Gumbo

Pretty good eatin' when you can get it.

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And so, Gumbo returns after a long-ass hiatus.  We're not sorry.

This is a non-definitive, mildly informative post about garage rock.

The Barbarians played some cool garage rock back in the day.  They weren't quite as good at looking like rock stars as The Stones or The Yardbirds, and say what you want about The Beatles bowl cuts, but they're at least better than the Prince Valient look that a few of these guys are sporting.  But The Barbarians still score lots of rock 'n roll cool points.  As you'll see in the video, their drummer Victor Moulton didn't have a left hand, using some sort of decidely unhand-like prosthetic to keep his drumstick in place (I'm a little surprised they showed it at all, and figured they weren't going to until, well, they did).  Their song "Moulty" is about his handicap and overcoming obstacles in general.  It's the only garage song I know of with a spoken-word verse.  But the chorus is 100% garage, all catchy riff and shouting in harmony.  Fun stuff.

"Talk Talk" by The Music Machine is a cool proto-punk jam.  The singer looks like a villain in a Clint Eastwood western, but he's got this great voice that reminds me of Darby Crash.  The music isn't bad either.  These guys were definitely kissing cousins with MC5 and The Stooges, eventually birthing inbred cretins The Ramones.

Skipping ahead to the 80's, garage rock still managed to survive as a distinct little niche with bands like The Wombats, separate from punk though obviously still very similar (this track reminds me of The Buzzcocks, only a little fiercer).

As big a White Stripes fan as I am, I can't help but appreciate the lack of polish in stuff by The Bassholes, The Gories, and Black Diamond Heavies.  The style of music just really seems to thrive under shitty production.  I wish Jack White's label would give him four days, two thousand dollars, and a crapload of cocaine and tell him to go make a record.  That's the Jack White record I want to hear.

And I wish Black Eyes hadn't broken up.

h/t to the neato blog "My Husband's Stupid Record Collection" (http://alltherecords.tumblr.com/) for introducing me to The Barbarians and The Wombats.  They listen to some good stuff there.

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I'm a huge Zeppelin fan, but they seem to have this "untouchable" aura to them.  Every cover of them I've ever heard, seems like the covering band is just doing their best Zeppelin impression.  "Just play it like Page does it, and don't fuck it up."  Kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it?  I suppose Rodrigo y Gabriela's cover of "Stairway To Heaven" is an exception, but even there, the reverence is just dripping through the speakers.

This song, though.  Hot damn.  This is fucking fun.  I don't know if this is Karolina sticking it to the West or to Zeppelin themselves, but either way I admire the balls to do it.  Maybe I'm overthinking it, maybe she's just a Zeppelin fan, having fun with it...but c'mon, how could she NOT know that covering "Black Dog" in the style of "East Bay Ray finds an old sitar at the pawn shop and brings it to a Dead Kennedys studio session" would step on a bunch of toes?

I'd never heard of Karolina before I came across this cover; apparently she's a very popular singer in Israel.  I've since checked out some of her stuff.  She has a great voice, but it's mostly standard pop fare with an "Eastern" influence.  I'm still looking for more songs that show off the attitude we see here; Karolina gives the best reminder I've seen that Led Zeppelin are mere mortals after all since Screeching Weasel's "I Hate Led Zeppelin".

*UPDATE 5/1/13* I've learned since posting this that the musicians on this single are a surf rock band called Boom Pam, and the "bass" is actually a goddamn tuba.  They're a pretty good time, if you're into surf.

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HTRK

Hate rock. I have to admit, I only started listening to them after Sean Stewart died (not for any particular reason) but they are pretty fantastic.

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The KVB

Not much to say here. They released a new album a little while ago and it is super cool, just like their other stuff. Enjoy.

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Death Grips

Probably the coolest rap group on the planet. This 13 minute video from the beginning of the year is as good a place to start their story as any. According to the internet (since I'm not friends with them or anything), this video was shot at the Chateau Marmont, in West Hollywood. That's the hotel where John Belushi died. Hunter S Thompson worked there, Led Zeppelin and Jim Morrison went nuts there, etc. Death Grips went there, intentionally blew all of their advance money, and then released their album for free on the internet with a permissive Creative Commons license that allowed anyone to basically do what they wanted with the music. Just to be sure there was no ambiguity for Epic Records, they wrote the name of the album on the drummers cock, snapped a picture, and made that the album cover. <- seriously, the album cover is a stiff pink cock. Don't click that link if you're at work. They were kicked off the label.

In addition to public relation skills in the same ballpark as the Manson Family (which is a plus for any musician), Death Grips are possibly the most intense live show I've seen, and I've seen some pretty fucking good bands. Also—insane production ability. Sprawling, insightful, poetic lyrics about isolation, insecurity, rage, and trying to live in a world you don't like. As a bonus, they aren't misogynists or homophobes. Mix it all together, and you have the best rap band ever. Q.E.D.

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Here's a fun DIY number:  AC/DC's first video, filmed by the band in Bon Scott's back yard in 1976 for their song "Jailbreak".  They were soon able to leverage their hometown success into a "proper" video for "Jailbreak", and it's a lot of fun, but I think I like this one better.

Also, you can really tell that Bon was about 10 years older than the rest of the band here. 

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This is Seattle-based psychadelic band Night Beats.  They play reverb-heavy jams that would fit just fine in late 60's horror and biker movies.  For a bit peppier jam, check out this.

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Tearist

LA has great music. The home of the Doors, Kyuss, Black Flag, the Germs, Odd Future, Christian Death, Social D, the Gun Club, NWA, and Guns n Roses is still spewing out awesome music.

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This is well over a decade old, but its genius speaks for itself.

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Scorpions: Hell Cat

Honestly, this is a pretty shitty song. It sounds like something Ted Nugent would have left off a record. At the same time, between the crazy stop-and-go guitar work, the back-and-forth singing style, and the energy, it sounds a lot like punk.

If the music weren't enough, the Scorps seemed hellbent on pissing off everyone possible by putting a naked teenager on the record cover and calling the album "Virgin Killer". None of this makes them a good band, but they definitely had a punk streak back before that kind of thing was cool.

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The Weads changed their name to The Lollipop Shoppe in 1968 in an unsuccessful attempt to capitalize on the bubblegum pop music craze.  But they were garage punk all the way.  This is their best song, and it's 8 or 10 years ahead of its time.

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One of the most wickedly awesome shops on the internet (not that I wear much of their stuff) also has a cool tumblr and gets some of the most interesting new artists to make mixtapes, usually of pretty fantastic quality. This mixtape isn't for everyone. If you like slow, angry, filthy music; the kind of stuff that might be playing in the home of someone high on codeine cough syrup and bath salts, thinking of stabbing someone else, then this is for you.

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Suuns: Images du Futur

They're a pretty solid Canadian band. Their last album was really good too. There is a solid mix of drone and electronics and the songs are well-structured. Kind of a post-punk sound, but they throw in these almost surf atmospherics at just the right time.

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Churchhouse Ginhouse Schoolhouse Outhouse

Nutbush City Limits. A legendary song about the jails, ginhouses, and the stifling conservatism of small-town Tennessee. How is it legendary, you ask? Some say Marc Bolan played guitar. It is pretty telling that everyone involved seems to have lost decades of memory and done so much cool shit with so many cool people --except Ike Turner-- that nobody really remembers how a classic got recorded and who played on it. On top of that, Brian Johnson secured his spot as vocalist of AC/DC with a rendition of it (and apendicitis during a performance), and it was Ike and Tina's last song together.

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Did you know that Cream recorded a punk song back in 1967?  I didn't.  I can picture Steve Ignorant or Charlie Harper screaming obscenities over this.  Jack Bruce wrote it during the recording of their brilliant album Disraeli Gears, but it didn't make the cut and never left the "demo" stage.  Jack later recorded (and ruined) it for his solo album Songs for a Tailor.

I love this track.  I especially love when Clapton starts rocking out in a very un-Clapton way at the 1:50 mark.  I even love what I assume is Jack Bruce quietly playing around with some vocals under the music.  It's mostly off-key and sounds like he's having fun with it.

It's always a lot of fun to come across punk music that "pre-dates" punk music.  Maybe Gabe and I can start a new theme around that.

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Moon Bands Part 3: Moonface

Beyond just an awesome name, Moonface does some pretty interesting stuff. The band is just Spencer Krug from Wolf Parade, but on this album he's playing with the band Siinai.

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While the Seattle bands everyone knows were "inventing grunge" (i.e. rehashing Led Zeppelin and/or filtering songs by Flipper and The Melvins for mass consumption), The Gits spent 1986 to 1993 playing good ol' punk rock.  That they didn't get mainstream exposure during the record labels' "sign every band from Seattle" foofaraw in spite of a good local following is probably a testament to their unwillingness to deviate from their punk roots.  

I'd be willing to bet that given one or two more years, they could have gotten swept up in the whole Green Day/Offspring/Rancid "mainstream punk" thing of the mid-90's (that thing that got me into punk in the first place).  But sadly, their singer Mia Zapata was brutally murdered in central Seattle in the early hours of July 7th, 1993.  By most accounts, she was a great and beloved member of the punk community in Seattle, and was helpful to the many young bands she encountered.

Check out more by The Gits; they're worth remembering.