Big weekend Coming
Tonight: Amusement Parks On Fire at EKKO (Any band name gets better when you set it on fire, right? Maybe I'll start a band called the Burning Flames on Fire.)
Tomorrow and sunday: ZXZW. The Dutch take on Austin's SXSW festival, it's 2 days of underground music in various venues in Tilburg; I only know two bands: Machinefabriek, who I saw at Rumor, and Radio Birdamn, who are randomly back together and playing at this festival. Oh, and it's all for 10 euro. Huzzah!
FRT:
1. Iggy and the Stooges - Gimme Danger (Raw Power, 1973): Iggy is one guy you really can't talk shit about. Doubly so with the Stooges - everything they put out is fantastic, and this song is one of their best - brooding but powerful, raw but tuneful, and laced with Iggy's typical bile. The acoustic guitar rounds it off into a 9/10.
2. Bob Dylan - Shelter From The Storm (Blood on the Tracks, 1975): From one musical titan to another, though Dylan and Iggy have almost nothing in common. Regardless, Dylan speaks for himself. Blood on the Tracks is a bit underrated, and this song is one of the better ones there. As usual, not much more than an acoustic guitar line and brilliant lyrics, plus some basic harmonica, but that's worth an 8/10 easily.
3. Ramones - Time Bomb (Subterranean Jungle, 1983): And another incredibly important artist! This is late Ramones, though, and just doesn't stand up to their early stuff. Hardly bad, but still... 6/10.
4. Film - Zona Sumraka (Zona Sumraka, 1982): Yugoslav Novi Val at its best. Midtempo, buzzy guitars, a great bassline, great lyrics in Croatian, and surprisingly unsilly "ooh"s in the background - what more could one ask for? 8/10.
5. The Dismemberment Plan - Gyroscope (Emergency & I, 1999): The best song on the best album of the best post-punk band of the late '90s. Fun-charged yet hard-hitting, with interesting but unobtrusive effects, incredible guitar work and some of my favourite lyrics around. An easy 10/10, since it's one of my favourite songs.
6. Dead Kennedys - Viva Las Vegas (Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, 1980): One of the most hilarious covers of all time, maybe best known for appearing in the credits of Fear and Loathing. Jello's Elvis impression is brilliant, and the beginning of the chorus, where he breaks into his signature warble, is a great moment. The DKs do rather good americana/rockabilly, shame they never did it unironically. 8/10.
7. Jawbox - Livid (Jawbox, 1996): The verses, with their haunting guitar and tumbling drums, are rather good, but the rest isn't quiet enough to mesh or powerful enough to really explode the song into greatness. J. Robbins sounds a little forced at that speed, too. Plus the backing vocals are weak. Jawbox is great, but this is only a 6/10.
8. Hot Snakes - Reflex (Audit In Progress, 2004): Hot Snakes are lots of fun, but there's not all that much to say about their songs: if you've heard the Hot Snakes, you know what "Reflex" sounds like - fast, jaggedy guitars, repetitive lyrics in John Reis's abrasive grimace, and pounding drums. The guitar line is great here, but not different enough to be unique. Still a solid 7/10.
9. Bad Religion - Walk Away (Against the Grain, 1990): Standard Bad religion. There's absolutely nothing interesting in this song as compared to anything else BR's done; the lyrics are worse than most, even. A very mediocre 4/10.
10. Bad Brains - Re-Ignition (I Against I, 1986): The sludgiest Bad Brains song out there, and a good one at that. For all the rhythmic repetition, the guitar parts are so fantastic that they carry carry the song extremely well. And even if they're repeated, the drum and bass lines are strong enough that you want to hear them again and again. The lyrics aren't half bad either. 8/10.
Overall: 7.3 average. Pretty strong, and overall a very good 10. The crappy BR song is the only low point.
That's it for now; tune in tomorrow morning (hopefully) for a blurb on Amusement Parks, and sunday night/monday for ZXZW stuff. Enjoy Your lives.
-S
Tomorrow and sunday: ZXZW. The Dutch take on Austin's SXSW festival, it's 2 days of underground music in various venues in Tilburg; I only know two bands: Machinefabriek, who I saw at Rumor, and Radio Birdamn, who are randomly back together and playing at this festival. Oh, and it's all for 10 euro. Huzzah!
FRT:
1. Iggy and the Stooges - Gimme Danger (Raw Power, 1973): Iggy is one guy you really can't talk shit about. Doubly so with the Stooges - everything they put out is fantastic, and this song is one of their best - brooding but powerful, raw but tuneful, and laced with Iggy's typical bile. The acoustic guitar rounds it off into a 9/10.
2. Bob Dylan - Shelter From The Storm (Blood on the Tracks, 1975): From one musical titan to another, though Dylan and Iggy have almost nothing in common. Regardless, Dylan speaks for himself. Blood on the Tracks is a bit underrated, and this song is one of the better ones there. As usual, not much more than an acoustic guitar line and brilliant lyrics, plus some basic harmonica, but that's worth an 8/10 easily.
3. Ramones - Time Bomb (Subterranean Jungle, 1983): And another incredibly important artist! This is late Ramones, though, and just doesn't stand up to their early stuff. Hardly bad, but still... 6/10.
4. Film - Zona Sumraka (Zona Sumraka, 1982): Yugoslav Novi Val at its best. Midtempo, buzzy guitars, a great bassline, great lyrics in Croatian, and surprisingly unsilly "ooh"s in the background - what more could one ask for? 8/10.
5. The Dismemberment Plan - Gyroscope (Emergency & I, 1999): The best song on the best album of the best post-punk band of the late '90s. Fun-charged yet hard-hitting, with interesting but unobtrusive effects, incredible guitar work and some of my favourite lyrics around. An easy 10/10, since it's one of my favourite songs.
6. Dead Kennedys - Viva Las Vegas (Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, 1980): One of the most hilarious covers of all time, maybe best known for appearing in the credits of Fear and Loathing. Jello's Elvis impression is brilliant, and the beginning of the chorus, where he breaks into his signature warble, is a great moment. The DKs do rather good americana/rockabilly, shame they never did it unironically. 8/10.
7. Jawbox - Livid (Jawbox, 1996): The verses, with their haunting guitar and tumbling drums, are rather good, but the rest isn't quiet enough to mesh or powerful enough to really explode the song into greatness. J. Robbins sounds a little forced at that speed, too. Plus the backing vocals are weak. Jawbox is great, but this is only a 6/10.
8. Hot Snakes - Reflex (Audit In Progress, 2004): Hot Snakes are lots of fun, but there's not all that much to say about their songs: if you've heard the Hot Snakes, you know what "Reflex" sounds like - fast, jaggedy guitars, repetitive lyrics in John Reis's abrasive grimace, and pounding drums. The guitar line is great here, but not different enough to be unique. Still a solid 7/10.
9. Bad Religion - Walk Away (Against the Grain, 1990): Standard Bad religion. There's absolutely nothing interesting in this song as compared to anything else BR's done; the lyrics are worse than most, even. A very mediocre 4/10.
10. Bad Brains - Re-Ignition (I Against I, 1986): The sludgiest Bad Brains song out there, and a good one at that. For all the rhythmic repetition, the guitar parts are so fantastic that they carry carry the song extremely well. And even if they're repeated, the drum and bass lines are strong enough that you want to hear them again and again. The lyrics aren't half bad either. 8/10.
Overall: 7.3 average. Pretty strong, and overall a very good 10. The crappy BR song is the only low point.
That's it for now; tune in tomorrow morning (hopefully) for a blurb on Amusement Parks, and sunday night/monday for ZXZW stuff. Enjoy Your lives.
-S
posted by Sasha at 4:24 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home