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Feel Bad For You, April 2011

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Feel Bad For You hosts a monthly mixtape comprised of submissions from music bloggers and Twitterers, and it’s always a good time. This month, NTSIB jumped into the fray, and you can enjoy it all below, by stream or by download. It’s a good time, people.

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Title: Commodify Your Dissent
Artist: The Dead Milkmen
Album: The King in Yellow (2011)
Submitted By: Bryan Childs (Autopsy IV)
Comments: Brand new music from the Dead Milkmen. Love the lyric, “country music used to be about the music and not the country”

Title: The Ballad of Johnny X
Artist: The Bouncing Souls
Album: Johnny X 7″ (1995)
Submitted By: Romeo Sid Vicious
Comments: Been in kind of a “Fuck Off” mood lately due to various circumstances so I have been pulling out older and angrier stuff to make it through. This one is pretty standard for me when these moods rear their ugly heads.

Title: Little Summertime Girl
Artist: David Childers and The Modern Don Juans
Album: Burning In Hell (2007)
Submitted By: Truersound
Comments: Recent Childers talk made me want to submit this. I’ve posted this song on ATS a couple times, but I love it and I love David Childers and it’s never made it to a FBFY comp….til now!

Title:Two-Headed Coin
Artist Obits
Album: Moody, Standard and Poor (2011)
Submitted By: David Horton @Popa2unes
Comments: This band just showed up on my radar, but they’ve only been a band since ‘07 but are accomplished musicians who once fronted Drive Like Jehu, Edsel, Hot Snakes, and Pitchfork.

Title: The Speed of Trees
Artist: Ellis Paul
Album: The Speed of Trees (2002)
Submitted By: Phil Norman @philnorman www.bluemoonshineband.com
Comments: “Your love makes me move at the speed of tress.” For me, Ellis Paul defines the contemporary singer-songwriter genre.

Title: Land It
Artist: Vulture Whale
Album: Vulture Whale (2007)
Submitted by: Corey Flegel, This Is American Music
Comments- “This song is our Freebird” — Lee Bains (Glory Fires, Dexateens)

Title: Forty Days
Artist: Let’s Active
Album: Every Dog Has His Day (1988)
Submitted By: toomuchcountry
Comments: April > Easter > Mitch > Let’s Active. Naturally.

Title: Punx Not Dead…It’s Just Sleeping
Artist: Yesterday’s Ring
Album: Diamonds In The Ditch (2009)
Submitted By: PearlSnapMan

Title: Don’t It Make You Wanna Dance?
Artist: Rusty Wier
Album: Don’t It Make You Wanna Dance? (1975)
Submitted By: erschen
Comments: I hadn’t heard this in years until I heard Todd Snider’s version on his latest live album. This song never fails to bring a smile to my face.

Title: Champipple
Artist: John Popper & the Duskray Troubadors
Album: s/t (2011)
Submitted By: Trailer from www.farcethemusic.com
Comments: I’m a huge Sanford & Son fan, so pretty much, a song titled “Champipple” only need be listenable to grab me. Bonus points for being a pretty damn good tune.

Title: Bessie Smith
Artist: Bob Dylan and the Band
Album: The Basement Tapes (1975)
Submitted By: Jackattack
Comments: I love Garth Hudson’s organ playing on this song. Absolutely stunning. And Rick Danko singing doesn’t hurt!

Title: American Girl
Artist: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Album: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (1976)
Submitted By: BoogieStudio22
Comments: How best to introduce myself? How about with *the* song from *the* album that, for me, distilled the sound of the 50s/60s (to which my older brother introduced me) & also had the attitude and energy that set the stage for my future musical preferences. I can still remember that day in 1977 when I first heard it. It was a spring afternoon. My best friend and I are cruising in his metallic blue Duster. Mike says he has a new tape he wants me to check out, pops it into the player and I hear the snare/cymbal intro of “Rockin’ Around”. And so started my love affair with music that continues to this day. This album is in my top 10 and this song, “American Girl”, never fails to bring that day back to me. I can, quite literally, smell the smells, feel the sun and relive that afternoon. Friends think I’m crazy when I say that, but it’s true.

Title: The Right to Love You
Artist: Cut in the Hill Gang
Album: Mean Black Cat (2010)
Submitted By: Now This Sound Is Brave
Comments: Covering a song by the Mighty Hannibal, CitHG make love sound like a threat. A sexy, going-down-slow kind of threat. Album only available as import, but well worth the extra scratch.

Title: If Only You Were Lonely
Artist: The Replacements
Album: B-Side to I’m In Trouble (1981)
Submitted By: @marioegarcia (@imperialrooster, vacuumsongs.blogspot.com)
Comments: Early peek at Westerberg’s songwriting genius. It amazes me that he was this melodic and sincere this early in their “snotty trash” days. Perennial mixtape fave of mine. The lyrics are perfect. Who here hasn’t been in the position of our hero, drunk and dying for the person sitting next to him at the bar to go home with him…

Title: Busted
Artist: Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis
Album: Here We Go Again (2011)
Submitted By: @mikeorren
Comments: Willie’s country has always had a jazz delivery. This is the second live disc collaboration, a tribute to Ray Charles. And lately, I’ve been feeling a little Busted.

Title: Goodbye Princess
Artist: Chase 56
Album: Allatoona Rising (2010)
Submitted By: TheOtherBrit
Comments: One of the few albums in recent history that I love every single track on, these guys are my hometown heroes, or something like that.

Title: Alone in the Make-Out Room
Artist: The Broken Family Band
Album: Balls (2006)
Submitted By: Simon
Comments: Sticking with UK bands for FBFY, here’s a killer indie twang track from The Broken Family Band

Title: Surprise, Honeycomb
Artist: The Wrens
Album: Secaucus (1996)
Submitted By: verbow1
Comments: This song is killing me lately. Can’t describe it. Dark and twisted – as you can tell by the lyrics.

Title: Tennessee Nighttime Blues
Artist: Jacob Thomas
Album: Black, White and Red: Vol. II (2007)
Submitted by: Slowcoustic
Comments: Truly a down trodden track if I ever heard one – but at the same time achingly beautiful. Like exhaling smoke from lungs this song just brings a sense of stillness to the sad bastards among us.

Title: Beautiful Gas Mask
Artist: The Mountain Goats
Album: All Eternals Deck (2011)
Submitted by: noteethleroy

Title: Lookin’ For A Girl Like You
Artist: Dan Tedesco
Album: Tracks On Fire (2011)
Submitted By: monkeyboy
Comments: I’m liking this guy’s new album and going to see him in Denver on April 7th. Check him out!

Title: I Take It On Home
Artist: Charlie Rich
Album: 20 Greatest Hits
Submitted By: Bowood
Comments: Great voice and great advice.

Title: Rules
Artist: Blue Moonshine
Album: Distilled EP (2011)
Submitted By: Rockstar Aimz
Comments: Great little bluegrass-ish/country-ish EP. More fiddle!

Title: Drink, Fuck, Drive Truck
Artist: The Tower of Dudes
Album: A Plan (2008)
Submitted by: Jessica (newmusicco.blogspot.com)
Comments: The title says it all.

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Clarksdale Revisited: the Australian Perspective

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This past summer, my co-blogger Jennifer and I lured our longtime friend Cam into hitting the road down to Mississippi with us. If you check the roadtrip tag at the bottom of this post, you can read some of our other recollections from the trip, but for now, go read Cam’s lovely article about our visit with Rat at the Riverside Hotel in Clarksdale.

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Bits: Ray Charles, Barnstormer 4, Dinosaur Jr, Robert Johnson, Justin Townes Earle, Americana Rock Mix

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  • A to Z: The Riverfront Times Music Blog has exclusive streams of some never-heard-before recordings of Ray Charles, recorded by Charles’ cohort Marci Soto.
  • Tickets are on sale for Daytrotter‘s Barnstormer 4 concert series. This years line-up includes Sondre Lerche, Guards, The Romany Rye, Hellogoodbye, Keegan DeWitt and the ever popular “special guests”.
  • Dinosaur Jr will be playing their album Bug in its entirety on tour this summer. Additionally, different dates will have different friends along, including OFF!, Thurston Moore and Henry Rollins.
  • The city of Greenwood, Mississippi, will be celebrating 100 years of Robert Johnson May 5-8. The celebration will include exhibits, tours, panels and, of course, music. The musical roster includes Bobby Rush, Honeyboy Edwards, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Keb’ Mo’ and more.
  • Justin Townes Earle guested on A Prairie Home Companion, and you can listen to the show here.
  • Our new friends at Americana Rock Mix are raising funds for surgery for their canine companion, Boris. If you donate to help Boris, you’ll get some goodies like a download grab bag, an exclusive podcast and a thank you in the next podcast.
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Exploding Lies/Hacienda/The Greenhornes at the Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, OH, 4.1.11

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Exploding Lies

 

Exploding Lies

 

The night kicked off (and that is the appropriate way to describe it – this night did not do something meek like “begin” or “start”) with Cleveland’s own Exploding Lies, a blues-inflected rock band with emphasis on low and heavy vibes. So dedicated to that low and heavy end are this band that they sometimes step into the Black Sabbath end of the spectrum with impressive results. While the band seems a little hesitant on stage, there is a lot of potential there, and once they are comfortable enough to own the stage, they will move from good to great.

(And they already have one of the most entertaining-to-watch drummers I’ve seen.)

 

Hacienda

 

Hacienda

 

My second time seeing this south Texas foursome was even better than the first. Perhaps it’s the family dynamic – the band being made up of the brothers Villanueva (Abraham on keys, Rene on bass and Jaime on drums) and cousin Dante Schwebel on guitar – but this band is tight. And it’s that tightness in musicianship that allows them to throw out perfectly loose grooves. So in sync are they that they can go all out, shake-the-rafters rockin’ without ever going off the rails. Mixing up a set list of tracks from their two albums (a third will be recorded in Nashville this summer), kept up a feel-good energy throughout their set until they closed it up with a blow-the-roof-off, if-you-don’t-dance-to-this-you-might-be-dead jam on “Mama’s Cookin'”.

I can’t say enough good things about this band. As a whole and individually, these guys are impressive. They all play far above baseline expectations, always showing audacious skill but never being flashy for flashiness’ sake, always serving the groove. And you can hear their south Texas home in their music. This is the music of warm nights, barefoot girls and barbecue-chomping boys, relaxing with beers and friends. And no band I’ve ever seen live has made me dance more than Hacienda. (And they rival the Gories for best soundcheck around.)

Speaking between songs, Dante said Ohio has become like a second home to the band (no doubt bolstered through their continued relationship with Dan Auerbach), and I, for one, would be happy to claim these guys as our own.

 

Hacienda

 

The Greenhornes

 

The Greenhornes

 

Speaking of Ohio’s own… I wasn’t sure how I would feel about the Greenhornes, coming late to the Cincinnati band’s material and being ambivalent about what I’d heard around the internet.

That ambivalence lasted about two seconds into Friday night’s set. From Jack Lawrence’s lead-in to the final blast of their nearly-11-minute cover of James Brown’s “I’ll Go Crazy”, I was rooting for the home team. The Greenhornes know just where to hit on the body to render maximum devastation, pumping adrenaline-soaked bullets into the audience’s major arteries from beginning to end. By the end, I was hooting and hollering just as loudly as those who were smart enough to get on board with the Greenhornes long before I did.

It’s easy to see why Jack White keeps tapping Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler to fill his rhythm section needs with their strong sense of rock rhythm and groove, adding just enough funk to get you hustling. And while I had seen complaints about singer/guitarist Craig Fox’s stage demeanor in the lead-up to the show from people taken aback by his mostly stock-still posture, Fox didn’t need to bounce around with all the energy he generated from his Gibson SG.

 


Video by AdamBionic22.

 

So, call me a convert. The Greenhornes were deadly and made this show a pretty-much-perfect night of rock and roll. And by the end, you could almost hear buttons popping off of shirt fronts as our collective Ohio chest swelled with pride.

 

Jack Lawrence

 

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Notable Shows in the Greater Cleveland Area

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Shows worth checking out this week in and around Cleveland:

The Beachland Ballroom & Tavern

  • Fri, Apr 1| 8:30 PM (7:30 PM door)
    The Greenhornes
    Hacienda
    Exploding Lies
    $12 adv / $14 dos
    Ballroom | All Ages
  • Wed, Apr 6| 8:30 PM (7:30 PM door)
    Jessica Lea Mayfield
    Daniel Martin Moore
    Shivering Timbers
    $10
    Ballroom | All Ages
  • Wed, Apr 6| 8:30 PM (8 PM door)
    Blair
    Yellow Ostrich
    Village Bicycle
    $8
    Tavern | All Ages

Grog Shop

  • Fri, Apr 1| 8 PM
    Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group
    Zechs Marquise
    $20 adv / $23 dos
  • Sat, Apr 2| 8 PM
    Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey
    modQUAD
    Orrery
    $10
  • Mon, Apr 4| 8 PM
    Sebadoh
    Richard Buckner
    Turn To Crime
    $12

Now That’s Class

  • Sat, Apr 2| 9 PM
    D. Rider
    Tonguing
    Outer Space
    Swindella
    $5
  • Mon, Apr 4| 9 PM
    Creeping Weeds
    FREE
  • Tues, Apr 5| 9 PM
    Samuel Locke Ward
    All Dinosaurs
    Zap Guns
    $5

Happy Dog

  • Sun, Apr 3| 9 PM
    Blank Dogs
    Herzog
    Mole People

Musica

  • Sat, Apr 2| 8 PM
    Over the Rhine
    $20
  • Fri, Apr 8| 9 PM
    Peter Murphy
    Livan
    $25

Kent Stage

  • Wed, Apr 6| 8 PM
    Ashley Brooke Toussant
    The Lighthouse and The Whaler
    $8 / $5 students
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A Post Wherein I Drop the Ball

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I have no post today. I’ve got plenty of great music coming in, and it will be featured soon… but nothing is ready quite yet. So, I’m just going to let you enjoy one of the reasons I’m excited to be seeing Hacienda again when they open for the Greenhornes at the Beachland Ballroom tomorrow night, the band playing an instrumental cover of “Day Tripper”.

Hacienda Official Website
Beachland Ballroom

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The Allman Brothers at the Beacon Theater

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IMG_7924

 

Like the swallows returning to Capistrano, the Allman Brothers annual extended run at the Beacon Theater is one of New York City’s earliest signs of spring.  I attended the second night of this year’s run. It was my first Allman Brothers show, and I went in without any particular expectations – save perhaps a vague, half-formed hope that they mighty play Ramblin’ Man – and came away both enlightened and entertained.

 

IMG_7931

 

I say enlightened because frankly, I normally just don’t get jam bands. You might, therefore, reasonably be wondering whatever possessed me to attend a performance of the great-granddaddy of all jam bands ever, to which I can only say: I was curious. And it seemed like something I should experience in the name of my own musical education.

 

IMG_7977

 

So on a chilly Friday night in early March, I ascended to a seat that was practically on the ceiling of the Beacon Theater and settled in for whatever might happen. Here is what I learned: I had seriously underestimated the role of percussion in their music. There were three drummers on stage, and the beats moved between them in slow tides, while also serving as a complex latticework on which the rest of the band hung the guitars and vocals. The main reason I’m not much for jam bands is that most of the time they sound, to me, like a bunch of aimless noodling. This music, on the other hand, was clearly constructed, all of the elements coming together to form a cathedral of sound.

 

IMG_7985

 

And like most cathedrals, while it was beautiful, it was also the tiniest bit chilly. The Allmans are not much for extended between-song banter with the audience, and I’ll confess I felt a little bit disconnected from the proceedings as a result. That said, it was still a great show, and, while I am still not converted to the Way of the Jam Band, I’m glad I went and saw them at least one time. And as for Ramblin’ Man, it was not forthcoming, though I did find out later that they don’t usually play it live, mainly because it has a fairly tight structure and doesn’t lend itself to expansion and embroidery.

Here are a few more pictures from the evening:

 

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Guest guitarist Jimmy Vivino, of Conan O’Brien’s Basic Cable Band

IMG_7980

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Bits: Cure for Pain, Rockhall Spring Benefit, SXSW, Record Store Day, Spinner

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  • Cure for Pain, the documentary about the much-missed Mark Sandman will see it’s U.S. debut on April 15 at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, North Carolina.
  • Tickets for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame and Museum annual spring benefit go on sale today. The May 14 concert will feature Mavis Staples, Wanda Jackson, Darlene Love and Cyndi Lauper, as well as Curt Smith (Tears for Fears) and Chuck Jackson.
  • Just because you’re sick of hearing about SXSW and its aftermath, that’s no reason to miss out on the good stuff. You can hear and/or see a TV on the Radio performance here, a Jessica Lea Mayfield performance here and a Felice Brothers performance here.
  • Record Store Day approacheth (April 16) and now the official RSD release list is available to help decide if you’ll have to go without food or gas for the next couple of months.
  • Lots of good shit on Spinner’s Listening Party, including Radiohead, Dirty Beaches, Royal Bangs and Willie Nelson with Wynton Marsalis. Check it out.
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Update On: Empires

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Empires, still the scrappy little band of my heart, has progressed to ROUND TWO of the Rolling Stone cover contest. That means it’s time to vote them into round three, which you can do here. Voting on this round lasts until APRIL 14. They’ve also uploaded two new songs created special for the contest, Night is Young and Hard Times, which you can also listen to at that link.

Meanwhile, here they are talking about how they became a band, “home video” style:

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What It Is To be Free: Music As Release

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NTSIB’s good friend Brucini, proprietor of The Black Keys Fan Lounge, has graced us with a rumination on the freeing power of music, as exemplified by a couple of his fellow countrymen.

How does it feel to be free? How is it possible to just be yourself? Most folk don’t think about it. Some musicians wittingly or otherwise are emboldened to consider these notions, it informs their way of being.

Musicians through live performance seem to be able to demonstrate a way to be – free, and real, and honest, if just for a fleeting moment.

It’s not a way others can inhabit easily, it’s just a way, their way.

Music historically has opened a door to a type of personal transcendence. Fears, inhibitions, anxieties are either dealt with onstage through lyrics and music or they are simply put aside during those brief moments of performance.

The stage creates a space in which this personal transcendence can take place. The audience pays its respects to this place. The music urges on feelings to be released, to rage against the world, to do away with the attachments that otherwise chain us.

Two of the best examples of this going around, though definitely not the only, are Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.

Have you ever seen two men so free on stage?

2010 – Grinderman “Kitchenette” live:

 

To have the confidence to pursue a singular artistic vision is audacity indeed. To have done it for so long with an unrelenting drive is even more remarkable.

 

1981 – The Birthday Party “Nick The Stripper”

 

Nick and Warren embody an expression of what it is to be free. When you are free or so tangled you are striving to be free, the music seems to become free too.

To listen to and see Warren Ellis’ band The Dirty Three live and in full flight grabs hold of your emotions as he and the band wrestle with theirs. Instrumental music forces you to fill in the vocal blanks, to engage.

Performer and audience both come out the better for it. You’ve been exposed to a way, a pathway to somewhere.

 

2004 – The Dirty Three “Everything Is Fucked”

 

The release of musical freedom walks an unsteady tightrope. The muse can tangle up a normal life. Regular being doesn’t allow pure expression, emotions that need to be released, to be expressed and reinterpreted, endlessly.

There are seemingly many ways to be free. Nick and Warren give life and expression to some of them.