Thursday, March 28, 2024

The New Eves

Here's some weird experimental folk from UK four-piece The New Eves.  On the band's latest single "Astrolabe," you can hear hints of Nico, The Velvet Underground, Patti Smith, The Raincoats, and more, a kind of droney, post-punk version of British folk.  Listen to the track below and download it here from Slow Dance.


Softcult

And now for a new alt-rock number from Canadian duo Softcult, this time around with the poppy "Spiraling Out."  Listen to the new tune below and download it from the band here.


Daily Jam - Reign On

I have been writing this blog for a while now, and it’s come as kind of surprise to me how many “favorite” songs I have. They keep coming to me week after week, seemingly with no end in sight. That being said, I sometimes feel like I’m repeating myself, some posts being bathed in a loving, nostalgic hue, others focused on a more cultural significance, and some just meandering off into their own inconsequential tangents.

And so, I’m not really sure what to say about “Reign On,” the stark, sorrowful, and beautiful standout from The Brian Jonestown Massacre’s 1999 EP Bringing It All Back Home – Again. Featuring lead vocals from Miranda Lee Richards, the song is a folky, haunting psychedelic swoon, the audio equivalent of watching ghosts vanish in the desert dust. It’s gorgeous and it continually commands my attention, but I don’t have any kind of deep connection to it, nor is it probably ever going to make waves across the pop music landscape.

So, inconsequential tangent it is!

I’ve always had kind of a strained relationship with The Brian Jonestown Massacre, a completely internal struggle pitting my love for the band’s music against their potentially aggravating live performances, lead man Anton Newcombe’s frazzled psyche the source of much inspired genius as well as many an onstage meltdown. The first time I saw the band perform, he took increasingly excruciating long amounts of time in between each song fussing around with his guitar, or his amplifier, or his band mates’ equipment. And each time, the crowd grew more and more audibly frustrated until the inevitable heckling began.

“I need more vocals in my monitor!”

Newcombe began to spit back, and eventually the venue pulled the plug before things escalated. You could sense bottles about to be hurled.

Scenes like this were all too common for the band for years and years, drug addiction, mental illness, and intra-band turmoil spilling out into clubs and performance halls all over the country. They made it hard to like them, Anton Newcombe in particular. But then I’d re-listen to a song or an album and instantly fall for them again. I always come crawling back.

In later years, it seems like the man and the band have begun to level out, my last live encounter with them being a fantastic show, the group warm, engaged, and on point. The prolific stream of releases and non-stop touring has finally given us the band we all wanted, needed, and deserved all along.

Reign on.


Wednesday, March 27, 2024

NEWMOON

Here's some new shoegaze from Belgian band NEWMOON and their new album "Temporary Light."  The LP is already sold out, but you can get the download of the album here from Manifesto Entertainment.  In the meanwhile, listen to the album opening "Eternal Fall" below.


Daily Jam - In the Mouth a Desert

If I were forced to pick my absolute favorite personality from the early 90’s alt-rock boom, nine times out of ten, I would probably go with Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus. The sardonic front man certainly had a way with words throughout Pavement’s five-LP run and his own solo efforts, a sharp wit and an often bitingly sarcastic tone poking fun at just how ridiculous it all is. And anyone who could and continues to inspire that much ire from a ghoul like Billy Corgan with one throwaway line in a song that's three decades old now is deserving of adulation and applause.

But before all of that was his debut, Pavement’s 1992 album Slanted and Enchanted, and the wonderful song “In the Mouth a Desert.” The song has always felt like a kind of abstract testament to the music scenes of the time, a sneering, jabbing distaste for the mainstream, or maybe even towards some of his own underground peers. The de-tuned, yet dark and melodic tone of it casts long shadows over everything, a glaring critique from an artist who’s probably smarter than everybody else. Or it could be about abstaining from reconciliation after a quarrel with a lover. Or it could just be an ode to societal and cultural malaise in general. Or maybe it’s about how awful Billy Corgan is. It’s not that last one, but it sure would make me laugh if it were.

Pavement never really sold a lot of records or broke into the cultural lexicon the way some other bands of the era did, but their influence is inescapable. They were one of those groups that inspired other people to make music, myself included, every one of us striving to make something as good as “In the Mouth a Desert.”

But failing miserably.

“It’s what I want.”


Tuesday, March 26, 2024

So Totally

Here's some grungy and dreamy alt-rock from Philly band So Totally that sounds like it certainly would have rung through the headphones and bedroom stereo speakers of teenage Tommy 30 years ago.  Dig on "Distinct Star" below and pre-order the band's upcoming "Double Your Relaxation" LP here from Tiny Engines.


Daily Jam - Year of the Tiger

I love a long song.

Canadian hardcore punk band (but oh so much more than that) Fucked Up’s “Year of the Tiger” is a long song. And a stellar one at that.

The fifth in the band’s series of 12” singles inspired by the signs of the Chinese Zodiac, 2012’s “Year of the Tiger” soars, a steady riff that just builds and builds, with shifts in direction and instrumentation, gentle piano bits played alongside wailing guitars, Damian Abraham’s guttural snarl backed by the soothing singing vocals of guest contributors Katie Stelmanis (of Austra) and Annie-Claude Deschenes (of Duchess Says), and even an appearance from filmmaker Jim Jarmusch. The song is an exuberant epic, a 15-minute blast and flash of melodic drama that sounds like Jim Steinman writing and producing a track for Black Flag in some warped alternate dimension. I suppose that should be expected from a band that released a double album rock opera the year prior.

Fucked Up tend to flex their more ambitious sonic ideas on the Zodiac singles, experimenting with a larger audio palette to varying degrees of success, but end up with the veritable homerun with “Year of the Tiger.”

And who doesn’t like tigers? My son wanted to be one for Halloween eight years ago. So should we all.


Monday, March 25, 2024

SPC ECO

Former Curve member Dean Garcia has continued making music with his daughter Rose Berlin as SPC ECO for several years now, and the duo are pretty prolific, releasing all manner of dark and moody alt-rock, shoegaze, electronic pop, and more.  Their latest is the new "How Did We Get Here?"  Check out "Trashes" below and download the album here from the band.


Habitants

The sun's coming up, but i'm still feeling the moody music over here, and so we have the Dutch alt-rock band Habitants and their newest effort "Alma" to hit those brooding notes just right.  Check out "Cod Fishing" below and get the LP here.


Secret Attraction

Here's some lovely, dreamy pop for what started as a rainy day in Central Texas from Phoenix dreampop project Secret Attraction.  The band's new album "LP3" dropped over the weekend, and it's an airy mesh of new wave and dreampop with synth melodies and hum that will live in your ears for days.  Check out "Drifting" below and get the album here from Stratford Ct.