The Figgs - 3.28.01 Kansas City, MO

So like I said a couple posts ago, America's Finest Rock BandTM have recently released a vinyl remaster/reissue to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of Sucking In Stereo gracing our earholes. Well, Peterwalkee Records is. The Figgs are sweetening the pot by including this digital recording of the March 28th date at The Hurricane in Kansas City, Missouri date from the SIS Tour. The Figgs are pretty unfuckwithable live and this just confirms that they were aces ten years ago as well.

The set is a spirited romp through 16 songs in 45 minutes. As I recall, this was the eras where the boys wanted everything to be a sing-along, at least in NYC, and I'm pretty glad the Dashboard Confession-ism is pretty much absent. It's all rock, with a little bit of talk, and you would be unwise to not pick it up with the quickness. I'm not sure how one gets this if they have no use for the vinyl reissue, but I would venture that it's available if you reached out to Peter Walkee or The Figgs. Do that.

R

Jon Snodgrass and Joey Cape - Who Wants To Get Down 7"

Mssrs. Cape and Snodgrass have been making the most of their relationship this year, dropping the Liverbirds split EP and playing scads of dates together, both home and abroad. As the year draws to a close, your pals have seen fit to drop a little stocking stuffer on us in the form of a new split 7". Cape ponies up a new song that's pretty good and Jon does an alternate solo version of Brave With Strangers from 2009's Visitor's Band. Not the record I'd try to indoctrinate the uninitiated with, but still pretty aces. Pick it up here from the fine folk of Suburban Home.

R

Sundowner review at PopMatters

Hey Boys and Girls:

Review of the new Sundowner EP We Chase The Waves is up currently at PopMatters.

Here's a link

R

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

So we all know that I'm a hater. Not so much a player hater, per se, moreso an attention to Patton Oswalitan misanthropy, cut with a strong contrarian streak. I'm not proud of it, but it gets the job done. That said, I'm not impressed that much by Kanye West. Gold Digger was definitely a great track, and I liked his stuff with The Clipse, most recently that Kinda Like A Big Deal track that I recall playing a fair amount, but the undue level of attention that was paid to him seemed to be profoundly unwarranted.

I worked on part of the movie attached to this record and was staggered by the level of self-importance that it reeked of, even by hip-hop standards. Kanye appeared on SNL that weekend. I was in medias fast-forward when I noticed that there were lots of ballerinas and Yeezy seemed to be sporting a solid gold ring of laurels like a Roman Emporer. That was too much too pass up, so I tuned in. I was flabbergasted to see one, then a second song that lent a huge amount of credence to the idea that maybe Kanye actually has the shit to back up his talk. It really kinda rocked me, and I was profoundly irritated that I deleted the show and couldn't revisit it to see if I had lost my mind. I eventually cut to the chase and grabbed the record. Having listened to it a dozen or so times since, I have to say that I'm pretty sure My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is brilliant. Really.

I'm as shocked as you are, but I have to say that there is not a bad track on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, not even the staggeringly narcissistic Chris Rock pastiche or the Bon Iver collabo. This is Kanye's Marvin Gaye turn. He bares his soul over every track in an unrestrained fashion not seen since The Lover Man dominated the scene. That's not a douchey bit of hyperbole: every track is filled with naked candor, whether it be his sexual obsession(s), self-loathing, raging arrogance, fear of intimacy or a hundred other artistic traits backed by some serious tracks that sample equally from Rick James and King Crimson and feature hip-hop star power on the level of Kanye, Nicki Minaj, Raekwon and Jay-Z. It really boggles the mind how forward-thinking this record is. This is the definition of next-level shit. Were this not to be a digital age, I could see My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy doing Thriller numbers. Really. It pains me to be on the same page as the Pitchfork set and mainstream America, but that unfortunate coincidence aside, JS-NYC couldn't recommend My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy more. The only shame is that there is no way that Kanye can possibly top this.

R

Live: The Figgs @ Bruar Falls 12.5.10

Night two of the holiday shows for America's Finest Rock Bandtm, this one out at Bruar Falls in Brooklyn. It was cold, and this early in the season I'm not riding my ass across the bridge for a lot of bands, but The Figgs are more than worth the hypothermia. Having just received a pretty much clean bill of health after a shitty run of things, it seemed worth the ride.

And, oh boy was it. I came in to find the room full and Guy Lyons already on the stage, which bade well for the rest of the set. While I will argue whole-heartedly that the best rock is made by power trios, a good number of my favorite Figgs tunes are Guy tunes and its always a pleasure to see him back with the boys. Bruar Falls has a 12am curfew (which I fucking love, by the way, even if The Figgs are playing) that kept the set down to a little over an hour and a half. Thirty or so Figgs shows in, I'll take the truncated twenty or so songs set, especially when a lot of the material is from the Sucking In Stereo era that our heroes are celebrating the 10th Anniversary of. There's a vinyl remaster out of same, along with a pretty aces live 1991 recording from the Kansas City, MO date of the SIS tour. As was their promotional intent, they played the record, along with a bunch of other boss rock tuneage that is better than your favorite band. No dramatic drummer spills, although Pete Hayes time did feature Tommy and Guy did pop up again for a romp through Bad Luck Sammie towards the end of the set. Why Weight On Your Shoulders didn't (and hasn't for too long) pop up in the set is beyond me, but save for that, there wasn't a boring moment in the set. See them live, buy their merch. Here's a link that will facilitate both.

R

The Heat Tape - raccoon valley demos

The Heat Tape is a new project from Brett from The Copyrights, who evidently recorded the eight songs comprising raccoon valley demos with his roommates at home in their trailer. Said trailer is purported to be in Carbondale, IL but listening to the songs I would have thought they were from Glasgow, as this sounds a hell of a lot like The Jesus And Mary Chain. Like a lot. That's not a bad thing, and it is definitely a refreshing change of pace from all the misguided Pavement jocking that has become hip of late. It's not The Copyrights, but if you enjoy your hooks big and your recordings kinda lo-fi, raccoon valley demos may very well become your new jam. You can try it before you buy it over at their Bandcamp presence, but it is only $5, so maybe live life on the edge and just snap this up. Here's a link.

R

Live: The Figgs @ Fontanas 12.4.10

It's always a pleasure when Americas Finest Rock Bandtm The Figgs trot out their holiday shows for the good boys and girls of the Eastern Seaboard. As has been the norm of late, the Manhattan show was at Fontana's. It's a decent room, although it reeked mightily of ass for the early part of the evening. Literally. That is not a reflection of Nancy, who opened the proceedings. I wasn't crazy about them, and all things being equal would have been more than happy to miss them, but there were enough Ben Deilly-era Lemonheadsy guitar parts to keep it interesting-ish.

Colleen showed up and The Figgs were on in short order, as there were a million other bands shoehorned on to the bill and maybe even a couple unlucky franchises after them. While these were holiday shows, they also celebrate the 10th Anniversary (ouch) of the release of Sucking In Stereo. To commemorate the event, Peterwalkee Records is re-releasing SIS in remastered vinyl form. Early purchasers also get a copy (on CD) of a live set from Kansas City, MO from that tour. The Figgs are doing their part in marketing the new product by playing (most of?) the record on these dates. This short set didn't really allow for that to entirely come off, but know that there was much ass-rocking dispensed and that non-owners of Sucking In Stereo would be advised to rectify that situation stat. Non-musical highlights included the terrible trio standing on their respective amplification, culminating the feat with Mr. Hayes taking quite a spill from atop the snare drum and Keith Mooning his kit in the process (to much crowd mirth). Not a set-ender, nor were there any injuries, save for perhaps the egos of the bands that followed. Poor dears.

Were you to have been foolish enough to miss the show(s), you can get your dose of Figgs for the holidaze via this link.

R