Gone Fishin' - in the East River

Well it's that time of year again - your fearless Blogmaster General and his crew are off on our "Hide In Plain Sight" tour of NYC.  In my absence - here are some great NYC style tunes.

OK, I realize this is not a rock song but is there another song that is so definitively New York?



Moving into the ballpark now, this song came up on my iPod just as I made the turn into Central Park when I finished the NYC marathon.



Shouldn't they just rename The Bowery to Ramomes Way



Mos Def and Talib's classic with Chicago's very own Common. How about that second album??



Required listening on West End Avenue.



One of Brooklyn's finest new bands.

Hopefully this keeps you entertained until I get back.  See ya next week.

Cheers,

The Blogmaster General

My Twitter Followers - Vol 1: The Sweet Ones

In the short time since I've started this little blog thing, the focus has been on bands  I really like and stuff that is currently dominating my iPod, iPhone, computer, or other readily available music player.  To see if this thing had any appeal beyond my compadres, family members, and handsomely bribed co-workers, I started up a Twitter account @rockfiend.  Much to my surprise, a few followers suddenly appeared after my first few posts and, even cooler, a couple of them were in bands.  Since I'm always game to hear new tunes, I decided that I'd write a post on one of these bands from time to time.   First up, Brooklyn NY's the Sweet Ones.

A self described "junk rock trio", the Sweet Ones bring a nice mix of influences - some punkier than others.  I had a chance to listen to their newest album Mistakes and there's some cool tunes on there.  Most of the songs are raw, lo-fi-ish garage rockers with big hooks with a few surprises.  "Rutley" has a soul feel to it and, my favorite song on the album, "Carburetor", is a jazzy, swinging number complimented by a Morphine-style sax line.

Mistakes is a cool album with solid tunes, nice little surprises, and some really funny lyrics.  Thinking this one will become part of the active rotation.  One question - when are you going to play Chicago?  For more info on The Sweet Ones, check them out at:

http://thesweetones.net

R.E.M. - The Part Not Covered

Sometimes it's not always the best thing to be so amazing so early in your career.  R.E.M. is a perfect case in point.  Coming out of the gates with Chronic Town,  Murmur, and Reckoning set such a high water mark that everything else, no matter how good, will always pale by comparison.  Even releases such as Out of Time and Monster that made them superstars are regarded as relatively lesser pieces of work compared to their early 80's output.

To commemorate their move into the Del Webb Sun City community for retired post-punk/early alt bands, they have just released a super size compilation called Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982 - 2011. While this collection is a solid cross sections of the hits, there are a some gaps in this hearty collection.  For those wanting to delve deeper in to the work of Athens' finest, here are few nuggets to help expand your R.E.M. horizons:

1.  "Wolves Lower" -  The song that started it all - side one, song one from Chronic Town.  A snappy, pop punk tune that served as the introduction of the R.E.M. trademark sound.

2.  "Toys In The Attic" - Yes,  I went there.  R.E.M. covers the legendary Aerosmith song on Dead Letter Office.  It's a total B-side  but to hear Peter Buck play Joe Perry's part on a 12 string is worth the price of admission.  I'd have loved to hear Michael Stipe sing "Walk This Way" myself

3. "Pilgrimage" -  While everyone knows "Radio Free Europe", the song that follows it on Murmur is probably the best on their legendary debut.  A slowish, pop song that features a xylophone and just some great harmonies from Stipe and Mike Mills

4. " 7 Chinese Bros" - A little slower paced than the songs on Murmur, this song from Reckoning has a great combination of a soft melody with some sharp guitar and drum parts.

5.  "Can't Get There From Here" - While generally regarded as the lower point of the bands early years, Fables Of The Reconstruction had some classic songs.  This mid-tempo rocker breaks from the mold of their first couple of albums with a great horn part near the end.

6. "I Believe" - Life's Rich Pageant was the album that saw the band change the more subtle sounds of their first few albums to a full blown rock band.  But they did within the context of their core talents.   Buck's jangly 12 string guitar has never sounded more powerful and the harmonies of Mills and Stipe absolutely soar on this barn burner.

7.  "Disturbance At The Heron House" - Packing now alternative rock classics "The One That I Love" and "It's the End of the World", Document was the album that made R.E.M. into rock stars.  However, this album also had some quirkier songs and this was one of them.

8.  "World Leader Pretend" - The great thing about REM is that, after two big sounding albums, what do they do when they sign to a major label - go back to basics.  Mind you Green did have some mega hits but there were a number of lower key songs like this one driven by Bill Berry's off-beat drums and the pedal steel guitar present throughout the song.  Think of this as the prequel to "Country Feedback" on Out of Time.

9.  "Radio Song" - R.E.M. starts their biggest album ever with  their funkiest song ever.  Driven by Mike Mills organ, Buck's guitar bursts, and a great driving rhythm from Bill Berry, it's a funky new world for the band.  And KRS-One guests too.

10.  "Find The River" - Hands down R.E.M's  finest moment.  After the international success of Out of Time came Automatic for the People - a very subdued, somber record that, in many ways, rivals their first classic early releases. "Find The River" is a gorgeous song driven by Stipe's very reflective vocals and, not shockingly, some simply stunning background harmonies from Mills and Stipe.

As I could write forever on this, here are a few more from the later days that are highly recommended:

"Let Me In"
"How The West Was Won and Where It Got Us"
"Diminished"
"Parakeet"

If there are some that I've missed that you think should be part of my "best of the rest" list, share away!!  

Beats, Rhymes, and Life - A fans eye view of a Tribe Called Quest

The thing about rock documentaries, especially when it's about about a band you really, really, like, is that it can completely change your perspective about that artist - sometimes good, sometimes not so much.  Rattle and Hum made U2 look like such meglomaniacs I never thought of them the same way again - even though they would follow up this self indulgent sludge with the finest record of their career.  Meanwhile, Anvil - The Story of Anvil, the account of a low-tier 80's metal band trying for that one last comeback, was as inspiring a movie as I've seen in eons.

So when I first started reading about Beats, Rhymes, and Life and the so-so reviews and the fact that Q-Tip and Ali were boycotting it, I intentionally passed on seeing it in the theaters.  I've been such a huge fan for so long (I listen to Midnight Marauders at least once a week) that I didn't want to re-experience the bad taste that I had walking out of Rattle and Hum a million years ago.  However, my curiosity was getting the best of me so I finally rented it when it came out on home video last week.

And the verdict is.....I liked it.....a lot.  It's not perfect, and director Michael Rapaport probably dwells a bit too much on life post the break-up, it is a fans eye view of a band loved and admired by millions the world over.

Despite the fact that Tribe was a quartet, and while the importance of Ali and Jarobi cannot be denied, the essence of the band were it's two frontmen Q-Tip and Phife Dawg.  The volatile relationship between these two lifelong friends serves as the centerpiece of the movie.  This tension peaked in the opening scene of the movie when Q-Tip breaks up the band again at the end of their 2008 reunion tour.  It was a very bleak moment that most friendships never recover from.

The movie reinforces the fact that Tribe as a collective was definitely far greater than the sum of it's parts.  There was Q-Tip, the quirky, driving force who was always in search of the perfect sound and the perfect set of beats.  The story about how the A & R rep had to literally steal the tapes for their iconic album "The Low End Theory" underlies Tip's quest for perfection.  Phife was the perfect yin to Tip's yang, the gregarious, light hearted partner in crime who, while needing to be prodded from time to time,  was the source of many great rhymes throughout the life of the band.  Jarobi, in his on-again, off-again, time in the band was critical in pulling things together and Ali served as the glue that held everything together.

The first half of the movie, save for that ominous first scene, focuses on how they came together really focuses on the band coming together and the salad days between 1990 and 1994.  There's a great scene when Q-Tip and Ali go back to their old high school in Manhattan and talk about how they would use their desks for beats.  Phife had some great stories about how he'd sneak out of all day church services to watch Soul Train and listen to old-school hip hop stations.  The history of how their legendary first three albums came together was really cool also - especially the story of how Phife came up with the great lines from "Buggin Out" on the subway en route to the studio.   Another great scene was the story of how Q-Tip took one of Minnie Ripperton's high pitched vocal pieces and made that part of the backbeat for "Midnight Marauders'" Lyrics To Go.  Having listened to that song hundreds, if not thousands of times, I never realized that was a vocal part.

The remainder of Beats  focuses on the ups and downs of the members of the band after their 1998 break-up.  While the other members, particularly Q-Tip, seemed to do well, it was difficult to watch Phife wrestle with the effects of Type 1 Diabetes that led to his kidney transplant.  This led to the most poignant moments in the movie between Phife finding out that his wife was a match to Jarobi's emotions getting the best of him to the text the Q-Tip sent just before the operation despite their estranged relationship.  It also served as the transition to the final part that lead up to their 2010 reunion.  Unlike their ill-fated 2008 tour, this seemed much more natural and something was done because they wanted to - not because they had to.

As I said before, while it's not perfect, Beats, Rhyme, and Life is the tale of one of the greatest hip-hop bands in history through the eyes of fan with the help of many other fans.   And unlike other, more ill-fated documentaries,  it reaffirmed why I will always love A Tribe Called Quest and, much to the chagrin of those around me, while I listen to them even more now.  Up for an Award Tour anyone??
  

Sneak Preview - ATCQ

Here's a sneak preview of my next blog will be about...enjoy

Have hooks, will travel: Phantogram and Real Estate

Pop Music has always had a shapeshifter like quality to it. There's the timeless, insanely awesome harmonies of the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds or Big Star's Radio City. Punk, generally associated with the uber-snotty side of rock, has proven to have a knack for hook-filled tunes starting at almost at day 1 with the Buzzcocks and continuing to this day with bands like Bad Religion and Green Day. As with all things, you must take good with the bad. That's no different with Pop as proven with over-produced sludge like Katy Perry that has all the depth of a piece of notebook paper. On the really good side, a couple of recent releases have stoked the pop flames in a huge way.

New York's Phantogram just released a new EP called Nightlife that runs the spectrum of electro-pop. It's lead-off track "16 Years" reminds me a bit of School of Seven Bells with it's swirling style guitar and processed beats with Sarah Barthel's dreamy vocals pulling it all together. Don't Move - the lead off single, has a Portishead feel to it with a variety of little sounds coming in and out. The second half of the EP also features vocals from guitarist Josh Carter. This one - two punch culminates in the final track "A Dark Tunnel" that intertwines a harder head section driven by his vocals with a dreamy bridge and chorus from Barthel whose vocals sound just a bit like the Cocteau Twin's Elizabeth Fraser on this one.

The flip side of Phantogram, Brooklyn's Real Estate taken a much more low key approach with their second, very addictive album "Days". It's a mix of loose, very dreamy guitars that occasionally bring back memories of REM's "Reckoning" with soft, airy vocals that drift along with the song. Two out of the first three songs "Easy" and "It's Real" are pop classics in the making. "It's Real" in particular has a slightly up-tempo power pop with great loose sounding guitar parts and a simple but addictive chorus. The rest of the album features really solid, totally dreamy pop that brings back memories of Luna, the Posies, and tons of other great dream pop bands.

Despite their different approaches, both of these albums are doing quite the job fulfilling my pop fix. Who knows what's next on Norwegian Black Metal maybe?? It's anyone's guess but for now - Viva Le Pop

Seattle 20 years later - All Rules Still Need Not Apply

Musically, 1991 was a year that defied conventional wisdom. It was the endgame for hair metal, having long gone past its "sell by" date. It was bands such as REM and Metallica who had spent the 80's slowly percolating up from the underground becoming megastars. It was the summer of Perry Farrell and his idea for a traveling freak show called Lollapalooza that served as a prolonged farewell for Jane's Addiction. It was “Loveless”, "Achtung Baby", "The Low End Theory", and "International Pop Overthrow". And late in 1991, it was a 5 minute bomb from the Pacific Northwest called "Smells Like Team Spirit" that wound up turning the world on it's ear.

While the world saw the sudden rise of Nirvana and, a couple of months later, Pearl Jam as if they were singular events, that could be no further from the truth. The success of these two bands along with other bands such as Soundgarden and Alice In Chains were culmination of a scene that had grown very organically over the course of the past decade and by it's own rules. It's also a scene that has continued to reinvent itself and thrives to this day.

Unlike many of the regional scenes that popped up in the post punk era such as Minneapolis, Washington DC, or Orange County, there was no central standard that the Seattle bands adhered to. Many of these bands were inspired equally by the music that they listened to in their basements such as the Who and Led Zeppelin as they were by the punk bands that came through town such as Big Black, the Minutemen, and the Replacements. This mix of influences led to a scene whose only rule was that there was no rules. That ethos was apparent in the variety of bands that appeared from the toxic sludge of the Melvins to the sorrowful soul of Screaming Trees to the sweet pop of Beat Happening.

With this background, it's not too shocking that bands as different as Nirvana and Pearl Jam were able to co-exist. Nirvana, despite the intensity of "Smell's Like Team Spirit" was really a masterful power-pop band fueled by equal parts of the Pixies, the Raincoats, and the Vaselines. This becomes glaringly apparent as you listen to songs such as "Drain You" or "On a Plain" from "Nevermind" along with the treasure cove of singles that were included on the criminally under-appreciated collection "Incesticide".

Along with the bands that they were in beforehand such Green River and Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam, were completely and totally fueled by classic rock. While their punk sides occasionally reared it's head, particularly on Vs and Vitalogy, songs like "Alive" and the epic "Release" were completely based on in classic, old-school FM rock of the seventies and early eighties.

The changes that were happening in 1991 provided the perfect opportunity for both bands and the almost immediate mass acceptance proved that. And while many of the bands from that magic era of the early 90's have come and gone, the Seattle scene continues to crank out compelling musical acts such as Death Cab for Cutie, Sunn-O, and Band of Horses.

Still alive the Seattle scene very much is....