A Continuum Transfunctioner Happy New Year Mach 2!!!! Die Toten Hosen!!!

Happy New Year everybody!!

Die Toten Hosen----Auld Lang Syne

A Continuum Transfunctioner Happy New Year!!!! The Real MacKenzies!!!!

Happy New Year All!!!

The Real MacKenzies----Auld Lang Syne!!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 70---Marah!!

The Best way to spread Christmas cheer IS singing LOUD for ALL to HEAR!

Marah-----New York is a Christmas Kind of Town!!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 69!!--Mutton Birds!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas CHEER is singing loud for all to HEAR!

Mutton Birds---Envy of Angels

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 68---Manic Hispanic!!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is singing loud for all to hear!!!

Manic Hispanic----Santa got run over by my Chevy!!!

The Best Way To Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 67--The Soundtrack of Our Lives!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!!!

The Sound Track of Our Lives--Jingle Hell (Stuck in the Chimney)

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 66--The Dirtbombs!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!!!

The Dirtbombs!!!!----My Last Christmas

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 65--The Vandals!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!

The Vandals---Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies!!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 64---Count Floyd!!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!

Count Floyd---Reggae Christmas Eve in Transylvania!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 63---Wilco!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!

Wilco (and Audience) Jesus, etc.

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 62--Dave Edmunds!!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!

Dave Edmunds---Run Run Rudolph!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 61--Chris Stamey Group!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer Is Singing Loud for All to Hear!

Chris Stamey----Christmas Time!!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 60--Blitzen Trapper

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer Is Singing Loud for All to Hear!

Blitzen Trapper----Christmas Is Coming Soon

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 59--Captain Sensible

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer Is Singing Loud for All to Hear!!!

Captain Sensible---One Christmas Catalogue

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 58--Sari and Mari Kaasinen

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!


Sari and Mari Kaasinen--Jouluna Jumala Syntyi

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 57--Daffy Duck

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer Is Singing Loud for ALL to Hear!



Daffy Duck-All I want for Christmas is MORE MORE MORE!!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 56--Cerys Matthews and Tom Jones

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!

Tom Jones and Cerys Matthews---Baby It's Cold Outside

A Poem from Monty Python in the Spirit of the Holiday Season

I found this little ditty, composed by the great Eric Idle of Monty Python, in a footnote in Richard Dawkins' book, The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution. I recently read this and really enjoyed the book; I learned a lot through the many case studies he recites throughout. I've always assumed that evolution was in general a process that unfolded across milennia, but evolution is happening right now in a noticeable fashion, and new scientific evidence supporting evolution and broadening our understanding of the concept is being uncovered as we speak. Definitely a book that people need to read. If the statistics Dawkins recites are accurate, an appalling percentage of Americans don't believe in Evolution. The frustration that he feels, having to fight an uphill battle in the face of determined opposition, is palpable.

Evolution is a controversy that should be completely uncontroversial. Charles Darwin's Origin of Species was published more than 150 years ago and 180 years ago on December 27th 1831, he set forth on his world changing voyage on the HMS Beagle, and though there is a clear scientific consensus that Evolution is the mechanism for the development of life on this planet, many people do not want to deal with the subject at all, and unless the American education systems have changed at all since I looked at textbooks, I doubt that they are of much use in enlightening people.

I would not disagree that Evolution is a pretty difficult concept to understand; I know that I have problems understanding Dawkin's chapters on Evolution at the cellular and genetic level. Overall, his writing style is direct and lively, and for the most part The Greatest Show on Earth makes for a fascinating read. But even if we don't have an example of the evolution of mankind from a single cell creature through Homo Capitalicus, there seems to be a consistent process going on, a process also occurring throughout the world of all living things. I think after all this time its time we got on board the boat like Darwin did. But I'm not too optimistic.

So anyway, here goes the poem, a wonderful parody.

All things dull and ugly
All creatures short and squat
All things rude and nasty
The Lord God made the lot.

Each little snake that poisons
Each little wasp that stings
He made their brutish venom
He made their horrid wings.

All things sick and cancerous
All evil great and small,
All things foul and dangerous
The Lord God made them all.

Each nasty little hornet
Each beastly little squid
Who made the spiky urchin?
Who made the sharks? He did!

All things scabbed and ulcerous
All pox both great and small
Putrid, foul and gangrenous
The Lord God made them all.

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 55--Cocteau Twins

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!

Cocteau Twins--Winter Wonderland

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 54--Gruff Rhys

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!


Gruff Rhys---Post Apocalypse Christmas

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 53--The Len Price 3

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!

The Len Price 3---Its Christmas Time Ebenezer

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 52--The Joy Formidable!

The Best Way to Spread ChRiStMaS ChEeR is Singing loud for All to HEar!


The Joy Formidable---My Beerdrunk Soul is sadder than a hundred dead christmas trees....

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 51--Died Pretty

The Best way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!

Died Pretty-Winterland

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 50--The Fleshtones!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing loud for all to hear!


The Fleshtones---Hooray for Santa Claus!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 49--The Fall!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!

The Fall--No Christmas for John Quays

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 48--Sufjan Stevens

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!



Sufjan Stevens---Come On! Let's Boogie to the Elf Dance

The Best Way To Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 47--Young Fresh Fellows!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!

The Young Fresh Fellows---O Little Town Of Bethlehem

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 46--Ash!!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud For All to Hear!

Ash---I Wish It Could be Christmas Every Day

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 45--Sloppy Seconds!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing loud for all To hear!!

Sloppy Seconds--Lonely Christmas

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 44--The Jazz Butcher!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!


The Jazz Butcher----Christmas with the Pygmies

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 43--Los Straitjackets!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!


Los Straitjackets---Feliz Navidad!!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 42--The Revillos!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!


The Revillos---Santa Claus is Coming to Town

The Best Way To Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 41--The Damned!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is singing loud for all to hear!

The Damned--There Ain't No Sanity Clause!!!!!

The Best way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 40--The Replacements

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is singing loud for all to HEAR!

The Replacements---Beer For Breakfast!!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 39--XTC!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is singing loud for all To hear!

XTC-Always Winter, Never Christmas

The Best Way To Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 38--Pointed Sticks!!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is singing loud for All to HEAR!


The Pointed Sticks-XMAS Time Again

The Best Way To Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 37--Reverend Horton Heat!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is singing loud for all to hear!


Reverend Horton Heat---Santa On the Roof!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 36--Gorky's Zygotic Mynci!

Gorky's Zygotic Mynci---Hwiangerdd Mair

The Best Way To Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 35--The Eels!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is singing LOUD for all to HEAR!


The Eels-Everything's Gonna Be Cool This Christmas

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 34--Ron Sexsmith!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is singing loud for all to hear!

Ron Sexsmith---Maybe this Christmas

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 33--The Raveonettes

The Best way to spreAD Christmas cheer is siNging loud for all to hEAr!

The Raveonettes----Christmas Song!!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 32--Radiohead

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to HEAr!

Radiohead----fake plastic trees

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 31--Stiff Little Fingers!!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for all to Hear!

Stiff Little Fingers---White Christmas!!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 30--Joe Gibbs All Stars

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singin Loud for All to Hear!


Joe Gibbs All Stars---We Three Kings

The Best Way To Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 29--Belle and Sebastian

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is singing loud for all to Hear!

Belle and Sebastian--Are You Coming Over for Christmas?

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 28--The Reducers!!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for all to hear!

Nothing for Christmas----The REDUCERS!!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 27--Goldie Lookin' Chain!!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!


GOldie LoOKin CHaiN---Dubstep Christmas!! A Fairy Tale of Newport from the Masters.

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 26--Brave Combo!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is singing loud for all to hear!

Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 25

Brave Combo---Must be Santa!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 25--Shonen Knife

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud For ALL to Hear!

Shonen Knife--Space Christmas!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 24--Celibate Rifles!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!

Celibate Rifles---Merry Xmas Blues

(death by Christmas continues)

New London's Calling, so Let's Go!--The Reducers-Redux--Connecticut Punk Heroes Abide

29 songs, folks, count em. 29.



Sun beat down on a bourgeouis town...


What better treat for Christmas than this Cd collection from New London, Connecticut's stalwarts The Reducers. Any fan of great high energy punky rock n roll will love this! Redux collects most of their early vinyl output on one handy disc. When you hear these guys, you will do a double take, and wonder why you don't know these guys. One great song after the other on Redux. And after more than thirty years these punk rock gladiators are still together, and putting out music and rocking the clubs. And honestly, if somebody you know dislikes this music, check their pulse--they just might be dead!

The Reducers are:

Hugh Birdsall--guitar/vocals
Peter Detmold--guitar/vocals
Steve Kaika--bass/vocals
TomTrombley--drums/vocals

I just had a hard stressful day at work, and now I'm sitting here listening to The Reducers and I have a great big smile on my face. Their music is full of energy and heart, reminiscent of classic bands like The Ramones, The Jam, Dr Feelgood, Pointed Sticks, and The Flys. One listen to the first song on this collection, the infectious Out of Step, and you will be hooked. The guitar onslaught alone makes this a classic number. Listening to this is like opening a secret vault of punk pop greatness, like some arcane Da Vinci Code conspiracy.



Of course there is the classic Let's Go!, the title song of their 2nd album, which comes on like The Replacements mixed with The Only Ones. A kindred song to The Modernettes Teen City. Great great great.
But you also have the rip roarin' No Ambition where you can really hear how tight the band is, pounding it out like a punk rock juggernaut. Rocks is another great little number, but when you have more great songs like Life in the Neighborhood, Bums I Used to Know, and Better Homes and Gardens it is almost overwhelming.



So do yourself a favor and support a supremely worthy band that should have much more than a cult following. This music is absolutely terrific and can be found at Rave On Records' web site along with other Cds, vinyl, and even a DVD. Redux even ends with one of the better rocking Yule Tunes you will hope to hear this year, Nothing for Christmas. A great excuse to tear yourself away from the drama and pageantry of the 400 remaining Republican presidential debates we are forced to endure.

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 23--Sloan!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to hear!

Sloan----Bells On!

The Best Way To Spread Christmas Cheer----Part 22!--John Cale!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer Is Singing Loud For All To Hear!

John Cale----A Child's Christmas in Wales

Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa--Peter Godwin's Memoir

Just completed Peter Godwin's engrossing Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa, which begins in White ruled nation of Rhodesia and then ends in the newly liberated nation of Zimbabwe.

It is a fine book, a warts and all memoir that takes Godwin from his early childhood into early manhood, from a small child assisting his mother, who was a doctor, to his time in the Rhodesian Police force, fighting a fight he was not in favor of. It is an unflinching look at life in this period, where racism is examined from different perspectives, scenes of horrible brutalities are narrated, appalling violence, including a violent death in his own family. And there is a lot of sadness; despite the untenable future of white minority rule in the country, for someone like Godwin this was also his homeland. The life that he knew as a child turned out be so very transient. That so many people died in this civil war and in its aftermath just seems like something that ought to have been resolved in some other fashion. Still, the book is not a jingoistic paean to the good old days of Imperialism. And the book is no indictment of one specific group--there is blood on every one's hands in this case. And sadly, once white rule was gone, the cooperation among tribes fell apart, and even greater atrocities occurred, which Godwin later related to the world as a journalist regarding the notorious North Korean trained 5th Division of the Army in Matobeleland.

Godwin masterfully describes people and the terrain of Zimbabwe. When he talks about a Boer neighbor or a tribal chieftain, you can almost see the person through his eyes. And he intersperses throughout the book in almost a rhythm the sights, sounds and smells of his homeland. The flowers, the animals, the dust, the heat rising from the earth.There is not a lot of sabre-rattling and braggadocio in this book. Godwin is a thoughtful person who was sympathetic to the lot of the Africans and he treats them as human beings, not as the enemy and not with the racist derision that other whites felt toward Blacks. But he also understood that different groups see the world in diverse ways, that the different peoples of Zimbabwe had difficulty understanding one another's cultures. Though he considered himself someone who knew more about African life than the average White Rhodesian, there was so much he just didn't know. He was a liberal who optimistically believed that somehow all the peoples of Zimbabwe could work together as a group, and you can feel his sadness and frustration as this vision did not become a reality. Of course, you would not characterize him as a saint either, and he very ably details how the intense police training could turn a liberal minded person as himself into a paranoid, dangerous, finger-on-trigger, enforcer.

I definitely enjoyed reading this book. Once I got into it I had trouble putting it down. I think I learned some things in this book, but overall it speaks of a time that is all but erased but in the mind of expatriates, though the narration is straight forward without rose colored glasses. Certainly things could not stay as they were with the small White population controlling most of the land and the tremendous social and economic inequities in the colony. Zimbabwe at one point was a fairly affluent state in comparison to many African nations, but it appears that things have gone horribly wrong in the aftermath of the civil war (famine and repression, declining average lifespans), due to bad leadership and corruption. The economy basically imploded. It is not only whites who have had to flee the country. But despite the sad events that occur throughout the book, there is also communicated the resiliency of the people and their desire to be able to live their lives peacefully and with some form of prosperity. Which is natural, because that is what most people wish to have. It raises the hope that even in the most downtrodden places, a better future is possible, and in the longer term may in fact be inevitable.

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 21--Robyn Hitchcock!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud For All to Hear!

Robyn Hitchcock--Winter Love

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 20--Alex Chilton

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!

Alex Chilton--The Christmas Song

The Best Way To Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 19---The Posies!

The Best Way To Spread Christmas Cheer Is Singing Loud For All To Hear!


The Posies, Christmas

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 18--Nick Cave & Shane MacGowan

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud For All to Hear!

Nick Cave and Shane MacGowan---What A Wonderful World

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 17--Mark Eitzel!!

The Best Way to Spread is Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud For All To Hear!

Mark Eitzel--Xmas Lights Spin

The Best Way To Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 16--Mojo Nixon!!!

The best way to spread Christmas Cheer is singing loud for All to Hear!

Mojo Nixon---Christmas, Christmas!

Happy Down Here: Crippled Pilgrims Collected Recordings--Late Greats Redux

Washington, DC, has its share of great bands, but Crippled Pilgrims were one of my favorites. I was in the Record Stop shop in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, poking through the records when I happened to read the spiel written in ball-point pen on a round sticker on the protective plastic sleeve of a bright green album entitled Under Water, by a band completely unknown to me. I can't remember precisely what the blurb stated, but I was compelled to pick this up immediately. Years later these songs all seem so familiar to me, because for quite a while I played the Crippled Pilgrims music incessantly.

Broken Lightbulb Shines so Bright

In a way these guys are a little hard to characterize. Some people compare them to Television or Meat Puppets, just to name a few. I would say they are a little like REM or Verlaines with Neil Young or The Wipers' Greg Sage, which still fails to fully encapsulate what this band was up to. Energetic emotional vocals full of attitude and despair by Jay Moglia and intricately powerful guitar work by Scott Wingo combined for a potent blend of post-punk. Rounding out the band, Mitch Parker played bass and Dan Joseph was on drums. In a very brief period of time in the 80's these guys made some fantastic creative music, and then suddenly it was all over. Mitch Parker played bass and Dan Joseph was on drums.

For some reason, unlike many bands who were a lot less talented, Crippled Pilgrims never made the media jump from vinyl to Cd, at least not for a very long time. It was not until 2004, when Ric Menck of The Velvet Crush released their collected output on his Reaction Label, which I guess is a subsidiary label of Parasol. Apparently, he was at least as wowed by this band as I was, and felt it was high time more people heard these guys. Incidentally, Parasol Records is closing their mail order business for good in about a week. I know I spent a good amount of cash there over the years. But they ran a pretty great online service, promoted little known bands, indie groups, Swedish bands, and also released quite a few terrific records in their own right. I know that I truly am sad to hear they will be hanging up their mail order store, just as I was when Chicago's Ajax records shut down.

If you pick this album up, you will be amazed that these guys are pretty obscure, but I think you will be gratified that you finally got a chance to hear Crippled Pilgrims. In some ways, when I hear Scott Wingo, I think of Nels Clines guitar work in the Wilco live album, where he effortlessly weaves his way through the arrangements with his guitar. While I like the music from their first ep, Head Down Hand Out, particularly Black and White, I think that they really hit their stride on Under Water.

Down Here, the first song, is a great start, a jangling manifesto to alienation. One of my favorites is the powerful So Clean, the second song, reminiscent of the best work of The Chameleons. Another great song is Undone, which definitely has Byrdsy, almost country vibe to it. The moody Oblivious and Numb is another one of the high points on this anthology. Add the driving Sad But True to the mix, and you have a great lost classic postpunk album resurrected from the graveyard of obscurity. Check out this unjustly obscure band today and see what you've been missing out on!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 15--The Yobs!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!

The Yobs---Who Had All The Christmas Cake?
(from Boys to Yobs)

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 14--Redd Kross!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!

Redd Kross   Super Sunny Christmas

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 13---Elliott Smith!!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!

Elliott Smith....Angel in the Snow

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 12---Pointed Sticks!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!

The Pointed Sticks-Power Pop Santa

Mariachi on Steroids--Chingon's Mexican Spaghetti Western

Mexican Spaghetti Western is an album I picked up only recently by Chingon, an Austin group put together by Director Robert Rodriguez, and their music has appeared on several soundtracks, probably best known from Kill Bill Vol 2, From Dawn to Dusk, the Mexico and Mariachi's comp and Once Upon a Time in Mexico. This is their first album, released in 2004 on some subsidiary of Rounder Records Europe, Continental Song City. Or at least the copy I own is.

If you like Calexico, you will really love this album. It's a stirring, highly energized combination of Mexican music, rock n roll, western balladry, surf guitar and Morricone, with impressively deft guitar runs throughout. This music is big and full of heart, and it's in your face desert rock. En Espanol. Gritty and Fun party music. Great music for a soundtrack or for a road trip. They don't call themselves Chingon for nothing.

The majority of the band seems to be Del Castillo, which include the Rick and Mark Del Castillo on guitar, Alex Ruiz on vocals, and Rick Holeman on percussion. Additionally, you have Robert Rodriguez on guitar, and a host of other musicians like Rafael Goyal, Dony Wynn, Sunny Sauceda, Carl Thiel, Cecilio Ruiz, Alex Ramirez.



The guitar work is both intricate and at other moments simply incendiary with stinging guitar leads. Maleguena Salerosa (La Malaguena), song number 2, is one of the many fine moments on the album. A fairly intense ballad with great guitar interplay. The Del Castillo's definitely know how to play and Alex Ruiz lilterally sings his corazon out. Former Plugz (long overdue for reissue) singer Tito Larriva (who is also part of Tito and Tarantula)cameos on his slow smoldering cancion Alacran Y Pistolero. Nice stuff. Chingon perform the traditional Cielito Lindo starting in an understated fashion to completely over the top. Great stuff--it sounds like a Joe Strummer interpretation of the old standard. Excellente!



Another cameo vocalist is actress Salma Hayek, who sings the sultry ballad Siente Mi Amor and she does a terrific job. Se Me Paro, the opener to Spaghetti Western is a catchy call and response number with effortless guitar licks, a lot of fun. When you hear this first number you will understand clearly what you are getting into on this album. Fideo Del Oeste (Mexican Spaghetti Western) is another great mariachi raveup and a fitting title track. Great lightning fast acoustic leads on this one.

Mexican Spaghetti Western is a smoking hot Mex-Tex raveup that is a great party record. Unfortunately, this one seems to be a bit hard to obtain right now, but it is well worth the effort. I can't help but think that a lot of people over a broad cross-section of tastes would find this appealing. I won't be in Arizona for Christmas this year, so I guess Chingon will be my consolation for no Barrio Cafe this month.

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 11--Tim Wheeler and Emmy the Great!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!

Tim Wheeler & Emmy the Great




A new Christmas Classic--being released on 12/27 here?
I love it when a plan comes together.

Just received this as an import. Definitely my pick for Christmas Album 2011. Tim Wheeler is frontman of Irish Punk Pop veterans Ash.

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 10---Goldie Lookin' Chain!!!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud For All to Hear!

Goldie Lookin' Chain--You'll Never Be Alone On Christmas Day

Birthday Celebrations Part II: Goobers Volume I--Worst Children's Album

I'm listening again to this Cd I purchased on a whim a while back. If you have read some of my earlier posts, you may know that the best children's ever came out in Iceland, Abba Babb!, put out by Dr Gunni and friends. Though all the words are in Icelandic, there is a giddy universal exuberance and delight that transcends all linguistic boundaries. And yeah it rocks out, but in a way that will entertain children in the way all kids love jumping up and down on beds.

But Goobers Volume I, tonight's post, is from Jersey. I don't think there was a Goobers II.

Horton Hears A Spew

You immediately know something is up when there is a disclaimer on the back of the cover. It is music for "adventurous kids". For certain stretches on this album I questioned whether this is really a children's album at all. It all seems a bit too creepy, at times terrifying. I for one, am not someone who is a fan of pandering to tastes, but I feel a little protective toward children, and a lot of the music here does not seem to target that demographic very well.

Of course if there some children on your gift list you intensely dislike, or you would like to at least inflict some vengeance on disagreeable parents, this may just be the sonic voodoo doll you've been searching for.

Of course my favorite children's book of all time has a disclaimer on the cover today, but it didn't when it played a significant role in shaping my character and world-view. It was written of course by the beloved children's author Shel Silverstein, the author of classic kiddie fare like The Giving Tree and Where The Sidewalk ends.

From Whence it All Began.....

But the book I am talking about is Uncle Shelby's ABZ book, the Necronomicon of children's literature. The book that changed my life forever. Now they have to put warnings on the cover so that little Jimmy doesn't bury his brother in a big hole in the backyard, and his whiny parents start suing everyone. It was the most hilarious thing I've ever read and in my opinion the best thing Shel ever did, even better Anyone Wanna Buy A Used Rhinoceros or A Giraffe and a Half. That Mansonesque picture of him on the back cover with a bunch of kids is priceless.

I had high hope for Goobers when I bought it; I thought that it might in fact be a really cool record for kids, and in an inventive unmawkish nondumbed down style. But most of the music does not cut it. I'd some about a quarter of the music is suitable.

Some of the music I like: Magician Penn Jillette does a funny extreme gross-out song that kids would like called Great Green Gobs, about eating Gopher Guts and things like that. Foo Foo Heads do a decent inspirational rapping number, Just Be You. Genuine Diamelles do an a capella take on The Underdog Theme. Quite excellent.



Scotland's Pastels reprise Daniel Johnston's Speeding Motorcycle, which is perfect for a kids album. Big Butter does a whimsical tune, People Animals and Plants, which is pretty delightful.

Raymond Scott, the legendary cartoon songwriter, does Beautiful Little Butterfly, which is off the beaten path a bit, and is that expansive something that could get a child interested in hearing new things. Fiction Friends' Jump Jump is not half bad either. But of the rest?



A lot of it is pretty creepy, like the Space Negros doing Vigor the Ice Man. Hank Von Schpa's Ma Ma Do is just something I would never play a kid. Auto Sapien is a good concept by the Panther Burns, but just not executed very well. Only A Mother lullaby has nice strings, but the lyrics are old timey vicious. The Tinklers Mom Cooks inside is another fairly unpleasant tune. Buzzard Baits Horsey Horsey, is weird and repetitive. Daniel Johnston's Pinny Pinny is also not a great thing for kids to hear.

Of course, the icing on the cake is the track by Foetus, an artist that I love. Part of the reason I got this album was because JG Thirwell was making a contribution. And he does not disappoint. His song, See Dick Run, is one of the best ones here, but as they say "it's 10 PM, do you know what your children are listening to"? A song guaranteed to inspire years of therapy. That song would probably cause Raffi to spontaneously combust. Barney shredding white noise for the whole family to enjoy. It makes you wonder where G.G. Allin was when they recorded this.

In my view kids are a lot smarter than adults give them credit for, so I think that a lot of the stuff marketed for kids is pretty soporific, with some notable exceptions. On this album it seems that either people weren't trying hard, or they threw this together pretty quickly. Or maybe Goobers is just a phony record for kids. Either way, I was hoping for something a little better here and I guess I was a little disappointed.

But a disclaimer is just a warning, not a condemnation. My Uncle Shelby was a damned genius.

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 9---El Vez!!!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!

El Vez & Los Straitjackets--Donde Esta Santa Claus!

Surf City--Kudos--A Big Hazy Beautiful Noise

I am listening right now to Kudos, the not so recently released album by the New Zealand act Surf City, released on Arch Hill Record and also Fire. If you are a partisan of the New Zealand indie music scene of the 80's and 90's, there is probably no way you won't love this album. If you don't know much about Flying Nun Records and Xpressway, after hearing Kudos you will probably want to investigate. Surf City's sound is a throwback to some of the greatest groups of the era, like The Clean and The Chills. Undoubtedly there have been other bands to be inspired by these great Kiwi bands of the past, but Surf City really do it with so much panache and ability. In addition to being inspired by the classic music of their homeland, their songs are also influenced by noisy experimental/shoe gaze groups, like Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, Jesus and Mary Chain. Maybe its my broken eardrums, but I really can't understand a word of what they are singing. For me, what creates goosebumps are the big overdriven riffs so reminiscent of David Kilgour's guitar technique.

Kaleidoscope Swirled

Because noise can be beautiful. I probably realized this listening to groups like Sonic Youth and Live Skull.
Then there was My Bloody Valentine and the whole Shoegaze movement that followed, plus the dark majesty of noisy greats Bailter Space, who could fill up a room with an amplified low end racket as thick as syrup. It's quite clear that the members of Surf City understand what I'm talking about. The songs blend together in a hallucinatory fashion. They really sound great here. It's the first album out of New Zealand that I've heard in a while that really smacks me in the head. Even though they remind me of Kiwi bands and Shoegaze, in some ways their energy, vitality and inventiveness make them kindred spirits of Mission of Burma, who are pretty much one of a kind artists. Kudos is a truly excellent album, and the scary thing is that I think that these guys are just starting out. I think the sky is the limit with this band.



Davin Stoddard: Vocals, Guitar
Jamie Kennedy: Bass Vocals
Josh Kennedy: Guitar
Logan Collins: Drums

When I saw John Wesley Harding open for Ian Hunter recently, he explained his jokey title for his new album. He entitled it "The sound of his own voice", so that a reviewer would be compelled to say, for example, Robert Christgau loves "the sound of his own voice". I wonder if Surf City had the same idea, so that a reviewer would say Surf City---Kudos to Kudos. I always wanted to put out an album and call it "worst album ever", so some critic could say "the album fully lived up to the expectations of its title".



But all digressions aside, Kudos is an album well worth expending your filthy lucre on. I like the fact that they look to their own country's musical heritage for inspiration. Honestly, for a country that is, as they say "outnumbered by sheep", New Zealanders have a lot to be proud of. Listening to music, rather than listening to what people think you ought to like. And judging by Surf City the future is looking bright.

Support the arts today!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 8--Vibeke Saugestad!!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!

Vibeke Saugestad--Christmas is Calling Me Home

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 7--Doug and The Slugs

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!

Doug & the Slugs--White Christmas

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 6--The Jigsaw Seen

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!

The Jigsaw Seen--Snow Angels of Pigtown

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 5--Big Dee and Little Eva!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!

Big Dee & Little Eva--I Wish You A Merry Christmas

Birthday Blogpost!!!:the black watch--Innercity garden ep

Well its my nieces birthday today--she's nine, so it is my obligation to continue the time-honored birthday post tradition which began about a year ago. Though she lives nearly 2,000 miles away, we always remember her.

It's an inside joke

For some reason, whenever I see this album by The Black Watch, a great indie band from Santa Barbara, California, I'm reminded of her. This is a 4 song ep released in 2005 on the Pink Hedgehog label in Weymouth, England. Led by John Andrew Frederick, they have released a ton of great music over the years. They are a band with such artistic consistency that you could randomly pick an album of theirs and be pretty assured of excellence. But this post is about the Innercity, though two of the four songs wound up on the full length The Hypnotizing Sea.

They are a band that ably can straddle noise and pop. The title track of the Ep, Innercity Garden is a perfect example of this; a gorgeous racket of a storm, where acoustic touches drift to the forefront.




Song 2 is Dylan,Dylan,Dylan--a jaunty countrified love letter to Bob Dylan.
Yeah, there are a handful of songwriters who idolize Dylan and justifiably so. Only not in a cultish way, more of a songcrafty mentorship way, I guess.

Moonlight Thru Ivy is a beautiful acoustic folk ballad, another seemingly effortless pop excursion by the band, the other members of the band at this time being Tim Boland,Gary Sullivan and Scott Taylor.

Moonlight thru ivy
Comes thru the cracks in the door
& nothing forever
Is what it was before.

The Teacup Song Take Two is a terrific jangly pop confection, and a compelling reason why you would want to plunk some money down on this Ep. I'm reminded a bit of New Zealand's Verlaines here.

So in a nutshell, The Black Watch are one of the better veteran indie bands
operating these days. Frederick has a real knack for putting together a a great song, and is an equally strong lyricist. The band in fact just put out a new disc this entitled Led Zeppelin V, still working on a career long quality streak. For those of you who are on a tight budget but love music, many of The Black Watch recordings can be had for a pittance. They are definitely artists worthy of your support and patronage.

Oh, and once again, Happy Birthday! Hope your special day was as special as you are.

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 4--Die Toten Hosen!!!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear!

Die Rosen Hosen (Die Toten Hosen)--Stille Nacht

Llwybr Llaethog--Only a Northern Dub--Hip-Dub Reggae-Hop 1985-2000

Admittedly, it may seem that I flit from one thing to the next on this blog and in my musical tastes. I read about a new band or artist or scene and I check it out. But you could also maintain that I show some loyalty to the things that I like. When I find good music, I try to find out if there is more gold in the area. So once I found out about groups like Catatonia, Gorkys Zygotic Mynci, Super Furry Animals, and 60 Foot Dolls, I tried to see what else was there. Some people do not like to hear music or watch movies in other languages, but for me there is something fantastic sounding about the Welsh language. My persistence led me to place like Finders Keepers Records, and their Welsh Rare Beat folk music compilations. And of course to Ankst Records, who must be one of leading lights in the Welsh language music revival. Their label is pretty eclectic one, running the gamut from Welsh hip-hop, to Punk, to hooky pop music. They have a couple terrific label compilations Radio Crymi Playlist 1 & 2, that are reasonably priced. And early in this blogs lifespan I did a spot on MC Mabon's tremendous Search for Meaning album. Check out the Ankst website.

Turn on the beat box, and do us all a favor!
Ankstmusik

And of course, browsing the Ankstmusik site led me to Llwybr Llaethog (Milky Way), who mix together a potently brainy blend of punk, hip-hop, politics, reggae, and super dub. Hip-Dub Reggae-Hop 1985-2000 is a collection of music they produced over the same 15 year period. When I read the description of what kind of music this was, I had to have a go at it. I have to say that I like this stuff; while predominantly dubby sounding (the instrumental side of things is obviously more noticeable to a  non speaker) with vocals drifting in and out as you expect with this style of music, there are punky or funky guitar fills in places and even African type sounds incorporated. They mix the beats up quite well at times like hip-hop and in other instances more industrial, and the arrangements are always interesting. For instance, one of my favorite songs here is Be?, which mixes African riffs, reminding me a little of the great Francis Bebey and horn lines. This album would be an excellent disc for driving along to. All in all they is a crazy genius in what these guys do. When you start listening to the first few tracks, you may not be that impressed, but there is a chronology here and it just keeps getting better. If you are a fan of the Clash's Sandinista, or The Fall, or Foetus, you will appreciate what these guys are doing.



I'm listening to Ty Haf Jac and I'm starting to think that these guys are an evil Welsh version of the Pet Shop Boys (at least part of the time), and I mean that as a compliment. Part of being anarchists, satirists and social critics would require you to be able to infiltrate the mainstream, rip it apart and take the piss out of it, in the same way jazz or calypso did in the early years. John Griffiths and Kevs Ford, the founding members of the group expressed the sentiments a lot of people at the time who were not on the bandwagon with the Margaret Thatcher and the new politics of the day, who felt increasing isolated and alienated. If you are like me, you will appreciate hearing music that is not pandering. These guys do what they do, let the beats fly, not worried about market share or popularity.



I look through the liner notes, and I can see the brilliance in what they do. Da! contains a Welsh version of Hamlet's to be or not soliloquy. Mera Desh is a later piece where they sing in Scots Gaelic and Hindi. Tour De France is a Gallicy sounding trash talking rap with thick rusty sounding guitar licks. One of the catchiest songs here is Rhywbeth Bach Yn Poeni Pawb (There's Always Someone Bothering Someone), which is an anti-Thatcher tune. Rhyfel is a diatribe against the original Gulf War of the 90's, and Gimi Gimi is about the senselessness of the Malvinas War, featuring the vocals of David R Edwards of Datblygu. Popeth Ar Y Record Ma Wedi Cael El Ddwyn (Everything on this record has been nicked) is basically a mosh up of 20 years of Welsh Pop music.

So basically these guys are pretty amazing musicians, fighting the good fight with intelligence and integrity. I hadn't listened to this in a while, and one of the nice thing about writing is that it brings me back to some of these great albums, though so far we are only at the tip of the iceberg. But for all of you people who consider yourselves sonic adventurers--check out Llwybr Llaetog and the Ankst website--see what you've been missing!

The Best Way To Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 3--Lightspeed Champion and Emmy the Great!!

The Best Way To Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud For All To Hear!

Lightspeed Champion & Emmy the Great---Christmas In Prison

Horders Beyond Borders: Hanggai--Introducing The New Mongolian Folk Revival

For the last few days I've been listening to Hanggai, a group from China comprised of Mongolians who are updating traditional Mongolian traditional music for a modern audience. I have heard people state that these guys sound like the Velvet Underground; it is true that they are informed by Western music, but for the most part I don't really hear it. On Introducing Hanggai, I can All Tomorrow's Parties clearly on the second song, Yekul Song, between the droning tempo and the crash of the cymbals. What I hear is traditional music, at times revved up a bit, but terrific for what it is and the tradition and culture behind it. For the most part the music is made with traditional instruments, namely the Morin Khuur, a horse-hair fiddle, which to my ears sounds a lot like a cello, and the Tobshuur, which is a two-stringed lute, according to Robin Haller's informative liner notes to the album. It is nice to see that in a society that perhaps many of us in the United States incorrectly view as a gigantic mono-culture there are numerous local traditions. For Hanggai this is one method to preserve ancient traditions into the present and the future.

I like the cover picture quite a bit, these guys look like true badasses. My overactive imagination images that they could be Mongolian rappers (look at the guy in the right corner), or even a long-in-the-tooth Mongolian boy band. Very cool outfits. Actually the reality is a lot better. There music inhabits the Steppes of my mind in the same way I hear The Ukrainians (punked up Traditional Ukrainian band from the UK) when they do a song like Cherez Richku, Cherez Hai. I turned on the Colbert show last week and there was Tinariwen, the Twareg desert group, and they give off a similar vibe. There is a resonance there, almost a genealogical record that reaches back into the haze of yesterday. In so many places there was no written languages, or what records existed rotted away, were burned up, or destroyed. What we know of the past was preserved through the oral traditions, songs, poems, story-telling, reenactments of rituals and historic events. In many cases, even when we have records, what people right down are anomalies, unusual events like plagues, droughts, invasions, bad winters. But we can usually glean a lot about everyday life from the content of folk songs.



And there is of course a long standing tradition in Communism where human nature is to be changed for the better. Unfortunately we are often a hasty species and we try to force the issue in extremely unpleasant ways. It's nice to see that groups like Hanggai are keeping their individualism alive, because I would be surprised if a significant number of people in high places do not look on these small developments with approval, particularly because of their Tibetan region which was absorbed into China more than 50 years ago.

I was a little surprised that the Mongolian musical tradition also incorporates throat singing called hoomei, which I had first heard performed on Tuvan albums, by groups like Huun-Huun Tuur. Of course it shouldn't be that surprising that this could occur in different places. On the other hand it may be that the tradition hit the road and was transmitted across the Tundra over the centuries. I don't know enough about it. The droning overtone singing definitely has a a reverent religious feel to it.

But what I can say is the singing on this album is terrific, as is the musicianship. If I was to tell you that these guys are the Chinese equivalent of the Velvet Underground, I think people could buy this and be pretty disappointed. Sure John Cale played the electric viola but I think it is a big stretch. Llchi, the frontman played in punk bands before Hanggai, but his new project is very much a traditional bent. But if you like interesting music and don't want to hear the same old business jammed into your earholes ad nauseum, this might be just the thing you've been looking for.

The band is made up of: Ilchi on vocals and Tobshuur, Bagen on vocals and Morin Khuur, Hurcha vocals on track 10, Xu Jingchen on Sanxian (Chinese three-string lute), Hexigtuu on Sihu (four string bowed instrument), and Robin Haller and Matteo Scumaci played percussion, guitars, etc. Haller also recorded and produced the album. In some places somebody is playing something that sounds like a Jew's harp.



Some of the songs I really like are the opening Banjo and I, and the hard hitting hoomei vocalled Wuji. The previously mentioned Yakul Song is also really excellent. The Drinking Song with the lively group call and response is also nice. But I don't find too many faults with this album. It might not be to every one's taste, but I know what I like. I just may not have heard it yet.

The Best Way To Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 2--Aztec Camera!!

The Best Way To Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud For All To Hear!

(or at least some jazzy guitar instrumentals)

Aztec Camera---Hot Club of Christ

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer!----Part 1--Manic Street Preachers

The Best Way To Send Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud For All To Hear!!

James Dean Bradfield from the Manic Street Preachers.

24 Hour Party People--Tony Wilson--Excellent Bio-Pic of Mr Manchester

Director Michael Winterbottom created a cinematic anomaly in 2002 with the film 24 Hour Party People. He managed to create a biographical movie that didn't suck. Though it purports to be a chronicle of the Manchester music scene from the early days of Punk Rock through the Madchester rave era, the reality is that it is about the late Tony Wilson, journalist, Cambridge grad, nightclub owner and impresario of Factory Records, a label that combined great music with equally great design. The movie is witty, hilarious, sad, ironic, at times ludicrously surreal. Wilson uses the tale of Icarus from Greek Mythology as an analogy for his boom to bust story.For the most part, 24 Hour Party People is everything a punk movie ought to be, though I do think it got bogged down a bit toward the conclusion. But then again, the same could be said about Good Fellas. I think it is definitely a must-see movie for music fans.

The funny thing is when I bought this DVD, I was put off by the cover.

It looked to me like they were touting this film as some sort of British version of the American "Spring Break" movie, but with ravers instead of drunken frat boys, at least judging by the cover. I get the impression that by placing a salacious design on the cover might enable them to cover their losses on this one in the States. I bet some people bought this on a whim and were unpleasantly surprised! My sentiments were the reverse.

At the center of the maelstrom is Steve Coogan, the actor who portrays Tony Wilson in this bio. I recall reading someplace that Wilson was not that pleased with Coogans performance and was full of criticisms. Coogan finally cleared the air and said to him, "Look, you're smarter than me, but remember, I'm funnier than you." (I paraphrase). Coogan is the heart and soul of this film, and gives a fantastic performance. There are so many great lines scattered throughout the film. One of the more hilarious moments during the film is in some of Coogan's chatter toward the conclusion of the film, where he modestly states that he is just a minor player in all this, and that the real story are the bands!! If you to go back and assess things, it is pretty clear that this movie is all about him, whether he is mugging his way through tedious human interest television spots, or pontificating on any number of subjects as a narrator. I enjoy how Winterbottom has Wilson in a present setting, talking about things that are going to happen like a punk rock fortune teller. While some accepted yarns are demolished, Winterbottom creates new piles of malarkey, which keeps the movie interesting. There was a quote about the Pistols show, if you have a choice between truth and fable, print the fable. I think that in some strange way a different, more revealing kind of truth can emerge that way.



One of the early classic scenes is a historic re-enactment of the famous Sex Pistols show in Manchester, where the punk fable gets deflated a bit. 42 people. So you probably were not there--maybe no one was. But the significant thing was, the people who did not wind up forming bands were in the minority that night. And many of those bands turned out to be pretty great!! Winterbottom actually spliced in concert footage of the Sex Pistols for this scene, but I can't help but be amused that most of the characters in the movie were portrayed by actors. It seems a bit surreal as if someone had a casting call to play me in a movie!

For instance:

Martin Hancock: Howard DeVoto
Andy Serkis (Gollum): Martin Hannett
Danny Cunningham: Shaun Ryder
Chris Coghill: Bez
Sean Harris: Ian Curtis
Dave Gorman: John the Postman
Raymond Waring: Vini Reilly
Simon Pegg: Mark Middles
Paddy Considine: Rob Gretton, manager New Order
Lennie James: Alan Erasmus, co founder of Hacienda

I wonder if they had a casting call and had dozens of Bezes dancing around in a studio trying out for the part!

Overall musically, the movie focuses mostly on Joy Division, New Order, and later Happy Mondays, though artists like A Certain Ratio and Durutti Column are not neglected. The interplay between producer Martin Hannett and Wilson is both humorous and terrifying as you will discover when you see the movie. The Joy Division period is both exhilarating and tragic--I think the staged live scenes were done quite well. I think after a while the movie moves away from its strengths and spends too much time panning across the crowds at the Hacienda and too little witty dialogue. There are some good bits with the Happy Mondays, especially when Wilson compares his lyrics to the poetry of Yeats, and his girlfriend responds by saying that everyone else think he's a fucking idiot. Sounds kind of like a drug allusion there. The Happy Monday's scene with the pigeons may not be to every ones taste however.

My favorite line was when Coogan turns to the audience and states "Don't judge me, I was just being post-modern, before it was fashionable." Of course some people prefer fart jokes, but if you listen carefully to Tony Wilson's wild digressions and shout outs to the audience you will really laugh like I did.

Flowers Dance Through My Thoughts--Brazil Classics 1: Beleza Tropical

Beleza Tropical was my gateway record into the fabulous world of Brazilian music. All I knew about Brazilian music prior to this was The Girl From Ipanema. But I heard some hype about this record and I imagined that if David Byrne thought highly enough of this music to put out compilations on his own Luaka Bop label, there must be something significant to it. I bought the record and was pretty unimpressed at first. I was a fan of the Clash, Stiff Little Fingers, Husker Du. This album seemed a little mellow for my tastes, sounding a little loungy to my overamplified eardrums. And I'm American and the music is in another language. Ultimately, I came back to this record more than once and then developed a deep appreciation of the subtle charms expressed here. Sometimes my favorite records don't make an immediately positive impression, but in general those are the one that wind up broadening my outlook. There are other compilations in Byrne's Brazil Classics, but this one, the first has a sentimental spot in my heart.

In some ways it seems kind of silly to tout this record---it's like trying to explain to people why they should listen to The Rolling Stones, Joni Mitchell or Bob Dylan. The artist represented on this compilation are superstars, political activists, and national icons in Brazil. This is definitely no Brazilian Nuggets collection. But from my historical perspective, before this record came out I would have been clueless as to where to start hearing Brazilian music. Aside from Reggae music, the concept of "World Music" was in its infancy, and the musical taste makers of America decided that this sort of music was not saleable, even in small numbers. So as a readily available sampler that was getting at least a little bit of hype, this was really my best option at the time. And for me this album was an opportunity to dip my toe in the balmy waters of Tropicalia. Turns out, Brazil has an amazing musical tradition, replete with songwriters of the highest calibre of which this collection merely scratches the rim of the Caipirinha. But if you are unfamiliar with theTropicalia musical movement, this would be a pretty good place to start. I played this for my niece back when she was about four, and I remember that even she liked it.

The Tropicalia movement began in the 60's in Brazil, and it seems to parallel in some ways many of the student-based movements going on in the world in that era. This cultural movement was part of a reaction to the military coup d'etat of 1964 and the subsequent military dictatorship. The artists of the movement sought freedom of expression, incorporating music from areas throughout Brazil with jazz, rock and roll, or whatever found their fancy. This movement was perceived by the government as a political threat, and artists such as Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso were briefly jailed and ultimately forced into exile. Other more unfortunate artists were subjected to torture or incarceration in psychiatric institutions. Despite the hardship, this era produced an amazing creative cornucopia that sets a shining example for new generations of aspiring musicians, and not just Brazilians.

Beleza Tropical starts out with the great Jorge Ben, and soccer tune Ponta de Lanca Africano (Umbabarauma), the funkiest song on this collection. Most of the songs here are pop ballads done with subtle nuanced vocals and understated rhythmic complexity. Anyone hearing this music will find a healthy respect and appreciation for the Portuguese--it is such a beautifully poetic and sexy language, you don't have to know what these artists are saying to be thrilled. Passionate yet languidly sophisticated, smooth, yet rootsy sounding, it is music that transcends any language barriers.

I probably came back to Beleza Tropical after I saw Portastatic (Mac from Superchunk/Merge Records' side project) at the Mercury Lounge. Right now I can't recall who he opened for, but I remember that he performed Baby by Gal Costa (not on this album), and related that he actually was so smitten by Brazilian music that he had recently put out an Ep of Brazilian covers. Seeing him perform Baby on stage, while not in any way comparable to Gal Costa, opened my eyes and ears a bit. Maybe it took seeing live performance for me to get it, but I did! Shortly after I grabbed a cheap compilation of Gal's music and off I went. Gal performs on this album Sonho Meu with Maria Bethania. I've already reviewed in this blog the terrific album by Arto Lindsay and Peter Scherer's group Ambitious Lovers called Greed. An amazing hybrid of Punk, Funk, Brazil, Skronk, and Pop. Probably my very first intro to Brazilian music, not counting The Girl from Ipanema. Arto wrote the liner notes here, and for all you hesitators, be advised that the lyrics are also printed, in Brazilian and translated into English.

On this compilation you get to hear the great Lo Borges singing the piano pounding Equatorial. Caetano Veloso shines brightly on the sweet whimsical acoustic O Leaozinho "Little Lion". Chico Buarque is represented here by the sad acoustic ballad Calice, and the bouncy Cacada. Gilberto Gil sings the sweet So Quero Um Xodo on here, another favorite of mine with lots of accordion present. Milton Nascimento performs Anima here, a simply beautiful song. The thing about Beleza Tropical is the artists make it sound all so easy, but the reality is that this music has a lot going on within requiring top notch musical chops. The songs breathe, they have a lightness to them that I think would be hard to master.



One name I had not heard before I got this collection was Nazare Pereira and he comports himself well on Maculele, an instant party classic. You hear another side of Jorge Ben on the gritty acoustic folk of Fio Maravilha. Great stuff. Another great tune here is Um Canto de Afoxe Para O Blaco do Ile (Ile Aye) by Caetano Veloso. The album ends with on a sublime note with Caetano's Terra with great lyrics.



David Byrne is an artist who keeps his ears open, and he felt so strongly about this music that he wanted people to hear this great music that so many of us in the US were blissfully ignorant. And of course he is smart; he knew, like any dealer with his salt, that if people got a little taste, they would be back for more, itching to feed their new found addiction. Once this music gets under your skin, the worldview becomes a little different. And of course there were other volumes to this series--Brazil Classics Volumes 2 O Samba and 3 Foro Etc I highly recommend, just a shade below Volume 1, and that is probably mostly my own sentimentality showing.



So what are you waiting for? For mere pennies you can pick this baby up! If you don't ever get to to hear this music you will be missing out on something very special.

All You Kids in Cardboard City, I Hope You're Having Fun...Martin Newell--The Greatest Living Englishman

Up in the misty minarets

Just picked up a copy of Martin Newell's The Greatest Living Englishman. I guess it's about time, after all, it only came out in 1993. But it is a terrifically good work of art, in the vein of what many before me have said; its reminiscent of Robyn Hitchcock, Syd Barrett, The Kinks, Fairfield Convention, XTC. If you enjoy those guys, you will have found a new kindred artist. It might be fairer to say that Newell has a foot in the Victorian Age, and another in our contemporary time. Which really means is that he has a historical background to being English, which is interesting to me because he brings something to the table that a band from Wichita or Sao Paolo would not bring; a sense of place, a context. It also helps that he really knows how to put a song together. Perhaps his comportment on this album as a 19th century top-hatted Dickensian character leads people to consider him to be an eccentric, but all I really focus on are the great songs and arrangements here. Lesser artists would kill to have a greatest hits collection this accomplished.



Originally helming the group The Cleaners From Venus, and performing in the Brotherhood of Lizards, The Greatest Living Englishman is Newell's first non-cassette solo release. Andy Partridge of XTC produced and engineered this album, and also played drums, and Captain Sensible has a cameo guitar solo on Green Gold Girl of the Summer. Probably my favorite song on here is She Rings the Changes, which sounds like a janglepop harmony overloaded classic from the 60's. I often wonder why current oldies radio stations stick to the script and don't play Robyn Hitchcock or Nick Drake--if it wasn't on hyper rotation 20 years ago you won't hear a peep. I know people have strong attachments to the music they listened to when they were young. I'm equally guilty of that. I hear great music like this and I wish there were more John Peels around. But I don't know, maybe great DJ's like that are only reborn again like the Dali Lama, with music fans forced to play "Teenage Kicks" to babies, searching for some recognition.

Where the good take on the Cloth
And the fallen join the Game

This album is full of gems, from the traditional folk of Home Counties Boy, the Kurt Weillish cabaret thumbnail slice of English life A Street Called Prospect. I was probably moved to post some thoughts on this album because as of this past Friday it is the Christmas season. We said our Thankgivings on Thursday--now its time to get the credit cards out. The eighth song on this collection is Bangle-y Christmas in Suburbia, and its one of the best original Christmas songs you could own. Every musician seems to have a Christmas album at some point, but most of these records wind up being throw away exercises, trading sales on their popularity. But a song like this, like Vibeke Saugestad's Christmas ep is a veritable needle in a bland vanilla haystack.



Another superb tune is Jangling Man, which is a beautiful criticism of injustice and poverty.

They're breaking glass and burning buildings
In the early greenhouse sun
The powers-that-be will blame extremists
And I may well be one
And all you kids in Cardboard City
I hope you're having fun
And all you voters everywhere
Will remember what you've done
Remember what you've done.


Great use of upper and lower case piano riffing on this tune. After The Hurricane is a string filled delight--the arrangement seems almost like a predecessor to XTC's Apple Venus recordings. The Greatest Living Englishman, the album's title track is another excellent track here, which no doubt effectively removed him from Sting's Christmas Card list. The Green Gold Girl of Summer is a lovely mildly psychedelic ballad with lots of cello. Straight to You Boy is a bitterly jazzy blues tune, with typically brilliant lyrics, referring to a beautiful woman as a perfumed stairwell, and a reckless engine, sparking madly. This is the real stuff.

So summing it all up, The Greatest Living Englishman is a fantastic album that probably most people are unaware of. Bearing in mind that I also believe Big Black's Atomizer or Primal Scream's Xtrmnatr or Foetus's albums are fantastic, so let me qualify my statement my adding that an album like this is has a more universal quality--an intelligent tuneful album that you could play in front of your granny. Martin Newell in addition to his musical career is also an author, poet, and journalist, having a regular column in the East Anglican Daily Times. He has written a memoir entitled This Little Ziggy, and a good number of poetry collections, including a best of published by Jardine Press. A number of Newell's albums have been released on the Cherry Red label, including Wayward Genius, which includes, solo, Brotherhood of Lizards, and Cleaners From Venus tracks. Definitely an artist worth your perusal. Basic economics dictates that incentives create positive outcomes, so if you want artists like this creating music, they need our support. A little Martin Newell would be a wonderful stocking stuffer for a music fan or anglophile you love!

Getting Even Olderer--Tally Ho!--Flying Nun's Greatest Bits--Happy 30th!

"Roger slings the hits"

So New Zealand's Flying Nun Records is 30 years old this year and is once more helmed by its original founding father, Roger Shepard. If you are paying attention to things, it seems as though they are sorting out their back catalogue and re releasing some superb music that has been out of print for many years. They also have been selling some pretty cool looking nostalgic T-Shirts on their website. So many great bands put out music on this label, like The Chills, Jean-Paul Sartre Experience, The Clean, Straitjacket Fits, Able Tasmans, The Bats, Pin Group, Bailter Space/Gordons, Tall Dwarfs, Verlaines, Cakekitchen, Look Blue Go Purple, The 3D's, Dead C, Sneaky Feeling and so on and so forth. Here's hoping that some great new artists will have their music released sooner than later.



Of course if you are unfamiliar with these names, or only the most notable in the bunch, you will be happy to know that after all these years, Flying Nun has released a 2 Cd Greatest Hits collection. If you want to dip your toe into the waters of the Kiwi rock scene, this would be a very logical place to start. Sure they have put numerous samplers out in the past, and they put out a big fat 25th Anniversary Box set which is a work of art (which unfortunately did not include rarities or anything too far off the beaten path). I don't own the new collection, but the tracks lean toward the earlier years, but as it is an overview includes more recent bands like High Depency Unit, The Subliminals, and Phoenix Foundation. The recording includes the classic Randolph's Coming Home, by Shayne Carter and Peter Jefferies, one of my favorite songs, a grand, moving elegy to Wayne Elsey, who played with Shane in Bored Games, who died in a train accident. One of the great New Zealand songs. Buddy by Peter Gutteridge's band Snapper is another great tune that more people should get to know.



But I don't want to over-dwell on things here. Unless you want to whole hog and start picking up legendary records like The Chill's Submarine Bells, give this collection a spin. I was fortunate to have seen a cross section of these groups when they toured the US, and I assure you that as far the quality of this music is, nobody has any right to put baby in a corner. Check out this new compilation and discover why I've devoted so much blogspace to the Dunedin sound. Happy Thanksgiving!

250th Post!!!!----As Time Dances Faster--The Nils--Green Fields in Daylight---

The Nils are a band I came onto quite late. Today it baffles me that so many great Canadian bands of the era passed completely under my radar. However, I can't believe that if I had gotten a whiff, a semblance of hype thrown my way, that I would not have have given these bands a good listen when they first came out. Perhaps part of the problem was scene snobbery. Too often people were looking to London, New York and LA for the good stuff. But as we all know, great music can come from anywhere--the question is, is anyone really listening?

A perfect example was the excellent Montreal punk pop band The Nils, led by brothers Alex and Carlos Soria. It took a rave review in Big Takeover magazine of the CD compilation on Mag Wheel Records, Green Fields in Daylight in 1996, to get my attention. And what a collection of music this is! 29 Tracks! The Cd might be a bit tough to track down now, but quite available in MP3 format. It's exciting, energetic, youthful joyous, punk rock, in the style of contemporaries like The Replacements, Husker Du, but in their own distinctive torturedly tuneful style. Of great bands that are by all accounts criminally uncelebrated, these guys are at the top of the heap in my opinion. If you have never heard this band before, do yourself a favor....grab this music immediately. I felt like Indiana Jones when I first heard this music, like I uncovered some lost holy artifact from another era.

This collection covers pretty much everything they released aside from their only album, the eponymous album released by Rock Hotel, which is a pretty good record and worth owning also. But the recordings on Green Fields are raw and ready, including some live performance and covers, like Mary Ann with The Shaky Hands, and Tim Hardin's Red Balloon. They even do a short take on Men Without Hats with Pop Goes the World. I thought they were having a little fun at the expense of MWH, but it turns out that they were friends with the band. The lead singer even helped finance and produced their first Ep, Sell Out Young. And I do mean young; when this band started out Alex was only 12!

Like a lot of my very favorite albums, it's pretty much all great. But Scratches and Needles is one of my favorite songs ever. It gives me a rush like the rush when I listen to a raucous Mission of Burma tune.





But there is so much here, the fierce Give Me Time, the white hot When Love Puts on a Sad Face, or the energetic Bandito Callin'. Though I have a preference for Scratches and Needles, In Betweens might actually be the best thing on this disc. But now I am listening to the anthemic Fountains, and my opinion in the last sentence is in doubt....



Another secret classic is Daylight, the song from where this comp's title derived.

Let's pretend we were joyful
Like Green Fields in Daylight......

The Nils definitely made some powerful, powerful music. I often wished that there was more. Of course the Nils as we know it will never reform, because Alex took his own life in 2004. Tragedies like this seem to happen all too much with talented musicians. Last year however, The Title is the Secret Song was released, a collection of unreleased music by the band, a CD/DVD, available through the bands website. I don't have it yet, but if it is comparable to what I own by them, well, maybe it will be my Christmas present to myself. It seems that Carlos Soria is rehearsing with some people, so there will be some Nils shows occurring. Any appreciation these guys can get is sorely deserved. There is even a tribute album to the band out which includes tracks by Punchbuggy, Down By Law and the Stand GT.

But if you are interested in getting a hold of some great music, I unabashedly recommend this album. Green Fields in Daylight is a classic 80's post punk mother lode. This should be an ubiquitous part of any respectable music collection in the same way The Buzzcocks Singles Going Steady is. The fact that so few people know about this band is an abomination. Listening to this album really makes me really happy, and if I can get even a handful of more people on the Nils bandwagon I will be even happier!!! They were definitely one of the best bands of their era, so track this comp down in any format ASAP.