Krent Able’s Big Book Of Mischief is a devilish mix of rock ‘n’ roll satire conjured up in wonderfully wicked graphics and text. Able’s visuals remind me of S. Clay Wilson, a darkly hilarious blend of diabolical images combined with the kind of precise, scalpel-like dissection of pop culture banalities we expect from R. Crumb.
From Lou Reed and Iggy to Nick Cave and Justin Timberlake, no one is spared Able’s poison pen. It’s a lovely bunch of nastiness and you can buy it here.
Brian Jonestown Massacre performing in Germany on May 12, 2010.
The band is in good form and the video and audio are terrific.
Setlist:
Wasted
Got My Eye On You
Here It Comes
Let Me Stand Next To Your Flower
Servo
Anenome
When Jokers Attack
Sailor
Jennifer
Cabin Fever
Prozac vs. Heroin
Nevertheless
Wisdom
Going To Hell
Not If You Were The Last Dandy On Earth
Who
That Girl Suicide
Hide And Seek
Whoever You Are
Oh Lord
Satellite
Anton Newcombe – guitar, vocals
Matt Hollywood – guitar, vocals
Ricky Maymi – guitar
Frankie “Teardrop” Emerson – guitar, backing vocals
Collin Hegna – bass, backing vocals
Rob Campanella – keyboards, guitar
Dan Allairé – drums
Joel Gion – percussion, vocals
It’s Roy Wood’s birthday and to celebrate here’s a little curio from 1983 of probably the greatest pub rock band in the world, The Rockers.
The Rockers consisted of Roy Wood, Phil Lynott, Bev Bevan and er, Chas Hodges from Cockney knees-up duo Chas ‘n’ Dave. They released one single “We Are the Boys (Who Make All the Noise)” this time with Status Quo’s John Coghlan on drums. Here, that number tops and tails a fine medley of Rock ‘n’ Roll standards as performed on O.T.T. - the late-night version of kid’s Saturday morning classic Tiswas, both of which were hosted by Chris (Who Wants to be a Millionaire?) Tarrant.
Skeletonwitch. What else would you have expected them to look like?
Ohio heavy metal band Skeletonwitch is best known for three things: awesomely brutal music, awesomely brutal shows, and basically being the sweethearts of metal. Seriously, every interview you read with them is gracious and based on a love of the scene.
Since metal is a genre not granted too much cultural legitimacy by music critics at large, it can be a little sensitive and venture into “We Are Very Serious Business” territory, which is why it was so awesome to see Skeletonwitch put this video on their Facebook page.
While the metal genre doesn’t frequently lend itself to self-deprecation, it’s nice to see heshers with a sense of humor.
Plus, when a six-year-old little girl in her pink jammies does a growl like that, you just gotta show some respect.
Nugent, we’re calling your bluff. In the video below, you said you’d be dead or in jail if Obama got re-elected. Well, guess what asshole?
As far as we’ve been able to tell, the rock neanderthal hasn’t demonstrated the strength of his convictions yet. He’s only mustered up the courage to tweet. He’s got until April 16, 2013 (one year after he appeared at the NRA convention where the video was shot) to make good on his promise. I’ve got a special bottle of bourbon for the occasion.
Almost 10 years after Donovan released “Mellow Yellow,” Stevens celebrated the mythic psychedelic properties of banadine with “Banapple Gas” on his 1975 album Numbers.
Banapple gas, oh Banapple gas
Everybody’s living on Banapple gas
O-o alas!
All the world is grooving on Banapple gas”
2007. Les Savy Fav releases Let’s Stay Friends. Not only does Les Savy Fav treat you to sweaty, powerful performances with plenty of partial nudity and plenty of beard, they also treat you to some of the finest songs ever written.
Music History in GIFs is exactly what the title says. The 8-bit animations are by Brooklyn-based guitarist Joshua Carrafa who’s in the band Old Monk.
Below each GIF is a caption written by Carrafa.
1986. Jello Biafra and Alternative Tentacles are dragged in to court and charged with “distributing harmful matter to minors” over the visual and lyrical content of the Dead Kennedys album Frankenchrist. After the police raid Biafra’s house and lawyers probe through the album, they remember there is some law or something that says you can’t censor that kind of stuff.
1979. Frank Zappa releases Sheik Yerbouti. He masters the combination of humor and music, and it becomes his most successful album. His song titles are dead serious though, like “I Have Been In You,” “Broken Hearts Are for Assholes,” and “Jewish Princess.”
As we await the election results, cool your heels watching this lovely, intimate discussion between Patti Smith and Neil Young filmed during BookExpo America earlier this year.
A letter dated November 14, 1969 from record producer Teo Macero to Columbia/CBS Records executives regarding Miles Davis’ suggested title for Bitches Brew.
The latest release from BMX Bandits reunites the talented, maverick frontman, Duglas T. Stewart with his former Bandits Jim McCulloch, Norman Blake and Sean Dickson, who together have produced BMX Bandits In Space, which is the most accomplished and best record of the Bandits’ long and influential career.
This the 16th BMX Bandits’ release and is the first time Stewart has written with Dickson and McCulloch in over 20-years. The rekindling of their talents has gilded the quality of the bandits’ songs - writing some of the finest they band has ever produced.
‘There isn’t really a pattern or formula for how BMX Bandits songs are written,’ Duglas T. Stewart explains, ‘And I like it that way.’
‘I think some writers get tied in by habits they have when writing, their hands tend to gravitate to certain shapes and chord progressions on instruments. Because I don’t write at an instrument, as I don’t really play any instruments and don’t understand the rules and mathematics of music, I avoid doing that naturally. When I write a melody it can pretty much go anywhere.
‘For this album the songs were written many different ways. A lot of the songs were written with Jim McCulloch. Jim was an original member of BMX Bandits in 1985 and 1986 but we didn’t really write together then. Sometimes Jim had a musical idea that I would contribute other musical ideas to and lyrics to and sometimes he had some words and a bit of a time and sometimes I had the original musical idea. I think of music in very visual ways, a bit like a soundtrack to little movies in my head or like what Shadow Morton, Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry did with The Shangri-Las. So within a song each musical section will often be a representation of a scene. Musical phrases and sound motifs may represent a character, an emotion, an action or even dialogue that the lyrics doesn’t include.’
Through a series of connected songs, BMX Bandits In Space tells the story of an Astronaut as he drifts in space and time, looking back on the loves of his life.
‘The space in BMX Bandits In Space isn’t the space of Star Wars or 2001: A Space Odyssey, it’s more like the space that’s portrayed in Douglas Trumbull’s Silent Running,which starred Bruce Dern, or a bit like a space version of 1964 TV version Robinson Crusoe, scored by Robert Mellin. Mellin’s Crusoe soundtrack for that series was something I kept returning to during the making of BMX Bandits In Space.’
The opening track is the beautiful “Still”, which sets the tone for the album and where Stewart, at times, sounds like a young Willie Nelson.
“Still” - BMX Bandits.
‘The first song that I wrote for this album was “Still”. The melody for the verses and the first line came to me the last time I visited Japan. I kept singing “There’s no need to worry, it’s going to be alright” over and over to myself, trying to reassure myself but somehow I didn’t believe myself.
‘I worked on my idea with the Japanese group Plectrum and when I returned home they sent me a rough version of what they had recorded. I was playing the game Wii music with my son and I loved it and the sounds on it. I could suddenly hear/see the complete story and heard the arrangement for the song with mellotron voices and sounds like the ones on the game. The song set the whole tone and mood and setting for the album. Although the song doesn’t mention space or space travel I felt like the character in this song was hopelessly drifting in space in a little pod like craft with instruments crackling and things shorting around me.’
“Still” sets up the concept of an astronaut or traveler in search of personal, emotional redemption, the tale told through the cycle of songs, incluidng “Beautiful Friend”, where we are told:
“I was alive again, I could smile again.”
Through to “Look At You, Look At Me” and “Listen To Some Music”, with its knowing reference of post pop glories, to “Like The Morning Sun” - with Rachel Allison’s delectable vocal, “Elegant Love”, “You Disappointed Me”, “Fucked Up This Time”, “It’s You”, through to the haunting final refrain of the brilliant “In Space”.
BMX Bandis “In Space”
Duglas explains there are a series of characters who run through the album, appearing and reappearing on different tracks, as he explains:
‘The Lonely Astronaut - dreaming, remembering and misremembering little scenes of love.
‘The Dream Lover - who first appears in the song “Beautiful Friend”, then reappears in “Look at You, Look at Me”, “Like The Morning Sun” and in other places.
‘The Angel - who can wash away my sins and guide me and other lost souls home, sometimes she blurs at the edges with the dream lover character.
‘The Soldier - sent off to the front the day after meeting his ideal girl at a dance. Again this character blurs with the lonely astronaut, with me and with an idealised version of my grandfather.’
The blurring of these characters and songs reveal how close their emotional odyssey in BMX Bandits In Space is to Stewart’s own biography, and the ending with the Astronaut / Soldier traveling across a landscape bathed in light, offers a hopeful redemption.
As Duglas sings on the album:
“It’s a complicated story, like the best ones can be…”
which
“...could change your life, so let our song begin.”
And I suggest you do just that. For Duglas T. Stewart and his fellow Bandits have brought together the best of their talents to make BMX Bandits In Space a stunning, beautiful and brilliant album, which is top of my list for Album of the Year.
is best known for three things: awesomely brutal music, awesomely brutal shows, and basically being the sweethearts of metal. Seriously, every interview you read with them is gracious and based on a love of the scene. 
put this video on their Facebook page. 
