Kudrow - Lando

Kudrow is the newest re-shuffling of the local indie rock deck, featuring Jeff from Bomb The Music Industry!, Mike from Latterman and Dave Garwicke from Halo Fauna and If You Make It. Dave Bierling mentioned them over the holidays and I had been meaning to check them out. Once I started digging, the happy coincidence of this 7" coming out on Ernest Jennings was exposed. Good times! Lando is four Chunks of Triangle-infused indie rock that should have you pogoing with cheap beer in hand in short order. Fast and slow songs. Nothing groundbreaking, save for perhaps the baritone guitar, but Lando still rocks like hell. You definitely should pick it up. Let JS-NYC help you: pop on over to those nutty Ernest Jennings kids here and get yourself some Lando. Keep track of Kudrow here.

R

RIP: Vic Chesnutt (1964-2009)

It's been a long time since I was getting Vic anecdotes on the regular, but it's no surprise here that he checked out over the holidays. I started getting e-mails and texts right before the holiday that Vic was in a coma (again). As Jem Cohen and Kristin Hersh started sharing more info, word of a suicide note started circulating, culminating with formal word of his death on Christmas Day. It's been a touch time for Athens, GA, especially in light of Jerry Fuchs' passing a couple weeks ago.

I saw Vic for the first time in the early 90s. He was opening for a Bob Mould solo show at Bogies in Albany and not especially well-received. Tolerated for a bit due to the wheelchair, room chatter soon threatened to overpower Chesnutt. As the room grew closer to capacity (and proportionally more intolerant) Vic quickly asserted the fact that he didn't give a fuck, croaking off-key and making up songs on the spot. I seem to recall something about Winona Ryder. He had been in the chair for a decade at that point and had obviously learned very quickly that it took some doing to get him on or off the average crappy club stage, so he was almost always going to get to play for the duration. Plus, to be crass, he was already paralyzed, what were some drunk assholes at a bar going to do to him. Either way, Bob seemed amused, the crowd less so.

Tam got me West Of Rome and I decided to give Vic a second chance live when he came through the QE2 with Syd Straw. Syd was out with a Lou Whitney driven band for that record and was all in all pretty awesome. At set's end they were looking for weed and so Vic, Syd, Lou shared some delight out front with me, Tam and Steven. They were a good bunch and I saw a lot of the trio's shows collectively and separately over the next couple years. Vic's shows were mercurial to a degree that only Mark Eitzel has been able to approximate for me, vacillating between sublime trancendence and utter trainwrecks. I last saw Vic with Scott at SXSW four or five years ago, where he played his by-then-usual average set to a full, yet lukewarm crowd. The prices his stuff commanded during my on-going Ebay poverty purge made me think that I should check his last couple records out, especially as I heard they featured Guy from Fugazi and members of Godspeed! It appears that I'll have to do it posthumously now. Apologies to those that were closer to Vic and are taking this harder, but with all due respect, he seemed miserable, so perhaps he's in a better place. Here's hoping.

R

Merry X-mas from JS-NYC

Hey Kids:

Have a Happy. Best Wishes to all the other holiday celebrators and their respective rites from JS-NYC.

Year-end best of comp coming soon.

R

Skillz: 2009 Rap Up at HHdx

JS-NYC loves some Skillz, although his formal releases are getting a little bright and shiny for my tastes. That said, peep the 7th Annual Rap Up here, courtesy of HipHopdx. Personally, save for this track, I'm looking forward to leaving 2009 in the dust.

R

Kevin Avery - Hardcore

Kevin Ayers is a San Francisco based comedy guy who regularly opens for guys like Dave Chappelle and David Allan Grier. As you might surmise by the company he keeps, Avery is not especially hardcore, but pretty funny nonetheless. If that's your thing, look past the 'savoryavery' and pick up a copy through his Myspace here.

R

Jetty Boys - Sheboygan

Let me assert something unequivocally before I lapse into random criticism and short-sighted bile spewing: The Jetty Boys sure seem like a good band and Sheboygan definitely has some songs that are definitely, if I may be so clinical, catchy as fuck. Which begs the question as to what about it/them rubs me so much the wrong way. It may be that I'm looking at it from a pop-punk perspective. More than a lot of a bands, I think that Jetty Boys are a power-pop band. That's not a bad thing at all, but once you have Cheap Trick, The Figgs or Fastbacks in your life, you don't really need much more, at least from where I'm sitting. That said, Sheboygan has a gang of great pop songs on it, with hooks galore. I give to you I'm Not The One or St. Patrick's Day. I hear a bit of Ultimate Fakebook and a lot of Gin Blossoms, especially in the vocals. In drilling down, I think it's really the vocals that are sticking in my craw. They are just a little too smooth for my taste. Again, far, far from bad, just a little too radio friendly. I love all the aforementioned bands, and pop pablum like Matchbox 20 and Third Eye Blind as well, so frankly I can't see why this record isn't setting my world on fire like the House Boat record has recently. Maybe it's old age and bitterness rearing it's ugly head. Either way, if you are enough of a genre purist to like power-pop over pop-punk, The Jetty Boys and Sheboygan will definitely be a big deal for you. Members of that camp should pop (ha!) on over to Rally Records and snatch this bad boy up stat. You could do a whole lot worse. I think I like my pop a little snottier, but will still probably check out The Jetty Boys out when they roll through Fontanas next month. Here's hoping they dirty it up a bit live.

R

House Boat - Delaware Octopus

I've actually seen House Boat live a couple of times and wasn't really over the moon. Frankly, I thought that the incestuous nature of the pop-punk scene of today was beginning to get more than a little bit ridiculous. This new amalgamation marked the 10,000th band to have Mikey Erg behind the kit, but kept up with the Jones' by having Zack Rivethead on guitar. Ex-member aficionados will delight in seeing Grath and Ace from The Steinways in the fold. Those first couple shows didn't really grab me that hard, but listening to The Delaware Octopus, I've got a new outlook. It's on It's Alive and has Luke from The Copyrights behind the glass, if you needed the pot sweetened any. You get a lucky 13 songs for your hard-earned dollar, only one of which deigns to cross the 90 second mark, but you won't feel slighted after hearing tracks like All Of The Time and Are You Into Metal. Get The Delaware Octopus immediately, then start harassing the gents for some more damn live shows already. Here's a link.

R

Skarhead - Drugs, Music and Sex

I enjoy the Madball, Crown Of Thorns and most of the DMS oriented fare that is still in the hardcore genre. The hip-hop stuff (and companion beefing) I could do without, but news of a new Skarhead record does make this old man very happy. The video for D.F.F popped up on PunkNews a while ago, precipitating much joy at JS-NYC HQ. Having finally taken receipt of the record, I can attest that Drugs, Music and Sex is not without poorer material, but no one that's been a fan of the crew's previous work will be disappointed. If you love acronyms, you'll be especially stoked. Best to Ezac and his baby mama on the newborn, but I hope that we see the boys back in town very, very soon. In the meantime, peep the video for D.F.F here and grab yourself a copy of Drugs, Music and Sex here from your friends at I Scream Records. It's the perfect holiday gift.

R

Clipse - Til The Casket Drops

Finally, we have a new release from VA's finest, aka The Clipse. They have ridden a round robin of majors in the last couple years, tarrying at Jive and Arista before settling at Columbia for the short term. The Bros. Thornton are no fools, so it's been all about the licensing. The gents are affiliated with Star Trak and have their own Re-up imprint, which begs the question why they insist on bothering with a major in the first place, especially given their purported *ahem* entreprenurial acumen.

Til The Casket Drops is an interesting (assumably Pyrex) kettle of fish. It's definitely a departure from the street rhyming of their early records and mix tapes, all bright and shiny and Jay-Z'd up. I'm not so crazy about the turn, although truth be told, Mal and Pusha still rhyme their asses off. A lot is being made of the departure from exclusively Neptunes beats, but don't think you're getting drastic departures when Khalil or Sean C are at the helm. Respect is due to all the parties here, but why they didn't choose a single Primo or Just Blaze beat is beyond me. I will give begrudging props to the Kanye track, but won't go so far as to say that I'm crazy about a fucking Cam'ron collabo. All in all, Til The Casket Drops is a decent record, but nothing here is going to knock Joell or Sean P off my playlists anytime soon.

R

The Get Up Kids - The Daytrotter Sessions

Ah, The Get Up Kids. When I was a younger man, I was quite the mark for the Kansas Kids, but the one-two punch of their later records being not especially good (to be especially diplomatic) and the crowd(s) on the dates they played with the almighty Superchunk being utter douche bags made it easy to disown them when quality control started going south. Hell, it was obvious that they didn't even like each other very much towards the end and if you have seen the live show bundled with the Something To Write Home About 10th anniversary reissue, you might think that is still the case. You can't go home again and this session kind of asserts that. Frankly, it seems like Pryor is kind of a douche who thinks he is the band. It's something that comes across most strongly on the video, but you get a little bit of the air here. The new song is better than most of their last two records, which is promising. I don't think I'd pay to see/hear it live, and it is far from Woodson, but it's a decent track. The Vitreous Humor cover appears, along with the evergreen crowd please I'm A Loner Dottie, A Rebel and a couple other tracks. If this kind of thing floats your boat, grab it over here from the good folk of Daytrotter. It's decent, but I think I'll wait for the The Jealous Sound and Samiam tours.

R

Joell Ortiz & Frequency - Road Kill mix tape

What kind of bizarro world are we living in that Joell Ortiz is not the biggest thing in hip-hop? Much like fellow twin Titan Sean Price, he kills every track he appears on. P has been on the low for a minute (but poised for a return) but Ortiz has been everywhere. Post Aftermath, he's dropped a couple mix tapes and linked up with Slaughterhouse, not to mention the bazillion freestyles that pop up on the web with alarming frequency. Frequency produced the majority of the Slaughterhouse mix tape you can get from the gents on tour and reprises that role on Road Kill. Freq comes with great beats and mixing, but with Ortiz on the mike, it's hard to go wrong. You won't find anything bad here except for the motherfucker on the mike. Pick it up here immediately and face the inevitable: Joell Ortiz will be king of the rap game very, very soon.

R

Lifter Puller vs. the end of

Almost exactly coincident with my having spent an arm and a leg on buying the aggressively out of print Lifter Puller back catalog, Jessica Hopper mentioned on her blog that she was involved in compiling a book on Lifter Puller that would include all their records, some nostalgia and some bonus/unreleased tracks. Color me priapic and cue a frantic Ebay resell.

Now, only four or five months past the time that the compendium was supposed to drop, Treehouse Records in sunny Minneapolis has finally released Lifter Puller vs. the end of. It's a small softcover with photos, compiled lyrics and a download card that has the new odds and sods compilation (review soon and seperate) along with the full-lengths and an EP. Lifter Puller are the best, so unsurprisingly it is exceedingly awesome, and for $25, you really can't go wrong.
Pick it up here from The Hold Steady store or straight from Treehouse in MN via this link. Act quick regardless, as there are allegedly only 1000 printed and they will definitely sell out in short order.

R

Live: forgetters at Market Hotel 12.11.9

Historically, there is always a quality rock show on the same night as my shitty job's holiday party. More often than not, I would find myself kind of torn up in some vintage tuxedo at a Slobberbone show or whatnot. This year I was more reasonably dressed, but to keep it interesting the show this year was like 18 degrees and in Brooklyn. Good times. Given the fact the trip necessitated a train, were it not forgetters, I probably would have bailed, but onto the JMZ I went in search of the mysterious Market Hotel. That's a place that's flying well under the radar, but luckily I was able to find the non-descript Steppenwolfian doorway and make it in. This show was the kick-off of the first forgetters tour and as a result I would have thought that it would have been more crowded, but it was pretty managable. I got there just as Chastity Wig were wrapping and carved out some real estate while the kids set up.

forgetters were up in short order. Blake's Keats obsession and the snobbery thereattached were in full effect. I'd say that there were easily three random between-song drops, in between condescending first-hand reports that BS was now a bartender and challenges to the audience regarding their ability to name NPR correspondents. It certainly made this old guy long for the "rabbit, rabbit" banter of shows past. We got about a half-hour of music this night, with at least a couple tunes that were purported to be released out on a forthcoming 7", maybe on Don Giovanni? The songs are decent, especially the last tune that they played as a pseudo-encore, and I'm pretty stoked to hear them recorded. That said, in retrospect, even I might be getting over my Blake obsession. The ex-member factor looms large here and if the songs don't put outweigh the stage banter, it could be another short tenure for forgetters. In the meantime, keep track of their future touring and recording aspirations here.

R

Artie Lange - Too Fat To Fish

Unlike the other belligerent drunk comedian that I've spoken of recently, I can't say enough good things about Artie Lange. His Stern cred is top-shelf, he can call Norm Macdonald one of his best friends and he seems pretty humble for a guy who has been known to wallow in cocaine and booze for fun. I again enjoyed this via the audio book (why? because you can't snag books off the web) and while I will say that it is still far too long for a guy who reads as fast as I do, Too Fat To Fish is totally great. Artie reads the first couple chapters wherein he talks about his family and early life and it's one of the most engaging things you'll ever hear. It's totally inspiring and heartbreaking, especially in Lange's Jersey accent. You may recall that Artie has some addiction issues, and by chapter three he goes to rehab (literally) and has buddies like Ba-ba-booey and Jim Florentine read the rest. Too Fat To Fish is pretty great regardless of who is on the mike, so believe the hype. Avoid the nightmare that is that ridiculous Palin book and check out a guy who cares more about his family and the troops overseas that 90% of the people who can't shut up about it.
R

David Cross - I Drink For A Reason

David Cross is a slippery slope for me. I think that his comedy albums are absolutely brilliant, but all that good work is somewhat diluted by every interaction anyone I've ever known him to have with the service world/common people resulting in reports of him being a total douchebag. I would have never thought that anyone who was that much of a Superchunk fan would be that much of a shitbag, but I've obviously been wrong before.

Cross was on one of the late night shows recently talking about his recent month long stand of sold out London shows and did a set at Bumbershoot that is making the interweb rounds, so I mistakenly snapped this up thinking it was a new stand-up set. I Drink For A Reason is actually an audio book with Cross narrating. I would say, in theory, that this a good idea, but while the bits are decent, and it is certainly much more engaging in DC's own voice, he seems to have a DQ (douche quotient) that is off the charts. It's also very, very long, which may be either onerous or equitable depending on how you slice it. I would say that the former is the closest to the truth, but I guess you should probably decide for yourself.
Personally, I'd look for the live show.

R

Live: Whiskey Trench at Bar Nine 12.6.9

So, would someone please explain to me me the logic in having a band come from Montreal to play that has a fairly limited draw, posting a time that they are going on, then having them go before the announced time, not because the place was packed and people were clamoring, but to two people and the bartender? I showed up at 10, again the posted start time, to see Whiskey Trench play five songs, one of which was a Jawbreaker cover. They sounded decent, but it was a severe bummer.

R

LIve: The Figgs @ Cake Shop 12.4.9

So, night two of the three night Figgs Fest for the holidays, this one in the hood over at Cake Shop. Sadly the photo at right is not from the show, but is still exceedingly classic and more than apropos given the lack of offering from the Figg franchise as to commemorative photos. Drew and I pre-gamed at JS-NYC HQ before dashing over Cake Shop way for a little time with the aforepictured Casino Officer Big Balls before the set.

As holiday sets go, there were very few surprises, which is not to say that the set was in any way bad, save for The Sights having had to endure a second night of keeping up with them. I suppose it's a character building experience at the very least. Again, I would have liked to have heard some of the stuff of Couldn't Get High, but there were dips as far back as Lo-Fi At Society High, so it wasn't all for nought. We were again treated to the new Casino Hayes single, as well as a guest appearance from Jeb Bishop and a David Cross sighting, so there was a lot of equity to your holiday dollar this year. It seemed like a sparse crowd, but we were up front and Drew claims there were a lot of people out, so what do I know? I missed Night Three in the rugged lands of Shaolin, but if I were you, I'd get on over to Figgs HQ and see when you can see the gents next. If history is any indication, the next shows will be at yet another Green Bay casino, but you owe it to yourself to see America's Finest Rock Band live before you shuffle off this mortal coil.

R

Live: The Figgs @ Breur Falls 12.3.9

Ok, this is only a week past being relevant, but hey I've got a lot on my plate. Last week, about this time I jumped on the bike and jumped over the bridge to see America's Finest Rock Band, The Figgs, play one of their increasingly rare live shows at Bruar Falls. I missed out on their Halloween extravaganza owing to lack of desire to be pelted with eggs/be divested of my worldly possessions, but had very little excuse this time around.

I crossed threshold and ran into the questionably moustachioed Mr. Pete Hayes, sadly sans his long-suffering wife and new daughter. In luckier eventualities, The Figgs were just about to go on. They proceeded to play one hell of a set, pretty much lacking in deep cuts, but still better than most bands that don't suggest one might Hold one's Steadiness. These shows were with Detroit's The Sights and featured the bands swapping opening slots. This night had Los Figgs on second, which is to say opening. The crowd was sparse, but mostly to see our heroes. Had they not arrived thusly, they left as such as The Figgs wiped the floor up with all in attendance. There was a brief glimmer of respite for the headliners when Gent moved to acoustic towards the end of the set, but all hope was lost for any followers when the soloing continued apace until the set's end. Not the nicest move, but one that more than asserted who the big boys were. We were treated to a couple new songs, including the A-side of the new Casino Hayes 7" and the requisite holiday covers. And there was much rejoicing by all who did not have to follow them. Keep track on the rest of The Figgs holiday dates (and the myriad side projects each member maintains) here. Were you to want to get the new 7" as the best holiday stocking stuffer ever, you can get it here from the kindly proprietors of Peter Wallkee Records here. Save all the toys for the little rich boys.

R

Minus The Bear - Into The Mirror

If you'll forgive the hackneyed metaphor, Minus The Bear is a strange animal. I got exposed to them through the **ahem** adult site that one of the band members used to run with his wife. Their internet glory was quickly overshadowed by Suicide Girls, but probably a decade past that, Minus The Bear have been much more successful in purveying their mix of electronica and indie slash punk music. The recordings may have become crisper through higher bit rates, but the music is essentially unchanged. The departure of Matt Bayles was hardly the death knell haters made it out to be. As per usual, Minus The Bear generally make me think of being in the Los Angeles of Blade Runner on a whole lot of coke, but that's just me. Not that I touch that silliness, but looking at the crowd they attract and the Lifter Puller level of sordid-tude their songs display, it seems that I might not the only one that feels that way.

Into The Mirror is a two song virtual 7" that varies very little from the time honored MTB formula of deftly finger-tapped riffs cybermelded against rhythms of the organic variety as well as breakbeats and loops. The title track is the mellower of the two, while the b-side pushes the more frantic side of things. If you liked Minus The Bear before, you'll be stoked about this, but I doubt it's going to win over anyone who didn't like them previously. I'd say those people are kinda dumb, but that's not our problem is it? Pick up Into The Mirror from your favorite digital retailer or from the band via their Tigre Blanco records. I don't see any web presence for the label, but you kids are a resourceful lot. In a pinch, it appears you can also contact Team MTB here.

R

Bend Over And Take Your Royalties...

On the heels of this screed from the men of Rehasher and as I have been taking it in the pocketbook like most of America this year, I thought I might cross-post this little delight I found on the Portastatic blog about major labels and digital royalties from Tim Quirk of Too Much Joy. More and more, it seems like going for self is the way of the walk.

That said, while I am sympathetic to the men of Rehasher's plight and will admit they have been known to be good sometimes, the idea that 3000 people would buy their record, especially in the first month, smacks of hubris and reminds me how good the weed is in Florida. I'd bet that maybe 5% of the No Idea (who released the first Rehasher and are distro-ing the new one) roster even press 3000 initially. Now, it appears the new Rehasher is self-released on their own Moathouse Records. I applaud that, but I'd be very surprised if they pressed up 3000 cds in the first pressing. Bully to them if they can sell 3K right out the gate, but it doesn't seem likely from where I'm sitting. Looking at the Moathouse and Rehasherweb presences, there are some interesting eventualities. First off, I would be interested as to why they are selling it for $3 more than No Idea (plus $2 postage). With very, very few exceptions, asking $12 bucks ($10 and postage) for a record that is maybe a half-hour would (and will) make me download it, at least initially. Oddly enough, that $12 seems to get you vinyl with a die-cut cover from No Idea (shipped), a price that seems more than reasonable for collector nerds. If I was buying a CD from you on tour for $10, it would be a whole different ball game, but someone needs to take a step back and look at the big picture asking $12 for mailorder, especially when you're a punk band who is recording a record for your own label. While digital downloading is hurting some bands, it also exposes the average band to exponentially larger numbers of people. Most bands would be stoked that 3000 people would even care about hearing their record. And also take into account that 3000 is most definitely 3000 people around the world, a scope that many people, including me and my stupid band, would be wholly in favor of operating in.

If any Rehasher dudes rebut, I'll post it unedited. I'll also probably download and review it. For free. Listening to the I-tunes clips, it sounds pretty decent. Not better than Susquehanna Hat Company, but decent.

R

Read the comments on the PunkNews article, too. While they do speak volumes about how charmingly out of touch the young "punks" are today, there is an especially hysterical anecdote from a guy who supposedly dropped 50K on his record and gave/is giving it away. While that is just plain silly and I wish that my Dad was rich, too, the really funny part is where he claims he got over half of it back from donations. In two months! The internet sure is a great place for lying. Well, gotta go, just got a $1 million check from Google Ads, gotta get that in the bank....

R

Bowery Boy Blue and Lesser Lights - Now We Will Be Brothers

Ah, Bowery Boy Blue! Despite being located individually all over God's creation, the fearsome foursome sure do make a nice sound when they are in the same room. It's been a good year for the Boys. Their debut full-length Stalk This Myth dropped about a year ago on Space Photo Records to almost universal regard. Short tours over the last year were exceedingly well-received and showed the Boys that are both Blue and of the Bowery to be one hell of a force on the stage. Live, the Stalk songs took on dimensions that the recordings only hinted at, boding well for the band's future.

Now We Will Be Brothers is the product of the last days of the historic Looking Glass Studios in NYC. Bowery Boy Bluesmen Zeb Gould and Sam Crawford brought Lesser Lights proprietor Nate Baker to see the space while the SF-based Lesser Lights proprietor was in town playing shows. As luck would have it, the fabled Studio A was open for the afternoon and BBB ended up backing Baker for the two tracks that appear here. It seems to have been a happy coincidence for both parties. Bowery Boy Blue play wonderfully, but their backing is unobtrusive to say the least. Crawford adds wonderful vocal backing to the opening Waving At Trains That No Longer Run, but for the most part the Lesser Lights tracks feel a little bit more solo songwriter. Baker's vocals here show a warm sonority that is equal parts unsettling and engaging. Think Mark Kozalek or Kurt Wagner, maybe Tim Barry on an exceedingly good day. The two Now We Will Be Brothers tracks are a nice introduction and I like what I hear. Suffice to say, I'm excited to hear the EP that I hear is coming in the new year.

At the inception of Bowery Boy Blue, Zeb Gould arguably filled the role Baker holds in Lesser Lights, wherein he would bring songs to the table and flesh them out with players as needed. It lent a Jason Molina meets Neil Young vibe to the proceedings that was wonderful to listen to, but didn't do justice to the BBB live sound. The last couple of years have found Bowery Boy Blue coalescing into a band and fostering a new direction that incorporates a lot more Pixies/Cake rock quirk into the sound. The two songs here show both sides of the band. Now We Will Be Brothers shows more of the early sound, with violin and steel adding texture. It's wonderful, but the closing Give 'Em What They Want melds an arpeggiated guitar riff to a gritty lead that should make waves in eardrums from dorm rooms to home theater systems all over. It is a track that lives up to its name.

As does the record's title. Now We Will Be Brothers pairs two great up and comers in Bowery Boy Blue and Lesser Lights. These are artists that are two sides of a single coin, players that come closest to capturing whatever is still relevant in the increasingly nebulous term that is Americana. Now We Will Be Brothers is American music in the truest sense, combining classic elements of folk, rock and country music with the alternative sounds of their collective youths to form something beautiful and new. You would be foolish not buy this. Get Now We Will Be Brothers from your favorite digital retailer or grab a hard copy from the good folk of Space Photo Records. Tell 'em JS-NYC sent you. Look forward to both parties being out on the road in the new year and keep an ear out for the second Bowery Boy Blue record coming next year.

R

Teenage Bottlerocket - They Came From The Shadows

Teenage Bottlerocket is another band that has really got under my skin (in a good way) in the last couple months. Their CMJ set this year was a real rager that Luke and I really enjoyed a ton. I revisited all their records after that and continue to be astounded that I wasn't as into them the three times I had see them previously. I'm sure I've whined here previously about the show at the Leonard St. Knit TBR played with Chixdiggit where the Alberta crew was utterly terrible, with a thrown together band backing KJ that barely knew any songs. The TBR kids offered to back KJ to try and salvage the proceedings, but it was all in all a total disappointment that probably tainted my feelings about these proud sons of Laramie.

I seem to have put that behind me now. I can now state definitively that if you like the Ramones, and by proxy your Riverdales and your Screeching Weasels, you would be hard pressed not to enjoy TBR in general and They Came From The Shadows in particular. The addition of Kody has expanded their sound slightly, but Teenage Bottlerocket aren't broken and they aren't about to try and fix it. It's odd that a wizened old man like myself would take to songs like Skate Or Die or The Jerk, but I have and, judging by the number of times I've played this and the rest of the TBR stuff of late, I will continue to do so. Please do the same and buy They Came From The Shadows from Fat via this link. Note: leather motorcycle jacket not included.

R

Whiskey Trench - Television

Ah, Whiskey Trench! If I may digress from the onset, it's fairly irritating how much of a dick tease the internet can be. As it regards Whiskey Trench, for a while now I've been trying to figure out if Hugo Mudie is still in this damn band? Given the terse assertion that he is not on the web page, I'm given to think that I am right that he was, but that some sort of acrimony has facilitated his departure from the WT ranks. Not that Whiskey Trench are Rush or anything, but it'd be nice if there were somewhere one could get the skinny on the current lineup.

Not that I'm such a slavish Mudie jocker that I would disregard the band if he wasn't a member, but truth be told, The Sainte Catherines/Yesterday's Ring connection was the reason I got into the band in the first place. I grabbed the first Whiskey Trench record from the download section of If You Make It last year and was pretty taken with the Canadian inflected Jawbreaker-isms therein. Television keeps that legacy alive, adding a little Ben Deily era Lemonheads to the mix to keep things interesting. There is also an interesting Green Onions meets Planet Of Sound kind of instrumental turn on No Money For Bus Fare that heralds some interesting directions in the band's future. The fourteen tracks are all pretty sold, with Vicious Sore and Life Long Sentence taking the top two slots to these ears. As luck would have it, the gents are playing Bar Nine tomorrow night, so it appears I'll be able to get to the bottom of the Hugo thing and see if Whiskey Trench can pull it off live. See you front and center at the rock show. If you can't make it out, check the record out at their web presence or just buy Television from Kiss Of Death. Think about maybe buying two. It's the perfect holiday gift.

R

Fugazi

Hey Kids:

While there seems to be very little chance that we'll be seeing the Fugazi do any live stuff anytime soon, there is no need to deprive yourself of the inimitable stage patter the gents doth provide.

Download this 45 minute comp of Ian and Guy waxing eloquent on issues like dancefloor douchebaggery, ice cream consumption and their drummer's financial woes. Here 'tis courtesy of Henry at Chunklet and Jerry Burns.

R

Small Brown Bike - Composite, Volume One

Whouda thunk? The Small Brown Bike is back! And with the original lineup even. Works for me. I've had an SBB sticker on my Surly for years now and while it garners the odd bit of mockery from the odd Figg drummer here and there, most of the feedback has concerned how great they were back in the day and how scads of bands have ripped them off. While the ex-members have started various ill-fated side projects like Able Baker Fox and LaSalle, none of the post-Bike projects caught fire on a level of the original franchise.

Small Brown Bike played The Fest this year to much adulation from fans old and new. The nice young(ish) men that they are, they have been kind enough to actually trot out some new material to commemorate their return. It's a 7" on No Idea called Composite, Volume One and I'll be damned if it doesn't sound a lot like some of the best stuff from their early years. While you should, don't take my word for it. Var and Co. have both tracks streaming over at the No Idea web presence here, so why not try that shit then buy that shit. It's the perfect gift for Mom for the holidays.

R

Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2 review at PopMatters

Hey Kids:

Review of the new Raekwon opus is currently up at PopMatters. Thanks to Sarah Zupko at PopMatters! Peep it here.

R

Figgs for the Holidays!

Hey Kids:

America's finest rock band The Figgs is taking a break from recording their new record and procreating to play some shows for the holidays (and the New Year).

Peep the dates below and note that there will be holiday single available for stocking stuffing courtesy of the good folk of Peter Walkee Records.

It's on Figg-approved vinyl, with complimentary digital downloads.

Come to the shows and thank them personally for the holiday gift, willya. We don't get the boys playing shows outside of Green Bay casinos much anymore. See you Thursday in Brooklyn.

Holiday Shows!
12/3 - Brooklyn, NY - Bruar Falls
12/4 - New York, NY - Cake Shop
12/5 - Staten Island, NY - Cargo Cafe
12/11 - Albany, NY - Valentines
12/12 - Saratoga Springs, NY - Putnam Den
12/18 - Cambridge, MA - TT The Bears
12/19 - Dover, NH - Brick House

2010!
1/4 - Carrabassett Valley, ME - Sugarloaf
1/5 - Newry, ME - Sunday River
2/26 - Saratoga Springs, NY - The Irish Times
2/27 - Saratoga Springs, NY - The Irish Times (Matinee Family show)
2/27 - Saratoga Springs, NY - The Irish Times (Late Show)