WHAT’S HOT & WHAT’S NOT ON THE ‘TWANG

One of the benefits of using “Box.net” as the hosting provider for the mp3s I post here is I get to see numbers on what all y’all are downloading. A few clear winners have emerged in the year-plus since I started putting up songs for the taking. The winner, by a figurative mile, was that first Bangs/Bangles single we gave to you back in September. Those CHURCH MICE tracks rang some bells as well. Others were not so lucky – I shall refrain from posting their numbers, but fellow CURSE OF THE BIRTHMARK fans, we need to work a little harder to get the word out – apparently posting an entire EP for free isn’t sufficient to rally the base. Here, just for kicks, are the Top 20 most downloaded songs on Detailed Twang:

1. THE BANGS – Getting Out Of Hand (910 downloads)
2. CHURCH MICE – College Psychology On Love (802)
3. THE BANGS – Call On Me (696)
4. VIRGIN PRUNES – Twenty Tens (I’ve Been Smoking All Night Long) (661)
5. CHURCH MICE – Babe, We Are Not Part Of Society (643)
6. PUSSY CAT – Les Temps Ont Change (525)
7. THE TWILIGHTERS – Nothing Can Bring Me Down (522)
7. BO-WEEVILS – That Girl (522)
9. THE WEASELS – Beat Her With A Rake (500)
10. CONTINENTAL CO-ETS – I Don’t Love You No More (481)
10. THE BANGS – Getting Out Of Hand (demo) (481)
12. FABIENNE DELSOL – Vilainis Filles Mauvais Garcons (474)
13. ART PHAG – A Boy and His Gun (470)
14. RED CROSS – Every Day There’s Someone New (demo) (468)
15. MAJORETTES – White Levis (434)
16. DWARVES – Lick It (430)
17. WHITE PRIDE – Illegal Aliens (425)
18. MIKE REP & THE QUOTAS – Mama Was A Schitzo…. (419)
19. GIBSON BROS – My Young Life (404)
20. REX GARVIN – Emulsified (401)
20. GIRLS AT OUR BEST – Getting Nowhere Fast (401)

STATE OF THE KIDS, 2008 – PART 2

It’s probably not fair to get you all hopped up on the wild young stallions of 2008 rock-n-roll, and then post a mere five tracks, as I did last Friday – right? Well here’s another five more. NOTHING PEOPLE from Northern California are arguably one of the two or three best bands going right now – an awesome, big, gnarly sound made from smashed metal, spacesuits and old Roxy Music records. This one’s a doozy about plastic surgery. BLACK SUNDAY are one of many bands from Memphis, TN’s Alicja Trout; I know little more than that, and this 2007 45 was the first thing I heard from them. On the basis of the first 20 seconds of this one, I’ve pronounced myself a fan for life. PSYCHEDELIC HORSESHIT hail from Columbus, Ohio, and have been kicking up a tremendous low-fidelity racket for well nigh over a year now; this is from their new-ish LP on Siltbreeze. TYVEK have this crazy, mixed-up way of making 2008 in Detroit sound like 1980 in England, while staying far enough away from “Messthetics pandering” to be their own joyous & unique thing; I saw them live last year and they were frantic and buzzing from the word go. “Still Sleep” reminds one of The Fall’s “Frightened” a bit, does it not? Finally, LITTLE CLAW (pictured) also used to hail from Detroit but chose to relocate to Portland, presumably for the microbreweries. They arrive squarely at the intersection of raw noise and throbbing garage, and appeal greatly to lovers of both (like me). Go forth and prosper with these MPEG Audio Layer 3s, courtesy of your friends at Detailed Twang!

Play or Download NOTHING PEOPLE – “Army Of Ideal” (from Hozac Records 45)
Play or Download BLACK SUNDAY – “Gli Amanti D'Oltretomba” (from Solid Sex Lovie Doll records 45)
Play or Download PSYCHEDELIC HORSESHIT – “These Days” (from “Magic Flowers Droned” LP)
Play or Download TYVEK – “Still Sleep” (from What’s your Rupture Records 45)
Play or Download LITTLE CLAW – “Movies For You” (from “Spit & Squalor Swallow The Snow” LP)

STATE OF THE KIDS, 2008

I try to preach the gospel of “if you think great music isn’t being made today, you’re not paying attention” as much as I can, but until you’re provided with proof, how could you believe me? It’s fairly easy to get caught pining for 1978, or 1981, or 1993, or 1966 – remembering, of course, that there will be a generation who not too long from now will be pining for the rock music made in 2008. I may be one of them myself. With the quick discovery tools made possible by the internet, it’s really not a big stretch to keep up with The State of The Kids in 2008. I’m posting five songs here that I totally dig, all of which were released in the past six months. These 5 (including Sic Alps, pictured here) are from some of the world’s finest bands right now – others that are musts to check out include The Nothing People; Tyvek; His Electro Blue Voice; Bad Trips; Miss Alex White & The Red Orchestra; Spider; Cheveu; Black Sunday; Psychedelic Horseshit; Little Claw; Fabienne DelSol; and The Magnetix. Perhaps there are more! Until we figure it out, please enjoy this smattering of young people’s music, circa 2008.

Play or Download SIC ALPS – “Message From The Law” (from “Description of the Harbor” EP)
Play or Download THOMAS FUNCTION – “Relentless Machines” (from 45)
Play or Download TIMES NEW VIKING – “Allergy” (from “(My Head)” 7”EP)
Play or Download SONIC CHICKEN 4 – “Sexiest” (from “Sonic Chicken 4” CD)
Play or Download KING KHAN & BBQ – “Teabag Party” (from 7”EP)

SCREAMIN' JOE NEAL - THE ROCK & ROLL DEACON

A cursory search of the world wide internet gives me very little about SCREAMIN' JOE NEAL, a man with the most possessed set of pipes this side of Bunker Hill & Little Richard (to say nothing of that CADILLACS track we posted a few weeks ago). I bought this 45 about six-seven years ago out of the Norton Records catalog - that label was on such a winning streak for a while, unearthing wild 50s obscurities with such regularity that, for me, it was a matter of just handing over the credit card # every time a new one popped out. When the winning streak fizzled with some middling rockabilly or yuk-fest novelty crap, I stopped. But man, SCREAMIN' JOE NEAL! This came out in 1956 on Emerge Records, a St. Louis-based local label. Neal put out one other 45, which you can also hear on "his", uh, My Space page. This one is the real barnburner, though, and you can play it or download it by clicking the links below.

Play or Download SCREAMIN' JOE NEAL - "Rock and Roll Deacon"

Play or Download SCREAMIN' JOE NEAL - "Tell Me Pretty Baby"

4 GREAT PUNK LYRICS SEARED INTO MY BRAIN UNTIL DEATH

1. "He tried to stand up to Fidel / But nearly got us blown to Hell / Said he'd get us to the moon / But spent all his time chasing poon!" - THE HUNS, "Glad He's Dead"

2. "Now I guess I'll have to tell 'em / That I've got no cerebellum" - THE RAMONES, "Teenage Lobotomy"

3. "Kill them 'cause their hair's too long / Kill them 'cause their views are wrong" - DEADBEATS, "Kill The Hippies"

4. "Hey Cop! I just shot some crank / I just got out of the tank / I just robbed a bank / I feel pretty rank" - THE NUBS, "Job"

EDDY DETROIT, DESERT SHAMAN

Most folks came to "know" EDDY DETROIT, as much as anyone can know Eddy Detroit, from a 45 the SUN CITY GIRLS put out covering one of his songs ("Immortal Gods"). A Phoenix, Arizona-based contemporary of that band in the 1980s, and whom I believe to be a bit older than them as well, active way back in the 70s, Detroit is the proverbial riddle wrapped in the proverbial enigma. Trouser Press of all folks does a good job capturing the zeitgeist of Eddy Detroit:

"....a self-styled post-punk Rod McKuen who croons his wide-eyed psychobabble-cum-poetry over a lite-psych backing reminiscent of a Holiday Inn lounge band hipped-out for the summer of love...."

He's a bongo-furied, satan-inspired, mystical African hippie punk percussionist who's put out a few records that beg to be pulled out and studied from time to time. The "Immortal Gods" CD, a reissue of a 1982 LP that had the Sun City Girls backing up Detroit, is quite good - better still is the "Mephisto Cigars" 45, with an '82 version of that song (later released in the 1990s on Majora) that totally rules the roost. I'm posting that version for you here. If you want to watch a bizarro video of his "Beezelbub", click here.

Play or Download EDDY DETROIT - "Mephisto Cigars"

RECORDS AND CLOTHES ON THE FLOOR

For about a week my favorite band of 2005 was LOVE IS ALL, a Swedish pop group who use horns and hooks and lots of shouting to (at times) create an irresistible racket. I found mp3s of two of their songs – “Make Out, Fall Out, Make Up” and “Motorboat”, and I thought on the basis on those two that they could do no wrong. Both songs have everything I love in pop music, MY kind of “pop” anyway: brassy, loud swoops of sound; big hooks; nods to the 1960s heyday of hitmaking, and great vocals, even when those vocals are not “classically” great. It’s sort of what unites 60s French ye ye, THE RAMONES, Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound, some CAMERA OBSCURA and BELLE & SEBASTIAN tracks; the early Bangles stuff and so on.

I bought LOVE IS ALL’s debut CD and found it pretty middling; saw them live and they were fun, and they are currently residing in my personal where-are-they-now file. A quick check of their MySpace site has them still very active, with new songs a-plenty. See what got the buzz started by downloading these two near-perfect songs.

Play or Download LOVE IS ALL – “Make Up, Fall Out, Make Up” (from 2004 7”EP on What’s Your Rupture)
Play or Download LOVE IS ALL – “Motorboat” (from 2005, US-only tour 45 on What’s Your Rupture)

JESUS LOVES THE KENT 3

With every passing year, I become more of a KENT 3 fan, bordering on fanatic. I listen to their final three albums (“Stories of the New West”, “Peasant Musik” and especially “Spells”) every six months or so, and though I can’t say this about a lot of bands, with the KENT 3, I like to crank it. You know what I mean? Like windows rattling in the car? The mystery of these guys, is outside of a few nods to bands like Wire and The Fall (more imagined than real), they really were just a basic, vanilla, true-blue “rock band” at heart, albeit of the garage-rocking flavor. I saw them live a bunch around 1997-99, as they were at that time, to my ears, Seattle’s best band. I tried to capture the general je ne sais quoi of the band in this post on my old blog Agony Shorthand, which I’ll copy-n-paste here:

“….During my two years of residence in the rainy city (Seattle), the Kent 3 were one of the only local bands outside of DEAD MOON & MUDHONEY I’d regularly venture out to see. I think I caught them on at least a half-dozen occasions, and every last one was a great time. What does one call the style of rock they play? Garage? I guess….but the likelihood of their having any supporters amongst what we commonly think of as Crypt- or even Estrus-style “garage rockers” is pretty nonexistent. How about ROCK? Sure! Make that raw, occasionally straight-ahead rock seasoned with the weirdest, most obtuse sense of humor and lyrical wordplay you can imagine. These gentlemen are by no means dumb – there’s a sneaking suspicion I have, borne out in their lyrics and even in the twisting but riff-heavy music, that the Kent 3 are playing at a stratified plain just above the one most mortals occupy, and that they are so stifled and frustrated that they throw caution to the wind & just say “fuck it” when it comes time to compose a coherent lyrical or musical narrative. In fact part of the fun of listening to them is trying to figure out where Viv Halogen’s lyrical and philosophical thought train will take you in a song. It’s not meant to be “funny” per se (though it often is anyway), just “interesting”. And I hate lyrics!

This latest one (“Spells”) came out in 2002, a good four years after the excellent “Peasant Musik” emerged on Steve Turner (Mudhoney)’s SuperElectro label. I don’t know how I missed it, but then these guys are used to coping with a fairly low profile. Not even sure if they’re around anymore, really. I’d like to know. “Spells” definitely eschews some of the more mid-tempo meanderings of its predecessor for a lot more fired-up aggression, but even that is tempered by titles like “Man In a Woman’s Body” that sort of act as quiet, puzzling interludes for the rest. Halogen has a terrific voice, which is kind of curious when you consider that an incarnation of this band from a decade ago (“Screaming Youth Fantastic” ) practically fell down solely on their then-vocalist’s rotten set of pipes. I have to live with “Spells” some more, but from where I sit today, it’s their most consistent long player to date, Maybe their best. Yet if people truly vote with their wallets, then this is not a very well-appreciated band. You’ll have to factor that against my glowing appraisal and see if it’s worth parting with your dollar when you come across “Spells” in the used CD bins…..”

Since I recently went through a big dose of Kent 3 mania, I figured I’d let you in on the secret and post two songs each from those final three records. Seriously, they're still out there, in used bins everywhere, when they should be safe, warm & at home on your hi-fi. Take a listen and I'm sure you'll see what I mean.

Play or Download THE KENT 3 - “The Palms” (from 2002 “Spells” CD)
Play or Download THE KENT 3 – “The Changeling” (from 2002 “Spells” CD)
Play or Download THE KENT 3 – “Satellite” (from 1997 “Stories of the New West” CD)
Play or Download THE KENT 3 - “11th Street Wipeout” (from 1997 “Stories of the New West” CD)
Play or Download THE KENT 3 - “DJ Knew?” (from 1998 “Peasant Musik” CD)
Play or Download THE KENT 3 – “Well Dressed Man” (from 1998 “Peasant Musik” CD)

HAVE YOU HEARD THE TFUL282?

There are a handful of bands from my live rock heyday of roughly 1986-1995 that I saw play live over fifteen times each, as obsessive as that sounds, and is. CLAW HAMMER are easily #1, pushing at least 40+ shows, but then again I went on tour with them, and they were friends to boot. MUDHONEY – at least 25 shows, partly driven by their longevity, and partly by the fact that I lived in Seattle a few years & wormed my way onto a few pest lists. LAZY COWGIRLS – absolute crazed late 80s mania for these guys. If they played in Los Angeles, where they lived and played live every month during 1986-89, I was there. I missed one show in the desert and one in Long Beach that I know of, and I’m pretty sure that’s about it. Sick! THE ICKY BOYFRIENDS and MONOSHOCK – between one and three dozen times respectively, but then again, those fellas were also friends, in addition to being a blast live.

There is one band in the 15+ club whom I’m never really met, broken bread with, nor followed too obsessively, and yet whom I delightedly saw play live somewhere between 20 and 25 times. I’m talking of course of THE THINKING FELLERS UNION LOCAL 282. “The Fellers” need to have a reeducation campaign conducted around them, lest they be forgotten to time. In their day they were such a goddamn powerhouse – a wacked amalgamation of convoluted BEEFHEART riffs, Krautrock propulsion, raging punk rock-styled banjo & mandolin, and a noisy and strange take on then-current independent rock flavors. Some of their live shows, especially around 1991 or so, are among the jaw-dropping best I’ve ever seen. Their San Francisco Bay Area-based fans devotedly hopped from gig to gig, and for a year or two it was absolutely worship-like at the shows themselves, with lots of drunken screaming, rolling in the aisles (or in the “pit”), good-natured heckling, and general speaking in tongues. Their core early contingent was largely made up of friends of theirs in bands whose names repeatedly got dropped in BANANAFISH fanzine, which was at the time the ultimate inside “noise” joke, a perplexing, maddening and yet somehow compelling read that centered around editor Seymour Glass’s noisy and offbeat musical favorites, as well as on iconoclastic weirdos of all stripes. Then there were dorks like me who just sorta showed up and witnessed every single show, because it was the best entertainment option available that night, which it most certainly always was.

Now the 22-year-old me had a slightly less robust BS detector than the 40-year-old me does, and I’ll admit that the band’s recordings don’t hold up that well, except for the great “Mother Of All Saints” 2xLP and a few tracks from each album and 45. The Thinking Fellers had this ridiculous, “look at us, we’re really, really weird” show-off thing going on that even bugged me back then (exhibit A: their dumb band name), with some of the guys in the band wearing dresses at times, and actual recordings that consisted solely of farts. Not that I’m not one, mind you – but the Thinking Fellers were TOTAL NERDS. They were nerds that also made some of the most joyously twisted, scraping and fun music of their day, and I’ve picked a couple of representative tracks – their “hits”, if you will – to illustrate this point. Sorry, no YouTube videos of the band live at the 6th Street Rendezvous in 1990 appear to be available (yet)!

Play or Download THINKING FELLERS UNION LOCAL 282 – “Sister Hell” (from 1989 LP, “Tangle”)
Play or Download THINKING FELLERS UNION LOCAL 282 – “2x4s” (from 1990 Nuf Sed 45)

THE DAWN OF SCORCHED EARTH POLICY

In the early 1990s I was very taken, as some of us were, by the New Zealand cassette label Xpressway. The label was putting out tapes & the odd record by Velvets-inspired (however loosely) bands like THE TERMINALS and THE DEAD C, and most of the time when they spoke, I listened. They put out this archival tape from an early 80s NZ group called SCORCHED EARTH POLICY that I totally fell for called "Foaming Out". It collected their two limited-press 12"EPs on Flying Nun from 1984 and 1985 respectively, and then added on a side of nth-generation live recordings. I guess I thought at the time that the band actually never had any official recordings, and that they were just a great lost band in The Clean mode - static pop drone on ocassion; bouyant, choppy melodics on others. Eventually I got wise, and learned that a couple of these folks, Peter Stapleton & Brian Crook, were movers and shakers behind a variety of quality New Zealand groups such as the aforementioned TERMINALS and THE RENDERERS, and that S.E.P. were just another fnatastic stop on their resumes - perhaps my favorite. See if you agree with these first two tracks from their debut EP from '84, "Dust To Dust".

Play or Download SCORCHED EARTH POLICY - "Green Cigar"
Play or Download SCORCHED EARTH POLICY - "Too Far Gone"