Heaven Yes!---Happydeadmen----Classics-a Decade in Pop

The Happydeadmen cd I am listening to right was a very pleasant surprise. I feel now as though I am crawling out from under a rock when I first heard this band about three weeks ago, as they were an influential and popular band in Sweden, being in existence from 1988-1998. But a brand new band to me. I don't know very much about them, but they apparently were trailblazers in the Swedish indie pop movement. Before the rest of the world was cued in, pre-Cardigans.

That being said, it would not be unjust to say that Happydeadmen are stylistically in resemblance to The Smiths. There really is no way to get around this. Though I might add that there is a bounce to some of the songs reminiscent of The Housemartins.

Having said that, Classics-a Decade in Pop is an impeccable collection of sopisticated romantic guitar pop. Every song included on this compilation is a little gem. Jangly jangly melodies, with maudlin lyrics. There are songs from throughout the bands 10 year existence, and includes b-sides, and rare tracks. Though I would have liked lyrics included in the liner notes, the pithy descriptions of each song that are listed are informative.

Jan Hedin - Vocals and acoustic guitar
Magnus Karlsson - Electric guitar
Roger Kjellgren - Bass
Thomas Kristoffersson - Drums
Patrik Jonsfjord - Electric guitar




The album is loaded with highlights, like the smart pop of Science Fiction, the upbeat catchy music of The Age of Chivalry. An obvious classic Heaven No!, a song sounding very much like a call from  the Morrissey/Marr playbook. Another number I am partial to is the early song that the album leads with, Silent Sigh City.




All in all a collection that most pop bands would envy. Though sounding like the Smiths, the overall quality of the material overrides any negatives, making Classics-A Decade in Pop album a very worthwhile acquisition.

Bailter Space's New Album Trinine---Now Back with More Vengeance

Bailter Space has released their 2nd album in the last year or so in October, Trinine. It's the sort of thing I've been waiting to hear from them. Strobosphere was a very good album, but the menace that I know and love is back in full force, again released on Fire records. They do not disappoint here.

People in Projects

Yeah, I'm not objective. I have been a fan of this band since before they moved to New York from New Zealand, and I've probably seen them half a dozen times here in the Big Apple. But I think that they are one original sounding band, creating some of the most beautifully menacing noise around. And with the perspective of seeing them live, believe me, they are a band that tears the roof off a club. Full force menacing assault. Originally they were called The Gordons, a legendary band that is getting its due in New Zealand these days. The testaments I've read of their live shows pretty much practically compare the gigs to military strikes. The Bailter sound is still loud but more textured.

So still my advice is that when you play Trinine, (as to old live album cliche goes) you need to play it LOUD.

Alister Parker: Guitar Vocals
John Halvorsen: Bass Vocals
Bret McLachlan: Drums

From the instant I listened to Trinine I was immediately impressed by the sonics! All that wobbly low end muddle. And the vocals are more buried in the mix this time around, and the effects used on them give the singing a hallucinogenic, almost conspiratorial vibe. It seems that these days, so many bands are inspired by bands like The Clean, or the Bats, or The Chills. Bailter Space is another band that people need to embrace also. New Zealand music isn't just about the jangle. People tend to think Bailter Space merely copied bands like Sonic Youth, or My Bloody Valentine, but while their music certainly did not get created in a vacuum, they were around to early to have these band be an influence to them.
No doubt they probably had listened to some Wire, and I did hear Halvorsen mention on a NZ radio show that he was influenced by Australian experimental group Severed Heads.




John Halvorsen, the bassist/guitarist, was not on Strobosphere, but he is very present on Trinine. It's probably why I like this better. Halvorsen was also a member of The Skeptics, another great New Zealand band that is in the spotlight lately, due to the Sheen of Gold documentary and the spate of reissues that just came out on Flying Nun within the last few months. Skeptics albums were fetching pretty high prices recently, so it is nice to see that Flying Nun is continuing to make their back catalog available.

But right now I am just glad that Bailter Space have just put out another terrific album. If you love noisy creative music, you need to hear Trinine and their back catalog. The Flying Nun Compilation is probably not the place to start though. Probably Thermos, Tanker, Vortura, or The Aim ep. Or that ep with Grader Spader on it.

We All Together---The Singles---Peru's answer to Badfinger

I've been listening to a singles collection by a Peruvian band this weekend. The band is We All Together and the recordings are from 1973-1974, and was released in 2008 by Lion Productions.

Mas grande que existe

I have to say that these guys must have really loved Badfinger. A lot. Even to the extent of covering their music, on this collection Rock of Ages. But most of the songs here are originals, though only three songs are in Spanish.

In all honesty, the music is very impressive here, not far from uncovering secret recordings of the aforementioned godfathers of Welsh Power Pop. They also made a single which contained two songs by Paul McCartney, Band on the Run and Bluebird which are included in the collection. And they sound great. But it seems to me that their original songs were of such a high quality that they didn't need to cover bands they admired. Though their Dear Sally does sound in parts like The Beatles song Oh Darling!!! I particularly like the Spanish songs like Lo Mas Grande que Existe en el Amor, or Soy Timido.



The band was Saul Cornejo-guitar, Manuel Cornejo-drums, Ernesto Samame-bass, Felix Varvarande-keyboards, and Carlos Guerrero-vocals.

We All Together was only together for a few years, but managed to release these singles and two albums, We All Together and We All Together 2. The first album was reissued by Lion Productions in 2007, and another label has reissued it this year with bonus tracks. Let's hope that the second album is also in the works.



Overall, the band is very accomplished musically, and Carlos Guerrero has a great voice, but ultimately the songs are pretty derivative. But I would be lying if I didn't say that I really liked this album. Any fan of the Beatles, Badfinger, or a nice pop song would enjoy this album.

La Dusseldorf--Viva---A Very Very Powerful Motorik and a case for Telefunken.....

I have been listening to the first two La Dusseldorf albums for the past week. They are an experimental electronic group from Dusseldorf, Germany from the 1970's, and two of the members were in the group Neu! Klaus Dinger wrote the songs. I won't use the stupid term given for this type of music. I'd much rather call it Telefunken, which is a name I saw on the back of Viva. I like the way that sounds, stylish and cutting edge. And funky. Actually, in reality I think it is the name of German company that produces very high-end microphones.

Gonna set my soul on fire.....

I bought Viva, the 2nd album, a few years ago, and it, like its eponymous predecessor basically took my world by storm. Though I listen to all types of music, some of the more highly lauded electronic groups just don't grab my interest. But La Dusseldorf plays some incredibly audacious music. When this music first came out it must have been even more eventful, because when listening to this today its very evident how influential these guys have been to bands I am very familiar with. And not just electronic music, but rap, punk, and movie soundtrack composition. What I mean to say is, when I first heard them I felt I had been here before, but of course, that was not the case at all.

But to be clear, a jazz group might attempt to emulate Ornette Coleman, but the results might turn out a little different. La Dusseldorf is that sort of special. There are imitators, but I don't know of anyone who could do this better. People more schooled in electronic music would probably have a few names for me, of course.

First of all, I was immediately struck by the upbeat, almost joyful demeanor of the songs on Viva. I don't want to overgeneralize, but there is a lot of glum electronic music and certainly when I became a music fan, there was a lot of obsessing over people becoming machines and machines becoming people. This music has an organic looseness and funkiness to it that is extremely appealing.

Secondly, without trying to overstate things, repetition in electronic music is not an uncommon thing.
Throughout these records, the music changes in inventive and artistic ways. The songs never gets boring, even on the lengthier numbers, and the music is downright swaggeringly aggressive in places. I am always surprised and disappointed when the album seems to end so abruptly.

Thirdly, and most significantly, are the drums! The drums and percussion playing here are simply otherwordly. I'm not talking about John Bonham lengthy drum solos. Great drummers have subtlety in their game, Hans Lampe and the Dinger brothers bring It in La Dusseldorf. They have that propulsive drive in the music, "motorik" as it is described, and the contrast between the vivid steady, trance-inducing beat and the music constantly swirling around it, which creates something profound. The beat is definitely the difference maker in this music, what sets it apart.



The 20 minute Cha Cha 2000 which originally must have been the entire vinyl side 2, is apparently an electronic music classic. I like it and I am a person who generally is not a fan of songs dragging along. Between punk rock and doing half hour blues jams in somebodies basement for half an hour made me a  proponent of tight editing. It's a hell of a lot nicer to listen to than say, Freebird, which is actually much shorter than this. I mean has anyone ever heard anyone make a sarcastic request for Cha Cha 2000 at a rock concert?

This was again, a situation where I completely underestimated the quality of this music. Though by no means a unknown band, the critical praise they get is completely deserved. So good that I was compelled to open my big mouth about it. Check out the glammy electro perfection of White Overalls which at first listen reminded me of The Clash!



So Viva is my feel-good album of the week. Check it out. And I still like the name Telefunken, so I'm sticking with it.

The Forbidden Planet Survives!--Somewhere Beautiful--The Chills

I'm So Bloated up Happy.....

As I am an unabashed fan of Martin Phillips and The Chills, in my estimation the ultimate New Zealand band, I am very pleased to mention that the long drought is over. Somewhere Beautiful was recently released on Fire Records.

No, its not an album of new material. It is a live album, recorded in 2011 New Year's Eve at a private party. Nonetheless, my instincts told me that anything new by The Chills is a wonderful thing. And I'm enjoying the live disc immensely. You might find some of the vocals a little shouty, but overall Phillips and his bandmates are in great form throughout.

The album has 20 tracks from throughout The Chill's discography (even from his solo album Sketchbook), so it is a nice retrospective of the band. It also includes Canterbury Go!, which must be a recent song. Which seemingly is a portent of things to come.


Because a great sounding new Chills song, Molten Gold, has recently appeared on the Internet, and word is that a new studio album is in the works. But for now, Somewhere Beautiful is a suitable vehicle to tide us over until the rumors are converted to reality. I've always had the utmost regard for his songwriting abilities, but listening to the live album reminded me that the songs are also chock full of inventive creative guitar and keyboard passages.




But if you are unfamiliar with this band, my advice is to buy everything you can get your hands on. I'm still hoping that a remastered version of Brave Words is on the horizon. Though I've always been most partial to Submarine Bells, Brave Words is also a really great album. With a strange hummy mix sound. Some people like this actually, but I know that Martin does not. On the Flying Nun Chills retrospective Heavenly Pop Hits, there are modified versions of a few Brave Words songs. Upon reflection, should a cleaned up version of this album come about, it might very well be in consideration as the finest rock album ever released from New Zealand. I know it's all subjective--and if you have seen this blog before, you know that I have a lot of favorites from Aotearoa.



Just add the Kaleidescope World early singles compilation to the mix, and you have three excellent, excellent albums. Let's hope that Somewhere Beautiful is just the beginning of the resurrection of a rare talent.

Please note: none of the videos I've posted are represented on Somewhere Beautiful.

At Home He's a Tourist...Part 3--The Go--Instant Reaction--Chronicles from the Skinny Tie Revolution

They say you can't keep a good man down, but certainly the adage is not true in musical world.

Take this band from just due south of my neck of the woods, Yonkers, New York--Westchester's biggest city. The Go.

Back in 1980 they released a 4 song ep entitled Instant Reaction, which is no doubt a pretty rare collectors item these days. But overall I wouldn't think that most people remember them. Because that's the last thing that was released by them for a very long time.

Of course, the logical outcome was that their first full length release would come out in 2005 on a Japanese label dedicated to mostly unheralded mod, power pop, and punk pop groups, Wizzard in Vinyl. Its a label that has  released a lot of interesting things. And in the case of Instant Reaction, 18 previously unreleased songs are included! These were mostly home recorded. It seems that Wizzard in Vinyl isn't releasing anything anymore unfortunately so invariably releases like this are also becoming collectors items. Which is a shame, because clearly the enterprise must have been a labor of love. Japanese labels like this and 1+2 records have really released some great things.

But to the matter at hand. When I was in High School, I really loved music, hard rock, metal, Beatles, The Who, Beach Boys--what you might expect of a kid in the mid-1970's. But there seemed to be a change on the horizon. Being in the suburbs, we heard about the punk rock, but basically that it was an evil thing, an assault on our musical loyalties! They couldn't play their instruments, there were no classically-trained axemen to gloat about. But of course punk wasn't something you heard on the radio--you had to go get it if you wanted it. And there was a substantial moral opprobrium directed toward the people who embraced the movement. Between Punk and Disco there seemed to be a lot of people wanting to burn things, which even at the time I thought was pretty weird. But what we did manage to hear was a modified version of the new sound, something a little more familiar, more palatable, less confrontational and fractious. "New Wave".

That of course was the new music of groups like Cheap Trick, The Cars, The Knack, The Police, The Records, The Romantics, even Elvis Costello before the Ray Charles incident. And of course, there were groups like The Shoes, and The Nerves who I didn't hear until much later, who spawned the superb bands The Plimsouls and The Beat. But all these artists were part of a disparate movement of sorts. If you've heard the Jordan Oakes Yellow Pills comps, it's evident that this was happening all over the U.S. The skinny tie brigade. I know that it all felt pretty exciting to me at the time, all huge hooks and energy.



And certainly I wasn't the only person who felt this way. There is the old adage about all the bands that were inspired by the Sex Pistols concert in Manchester, but how many bands were inspired by the perfect pop of  "Starry Eyes" by the Records, or My Sharona? To my ears, the guys in The Go would fall under that category. While the liner notes indicate that they were big Ramones fans, the music fall more toward the pop variety than punk. In fact the music at times sounds like revved up Buddy Holly tunes.

The Go:
Tom Conte: Guitar, Vocals
Kenny Dutch: Guitar, Vocals
George Peters: Bass, Vocals
Joe Bryo: Joe Bryo

The great thing about the expanded version of Instant Reaction is that the many extras included are extremely worthwhile. Sometimes reissues have additional things included to entice fans who already own the originals to buy the same product again. There is often a common sense reason why the bonus track never saw the light of day. In the case of The Go, I find that I like many of the home made recordings better than the numbers on the 1980 ep. Though they never released anything after the EP, obviously they had aspirations and continued to hone their craft and got better. Even without the full studio treatment, these songs are top-notch power pop tunes.

I wish I had anecdotal information about these guys, but I didn't learn about the band until a few years ago. I certainly never saw them play live. And I didn't buy this recording until I was able to get it at a reasonable price. And I'm certainly glad I did, because this is overall a very solid collection. We get a chance to hear songs like You Wanna Be Like Her, Ricki, Let It Rip, The Girl I Let Go, She's Never Alone, Kerri Tells Me, Come Back Rosalyn, and Too Cool, which might have never seen the light of day otherwise.



The two snippets at the end of the Cd are a real reminder of how things were back then, particularly in the burbs. For a lot of people there was a real line in the sand drawn between the new music and what is now known as classic rock. Stepping across that line could affect your reputation among your peers. Young people are particularly serious about things like this--it's about fighting the good fight to save Rock and Roll from the barbarians (and the BeeGees). One of the snippets is an ad for the Instant Reaction ep, where they state "yeah, its a bit new wave, but give it listen and then decide". Listening before you make snap judgments is always a good philosophy, of course, and not isolated to musical appreciation. If happened to be in a band at that time, maybe you wanted to be part of this new movement, but on the other hand you didn't want it to cost you popularity.

The second snippet is taped from a radio station, when a caller calls criticizing the music of The Go.
He doesn't really like it, kind of sounds "New Wave". More Skynyrd, please. It seems odd today that music like this could be controversial, because it really doesn't sound very different from a lot of conventional pop music of the time. The songs are mostly about getting girls, or losing girls. Of course, in those days punks were walking targets, getting the crap beaten out of them for their appearance, so thankfully times have changed for the better. Mostly.

While I wouldn't call Instant Reaction a desert island disk, it is a very enjoyable collection. I probably picked it up initially because of the Westchester connection, but anybody who loves a good pop song should enjoy this. The Go have actually had a few reunion shows over the past decade, but as far as I know this did not lead to any new recording sessions. Let's hope that there will soon be an easier way for more people to get their mitts on this music. And let's at least give credit to Wizzard in Vinyl for making a recording like this possible.

Local Rabbits---You Can't Touch This--Auspicious Debut Album from Montreal

Sometimes I hear about interesting bands from unlikely places. In this example, I first heard of Montreal's Local Rabbits because they were mentioned in a book by Dave Bidini of the Rheostatics called Around the World in 57 1/2 gigs. Apparently Bidini and Peter Elkas are friends, and at some point in a hiatus of the around-the-world-on-a-shoestring tour, he winds up at some rural lake with Elkas, friends and family members, fishing, hanging out, and taking turns singing tunes. It was a nice moment in a very recommendable book, a book where Bidini ends up in places like Finland and China, playing gigs and discovering how rock music is perceived and accepted around the world. But mostly its a lot of self-deprecating humor and awkwardness. Definitely a good music read.

Later I read some more on Local Rabbits in Have Not Been the Same, a pretty hefty book on Canadian Rock, which would probably useful if your interests lie there. So with a little more knowledge on my side, I made the mouse click and gave the band a listen.

Fresh New Kicks, Advance!

You Can't Touch This is Local Rabbits' debut album from 1996 on Murderrecords, and it seems somewhat disjointed. When I saw the album cover for the first time, my first impression was that these guys are the ZZ Top of sideburns. But look past this, and you will find a musically accomplished bunch who most definitely sport their own unique sound. If you put the album on and listen to the first song, your impression is that these guys sound like 80's post-punk, pre-Franz Ferdinand. But they mostly don't sound like that here.




Pete Elkas: singing, guitars, etc.
Ben Gunning: singing, guitars, etc.
King Johnny Starr: singing, bass, etc.
Brian Waters: singing, drums


On this record they sound kind of like a blend of Pavement and Neil Young and Crazy Horse. The songs are filled with loads of interesting somewhat discordant guitar runs, with mostly tuneful harmonies laid across the top. There always seems to be a lot going on these songs, and the songs don't rely much on cliches. What seems odd is the number of blues or country numbers interspersed (not to mention a little Klezmer or Pop's & Company's Haircut 100esque stylings) in between the alternatunes, but in all honesty those are done well too. People seem to have a huge problem with things like this, but I certainly don't. It seems like they had the chops to do mostly everything. What is equally remarkable is the upbeat nature to this album--no wallowing in misery for these guys.



These guys went on to make 2 more albums which I'm told are more accomplished than this one, but I haven't heard them yet. Their 2nd album Basic Concept even hit number 1 on the Canadian College Charts in 1998. Even from this stage, it is clear that these guy began with their own pretty unique music. Certainly I think their music lies in the tradition of modern guitar bands like Television, The Feelies, Wipers, Built to Spill, Dinosaur, Jr., that aren't afraid to air out the leads. But they never let the songs drag on to tedium--they change gears well.




Since the band split up, Elkas has put out 3 solo albums, and in 2010 Ben Gunning put out Mal de Mer, his 2nd album, which is described as a concept album about living and working on a cruise ship.

This album is a pretty cool one, especially considering this is a debut album from pretty young guys. Maybe a little more falsetto than I like, but overall a big winner. A very interesting guitar album. And a lot of happiness here, I must say.