Cheap Girls - Giant Orange

Ah, Cheap Girls! The Lansing threesome have been recent faves at JS-NYC HQ in recent history. Anticipation has been high for a new full-length, and wonderfully Spring has brought the thaw as well as the aces new Giant Orange for our pleasure. This one is the first for new label Rise and for better or worse sports the production of Mr. Tom Gabel of Against Me!. That will doubtless appeal more to the Asslight Anthem set more than lovers of genuine unaffected rock goodness, but even his silly ass can't sink this ship.


He do try, though. Giant Orange certainly sounds a little overproduced in places (see the ZZ Top meets Boston guitar tone of Manhattan On Mute), but regardless of questionable engineering, the The Force continues to be strong with our heroes and songs are definitely still there. Six of the ten tracks on Giant Orange are damn solid and the other four ain't all that shabby neither. I'd say On/Off Switches is the current fave, but Giant Orange gets a lot of play around the JS-NYC corporate HQ and the front-runner changes by the day. Share our problems and get Giant Orange here from the Cheap Girls web presence. Lavish us/them with thanks later.

R

Hot Water Music - The Fire. The Steel, The Tread 7"

So Hot Water Music is back. I guess that's not a bad thing, or all that surprising really. They broke up easily five times before the turn of the century and its frankly pretty surprising that they only broke up most recently five years ago.

In that time, Wollard and Regan have done the solo bearded acoustic guy thing with various degrees of success, while George has played with Against Me and Jason has played with Sense Field. Now they are back, at least for shows. And now a new 7". The new record comes (unsurprisingly) courtesy of the good nerds of No Idea. It's called The Fire, The Steel, The Tread and it sounds like you would expect a late-period Hot Water Music record to sound like, but I'd like some Split Lip and they are coming a little Chamberlain for my tastes, if you take my meaning. And calling the b-side Adds Up To Nothing is asking for trouble, although I'd argue it's the better of the two tunes here.

Get The Fire, The Steel, The Tread in all the popular formats here from No Idea and keep track of current HWM going's on here.

R

Live: Off With Their Heads with Rats In Rigor @ ABCnoRIO 3.13.11

Over the dozen or so Off With Their Heads shows I've seen, I've vacillated back and forth as to my enjoyment level. A lot of the shows on the unending tour behind From The Bottom got to be a little phoned in and I was less than enthused by the early shows behind In Desolation that had a five piece lineup with Ryan just singing. I heard about the ABC show at the last minute and figured as it was about three blocks from JS-NYC HQ, I'd try and make it. Fellow tourmates Against Me! were stinking up a matinee at Mercury Lounge at the same time, which worked out fine for attendance.

Rats In Rigor were on when I rolled in. By all outward appearances, these gents are no stranger to Leftover Crack shows. In fact, I'm still unsure as to whether I'm not aware of some crust punk pseudonym thing going on, as the singer guy looked way too much like Stza, but either way, they were your average crusty mid-card ABC band, playing an ok set and covering The Mob. All in all: meh.

Punk rock being punk rock, until I see band members on site, I'm always pretty much always thinking the band I want to see either has cancelled or the lineup has changed. I'm pleased to have been wrong. We're back to the four-piece Off With Their Heads, which is a very good thing. The kids only cared because it meant there was more room for shenanigans and crowding Ryan for singalongs. Ryan had the quote of the afternoon after the second or third song when he stopped and asked why no one was shouting 'Lets Go Murphys'. I love the Murphys, but they are second only to Slayer when it comes to fans that don't give a fuck about anything that isn't their boys. Ryan was openly (and vocally) pleased to be playing a smaller Alamo-esque show away from the big rooms Dropkick Murphys/AM! tour. It made for a much better show for all parties. OWTH are a small room band, props are due to them for remembering that and playing ABC for one of the last shows before they demo the building.

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

Jaded Scenester/forgetters love on Brooklyn Vegan

Hey Boy(s) and Girl(s):

Some quotation love from the Brooklyn Vegan here about the forgetters show at Lit.

Thanks to forgetters for being awesome, and BV for the love.

R

Live: forgetters, Solar Powered Sun Destroyer, Thought and Memory @ Lit Lounge 9.18.9

After the ridiculous punk rock scavenger hunt that the early Thorns Of Life shows ended up being, it was nice to find that Blake had: (1) got another band together in short order and (2) actually started letting people know about the shows. In typical fashion, the first show was a secret and in Crown Heights (see stolen pic at left), but show number two was announced and at Lit Lounge. To sweeten the pot, the show was headlined by Golden City, the newest franchise from ex-Christie Front Drive/The 101 mastermind Eric Richter. I figured it would be a bit of a madhouse, so Eric, Keri and I showed up early and staked out some real estate and libation.

Our early arrival allowed us to catch the full complement of openers, including the lead-off Brooklynites Thought and Memory. I'm glad we did. They had an Explosions In The Sky/This Will Destroy You thing going on that I'd like to hear a whole lot more of in this town. No singer, two guitars, bass and drums. I would definitely recommend checking them out. Hell, I hope So Hideous can play with them sometime soon. Solar Powered Sun Destroyer played next. They are from DC, but don't sound especially like the average band you've heard from The District. In fact, I'd say they are a little ballsy in that a lot of the vocals sounded a hell of a lot like Christie Front Drive. I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be sounding that close to another band on the bill, but that really not this asshole's problem. I'll also keep my suggestion on the name change to myself.

forgetters were the reason for the season for me. Seven songs in just under a half-hour, with no retreads from the Thorns material. They all sounded like fast Blake Schwarzenbach songs, so if you've liked any of his musical projects, you will not find forgetters to be a drastic departure. I recorded the show. If you'd like it, and you're not going to sell it or otherwise rankle them, e-mail me and I'll send you a link. forgetters actually have a collective web presence, so keep track of their upcoming shows (and Blake's political leanings) here.

All props are due to Golden City, but Daddy had to get home to keep up false pretenses for the family. I hear the show was good. Keep track of when I'll see them next here.

R