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Column: What Goes On
Faith No More Announces First East Coast Show in Ten Years
Brooklyn Vegan broke the news yesterday that the summer’s first Williamsburg Waterfront show will also be Faith No More’s first show on the east coast in over a decade. It is also reportedly “the first time a show at the space will cost money,” although it’s a benefit that will help subsidize future free shows there, not that we should need any other reason to be cough up a few beans to catch Patton and the gang (seen right, looking rather fruity) back in action.
Right now they’re doing a small victory lap having just finished what must have been a supremely kickass 10-show run through New Zealand and Australia (during which, it might as well be noted, Bottum was down under). Up next they make their grand return to the States for a sold-out three-night stand in their original stompin’ grounds — San Francisco — at the Warfield Theater in April. Yes, it was back in their Bay Area days that it all first came together, including a moment before Mike Patton, even before Chuck Mosely, when they actually endured Courtney Love as lead singer. Can you imagine if that had lasted? Thankfully it did not, and the band went on to conquer the world.
Anyway, after SF comes Coachella, then New York will get its taste, and then it’s off to Europe. Not much love for the USA on this go-round, but the band’s future is yet unwritten, so we’ll see what comes of all this. Besides a righteously Jizzlobbin’, Woodpeckin’, Ugly in the Mornin’ springtime. After the jump, a little chunk of what we hope to see… read more
Marty Friedman In Japanese Fanta Commercial
[via Metal Injection]
Here’s former Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman shilling for Fanta in Japanese. Can’t understand what he’s saying, but it’s good to know the guy who shredded so hard on Rust In Peace can still get crazy endorsement deals.
Did you know Fanta was invented in Nazi Germany? It’s true. Coca-Cola stopped shipping their formula to Deutschland during World War II, and the people running the Coke plant there had to come up with some kind of alternate product so no one would lose their job. A thoughtful employee came up with the idea of fruit-flavored beverages, and Fanta was born. I’m not even lying. Read for yourself.
P.S. – Don’t know who that other band is in the clip, but I think we can all agree they dress awesomely.
Who Covered It Best: “Jealous Guy”
While there’s at least a known 92 recorded cover versions, if there’s some one or some band that’s going to cover John Lennon’s song of a lover’s desire for possession over their mate, “Jealous Guy” (which appeared on his 9171 album Imagine), it can only be Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music. Following Lennon’s death in 1980, Roxy Music added their version of “Jealous Guy” to their set while on tour, but previously Ferry recorded the song as a solo artist. The song ended up being the only #1 hit for the group, topping the charts for two weeks in March of 1981. Which is sort of criminal, considering all of the great Roxy Music tracks out there.
Listen to John Lennon’s original of “Jealous Guy” after the jump. read more
Album Review: Liars, Sisterworld
Liars
Sisterworld
(Mute, 2010)
If you haven’t seen the video for “Scissor“, the lead-off track from Liars’ new album, Sisterworld, you’re denying yourself the privilege of viewing the best music video to come out (so far) this year. Artfully shot, well conceived, scary, brutal, and darkly funny, “Scissor” is an excellent taste of what Sisterworld offers.
Liars consistently elude genres. Some people call them an art-rock band, but Sisterworld merely dabbles in “rock”. Shadowy, unsettling, and oozing with a dark, viscous fluidity, the album is truly a world apart.
It can be described in extremes: juxtaposing dynamics and slippery rhythms that debase comfort zones and defy predictability. Musically and lyrically, Sisterworld sounds fixated on challenging established motifs and values. Naturally, the album is noisiest and loudest where the gauntlet is thrown hardest.
Chuck Biscuits “Could Not Care Less” You Thought He Was Dead
Last October, I erroneously reported the death of drumming powerhouse Chuck Biscuits on my personal blog. I did this not because a friend texted me the rumor or because I read it somewhere on a punk rock message board. Nay, I posted that obituary because I had spent the previous six months communicating with a party claiming to be a cancer-ridden Chuck and his wife, Lauren, and the latter half of said duo contacted me on October 27 to inform me Chuck had finally succumbed to the disease. As I’ve stated infinite times before, I had no reason to believe these people were anyone but who they said they were.
That belief was shaken like a crack baby mere hours after the obituary I wrote went viral on October 29. E-mails starting pouring in from friends and former band mates who claimed they knew nothing of Chuck’s cancer or resulting demise. Surely I was mistaken or had been duped. The chorus of doubters grew louder and louder until Chuck’s estranged brother, Bob Montgomery, contacted me. He was especially dubious until I showed him a few scraps of evidence, including various e-mails sent from biscuitschuck@hotmail.com and the now famous (in my mind) “James G. Is A Kid Toucher” photo. Bob, a resident of Vancouver, was skeptical enough to drive three hours south to Seattle where Chuck currently lives to investigate for himself. There he found his brother, Chuck Biscuits, alive and well but reportedly tight-lipped about the big death hoax.
Bob phoned me after this physical confirmation and laid out all he knew. The person in the photo was his brother, Chuck Biscuits. Chuck’s wife’s name was indeed Lauren. The e-mail address biscuitschuck@hotmail.com also belonged to Chuck; there seemed to be no question I was communicating with the actual Chuck Biscuits of Danzig/Black Flag/Circle Jerks fame and his wife, not some kind of strange impostor (a third party quickly confirmed for my paranoid mind that this Bob Montgomery was also the genuine article). The only question that remained was why? Why would Chuck Biscuits and his wife want to hose me and the rest of the world into believing he was dead? Bob could offer nothing beyond the fact his brother had a history of being a little nutty. That, it seemed, was that—until now.
Album Review: The Whigs, In the Dark
The Whigs
In the Dark
(ATO, 2010)
We’ve seen it so many times before that it’s almost lost its stigma, and maybe even so much that we’ve grown to expect it. Lots of bands start out with an edge and see it produced away under the guise of “artistic development.” It’s almost understandable in a way, because everyone says you need to evolve from record to record—although some of the most prolific and long-lasting bands out there hang on by doing exactly the opposite.
Had that happened to the Whigs I think my heart would have broken, since their early 2008 album Mission Control really struck a chord with me. And I know I wasn’t the only one. It wasn’t the first release by the Athens, GA trio—they self-released Give ‘Em All A Big Fat Lip in 2005—but it was the first to hit a wider audience. Mission Control was clean, the songs were simple and catchy, it was loud, it was dark. It would have been so easy to fuck it up with their next album; all they would have had to do was get fancy. Thankfully, they didn’t.
In the Dark opens with “Hundred/Million”, a loud, fuzzy rocker with chanted verses that turns anthemic at the chorus. It’s a strong start, proof right out front that In the Dark will be lacking none of the vitality and shit-kicking Southern energy that made Mission Control so great. The forward momentum continues unchecked from there through “Black Lotus” and “Kill Me Carolyne”, songs with combustion engines. They slow for a moment to a dirge-like, sultry march on “Someone’s Daughter” and then speed it back up for “So Lonely.”
Listen to New Woods Track from Forthcoming Record
Woods put out one my favorite albums of 2009 with Songs of Shame, so I just got excited when I realized they have a new record coming out (in May, of course), with one track already available for listening here.
Said track, “I Was Gone“, retains the granular lo-fi noise of their previous efforts crossed by the polished pitch of Jeremy Earl’s voice, and the press release suggests great things in store with At Echo Lake:
At Echo Lake feels like a diamond-sharp distillation of the turbulent power of their live shows, in much the same way that the Grateful Dead’s “Dark Star” single amplified and engulfed the planetary aspect of their improvised takes… At Echo Lake is more Fifth Dimension than Notorious Byrd Brothers…
Sounds like my cup of tea. Check back in May for more coverage on the record when it’s released.
Devo to Perform on Yo Gabba Gabba!
[Via Antimusic] Finally, Ive got something tangibly in common with my sister’s kids besides blood! Tomorrow, March 11th, I’ll put aside my Aeropress and 70’s psych-folk records, they’ll drop the juiceboxes and look up from the Elmo coloring books, and together we’ll tune in and watch Devo perform their 2007 single, “Watch Us Work It,” on the Nickelodeon show Yo Gabba Gabba! (Check local listings for times.)
While I’m at it, I think I know what my niece is getting for her birthday… A Dora the Explorer backpack, designed by Slash! Awwwww, maybe she can also start bringing little six-ounce boxes of Jack Daniels in with her crustless PB&J. It’s always nap time somewhere!
Slash really is designing a Dora backpack, though, and Devo really is performing on Yo Gabba Gabba. In fact, Mark Mothersbaugh already has a long history with childrens’ shows, having composed music for about thirty of them over the years, including Pee Wee’s Playhouse and Rugrats. HE’s particularly down with the Yo-Gab crew, though, as he’s been starring in his own segment, “Mark’s Magic Pictures,” for over a year now. In the segment, Mothersbaugh applies his real-life skills as a visual artist to draw pictures that often come to life at the end. That’s the magic part, see. Check it out after the jump.
Afternoon Mood Elevator: Brian Wilson’s Black Cab Session
This isn’t a flawless performance or anything, but that’s not the point. The point is that this is Brian Wilson singing in the back of a black cab in London with some pals, and they are having a great time, harmonizing on both “Lucky Old Sun” and “California Girls.” If I didn’t know any better, I’d assume they were also a few pints in to the day. Anyway, it’s total sweetness.
Watch National Perform New Track on Late Night
by: Angela Zimmerman
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon is no stranger to some of our favorite bands performing great, new songs. Check out past clips we’ve recently posted with Ted Leo and Joanna Newsom. But we’re talking about the National here. The National! Last night, the band performed their new song, “Terrible Love” from their May release High Violet, and it’s every bit as beautiful and impeccably arranged as you’d expect. Watch below.
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by: Angela Zimmerman
published: March 11, 2010
in column: What Goes On
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