Hold Steady - Killer Parties - https://youtu.be/uhzctuOfosc
Ybor City is in Tampa, Florida in the USA. And until the other day I'd only heard of it in the Jason Isbell song, "Travelling Alone". And then The Hold Steady were singing about it....in more than one song. I'll find out more about it later but it may have to be on Woozle approved bucket list of places mentioned in songs that I'd like to visit.
Jason Isbell & Amanda Shires - Travelling Alone - https://youtu.be/uySNnupUsXc
I get music listening hints and tips from the most interesting places. This week it was from the Pharmacist at our local shops. She told me all about her brother's 80's punk band (and their cult status in Japan!) Well I had to have a listen and it was pretty cool really. This trip had me headed down a punk rock rabbit hole fairly quickly which was a lot of fun. Here they are, all the way from Dunfermline in Fife (that's Scotland you heathens....)
The Actives - Kick It Down - https://youtu.be/bAhH1S6HSCc
Last Sunday I played my first gig after an eleven month hiatus (or was it a hibernation). My friend Sam and I have started a duo which we call Petra Volvo. You can work out why if you like; I think it's a very cool name. It was a relaxed lounge room show for some of Sam's friends and family (DJ Al-ee-sun came along too) and it was a lot of fun. We'll continue to try out songs to see what suits us best and hopefully we'll do some more lounge room or garage shows soon(ish). The format is Sam on vocals, me on guitar and every now and then I sing a bit too. The singing bit is very scary for me I can assure you. Anyway, we did twelve songs and we enjoyed it. Here's a cool version of one song currently in our ever expanding repertoire...
Norah Jones - Creepin' In (live) - https://youtu.be/iVypJWmV2wU
Israel Nash has a new album coming on July 27th. The first single and video have just been released and should appeal if you like laid back alt-country or Americana. He also has a number of tunes very much in the style of Neil Young. This one's an infectious number...
Israel Nash - Lucky Ones - https://youtu.be/-2OYHA5nqB0
There was sad news recently as Vinnie Paul passed away. He was most famous as the drummer for American metal giants, Pantera. He was just 54.
Pantera - Cowboys From Hell - https://youtu.be/i97OkCXwotE
H put me onto the next band and they are really quite different. Featuring members of well known groups such as Tool, Mastodon it really is a super-group. They describe themselves as playing "cinematic, psychedelic rock" singing about shipwrecks, the sea and giant squid. If you took Jethro Tull's "Stormwatch" album and made Dream Theater play it after only listening to sea shantys for a week then this might be the product. The album is one that deserves a listen from start to finish through a big sound system or decent headphones.
Legend of the Seagullmen - Curse of the Red Tide - https://youtu.be/tHl2bC-ybz0
The Midnight Oil movie that I went to see recently is about to be released on DVD (no BluRay that I am aware of). I was really hoping that there would be simply a live concert video made of the footage as well but that seems not to be the case. Shame really as the sound and picture quality were fantastic given that it was shot in the early 80s.
Midnight Oil - Armistice Day (live 1982) - https://youtu.be/nNVCR39dX0o
Last night I watched about 30 minutes of the TV mini-series made about Olivia Newton-John's life. If she was described in the USA as the singing equivalent of white bread then this show took that cue and ran with it. Boooooooooring. That's such a shame for a wonderful singer.
Olivia Newton-John - Hopelessly Devoted To You (live 1978) - https://youtu.be/lR93L8sUMNg
If you want to see a good mini series about a band then look for the fairly recent one made about INXS.
I reckon that's probably enough music for this episode. With any luck there will be another episode on Friday or Saturday.
Rock on folks,
Rob
One more amazing mash up....HERE! Guns 'n Roses should release this! And did you spot DImebag Darrell in there too?
No comments:
Post a Comment