new jams for december

melt banana lite- live melt banana replacing their chaotic guitar with whacked out synth. they're on tour with this line-up right now, but check it out via this link.....these guys make thrash noise like no one else......

high rise- disallow another crazy japanese noise/metal band, described to me as a cross between blue cheer, boris and guitar wolf. from the 90s but who cares, everyone needs something to annoy the neighbors with........

surfer blood - astro coast perhaps the indie darlings of the next decade. catchy reverbed lyrics and power chords little heard in indie rock. think florida's answer to cheap trick, but filtered through built to spill......

life at 45 rpms

two local record labels have been keeping me up to speed on the up and coming indie bands.  Hozac and Trouble in Mind.  both have released a slew of awesome singles, from France has the Bomb to Ty Segall.  Trouble in Mind is run by members of Cococoma and only releases singles, having just started up this year.  Hozac has been around for a while now releasing limited run 7 inches and just this year starting to put out LPs, to much success with the Smith Westerns and Wizzard Sleeve.

look for their records at yr local shop, both are distributed  by revolver, so they're not too hard to come by.  and nearly every release will turn you on to an awesome new band......

garage hangover

holy shit......

....drinking beer and surfing the interweb can be productive. here's a list of blogs which will lead you to all sorts of new garage rock........

garage hangover - a well researched site featuring many obscure garage rock singles and biographies......with a little know how you can grab these singles, but only one at a time. though this site is more a history lesson, then a spot to grab music......

garage music - quite a number of downloads of harder to find garage rock classics......such as the seeds box set and some rare kinks singles........

born in tyme - a site devoted mostly to mixtapes of garage rock and soul......nearly every post made me want to download his mixes...... highly recommended.......also his link section is where i found the aforementioned blogs......check this site out and it will only lead you to good things.......

jack-o and the tennessee tearjerkers - disco outlaw

the new LP disco outlaw by
jack-o and the tennessee tearjerkers is more of the southern fried garage rock that you'd expect from a member of the oblivians and the compulsive gamblers.

two or three of the tracks are in high rotation in my itunes, but the whole LP is worth grabbing......

which you should do by clicking the link..........

CAVE - psychic psummer lp

cave's psychic psummer LP is six jams you don't want to miss. prog, noise and psych rock rolled into one boisterous mix......

oneida doesn't have a monopoly on freewheeling prog noise..........just another band from chicago that gets overlooked by the coastal hipsters.......

click on the link above to "preview" their important records release......

black math

black math should be the next hype band, if the bloggers paid more attention to what is happening in chicago.....noisy post punk trio that incorporates cello, drum machines, synth with angular guitar and pulsating bass..... all the usual musical references apply but with a unique twist......

click on the link to download their ep.......

more of the best of 2009.

Best of 2009 continued..... 

Best New Artist:  TIE between Obits, the Strange Boys and the Smith Westerns

Most Prolific Artist:  TIE between Ty Segall and Jon Dwyer of The Oh Sees

Best Solo Project from a Band I love:  Kyp Malone with Rain Machine

Best Live Album:  Greg Cartwright with Live from the Circle A

Best Local Band to Catch Live:  the Yolks

Best band without an LP out yet:  White Mystery

Best Hardcore Album:  Double Dagger

Best Psych Rock LP: TIE:  Cave and Oneida

Best Cover Album: Condo Fucks

Best EP of 2009:  TIE between Deerhunter and GG King

Best 7 inch: Obits

Best split 7 inch: Sonic Youth/Jay Reatard

Best Noise Rock LP:  Mi Ami

Best Electronic LP: Fuck Buttons (with Black Dice a close second)

Best Punk LP: the Yolks

Best Concept for an LP: Pink Mountaintops with their romance novel themed LP

Best Songwriter of 2009: Kurt Vile

Best Reunion Tour of 2009:  Jesus Lizard

Best Record Label:  hands down In the Red.   King Khan and BBQ, the Intelligence, the Strange Boys, the Reigning Sound, The Oh Sees…and that doesn’t even mention that half dozen other awesome bands they put out this year….

Best Concert:  TIE:  Black Lips at p4k fest (it nearly killed me…got partially trampled and concussed) and Double Dagger at a loft show (sweaty fun hardcore dancing, made me feel 16 again)

Best In Store Performance:  Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Bird (he was in both the Cramps and Gun Club, so when he played a furious set of his own songs mixed with those bands, it blew everyone away)

Best Record Store:  Permanent Records (Chicago)

Favorite Record Store that closed this year:  Antiquarium (Omaha)

Favorite Record Store that got hit by a tornado: Electric Fetus (Minneapolis)

Best Venue:  Empty Bottle

Matador VS. SubPop:  2009 was definitely Matador’s year.

Most Overrated Band:  still probably the same as last year, Times New Viking, but Yacht and Japandroids are a close second in this category

Band who I finally started liking until I heard their second LP:  the Vivian Girls

Band who’s new album finally made me fall out of love with them:  the Thermals

Band who ought to be the NEXT BIG THING: TIE: Black Math and Vampire Hands

City I would most likely move to based on LPs that came out in 2009:  Atlanata.

LP I feel most Bi-polar about this Year:  Matt & Kim’s Grand.  At times I couldn’t stop playing it.  Other times, I couldn’t stand its sloppy amateur sound.  I loved it, after I saw them at P4k, but I haven’t listened to it since summer.

Lifetime Achievement Award:  TIE between Sonic Youth and Mission of Burma,  both put out barn burning LPs this year.  and they’re all practically my parents age….and I ain’t young……

Fav older garage bands I just got into this year:  the Seeds, the Mummies

Best mp3 find on the interweb this year:  three extremely hard to come by Compulsive Gamblers LPs….

Best web zine / blog (0verall):  Tiny Mix Tapes

Best web zine / blog (Reviews): Pitchfork

Best web zine / blog (Indie Rock News): Brooklyn Vegan

Festival this year that Best reflected my year:  Gonerfest

this year’s list is in dedication to Sky Saxon of the Seeds and Bobby Ubangi who both passed away this year…

the music lives on……..

the list. top LPs of of 2009.

as i listened to all these LPs a million times, they made the list.

it was just too difficult to narrow it down to a top 10......

so here's my list for 2009....fucking awesome albums,

just didn't imagine this year was going to follow through on its promise of amazing new jams.......it did.....

1 obits- i blame you

2 black lips- 200 million thousand

3 ty segall- lemons

4 the oh sees- help

5 jay reatard- watch them fall

6 smith westerns- s/t

7 handsome furs- face control

8 pink mountaintops- outside love

9 double dagger- more

10 the yolks- s/t LP

11 strange boys- and girls club

12 wavves- wavvves

13 health- get color

14 the reigning sound- love and curses

15 girls- album

16 bobby ubangi- inside the mind of...

16 mi ami- watersports

17 almighty defenders- s/t

18 king khan & bbq- invisible girl

19 intelligence- fake surfers

20 lightning bolt- earthly delights

honorable mentions to the following:

kurt vile

condo fucks

crocodiles

white wires

box elders

rain machine

oneida

swan lake

sonic youth

mission of burma

jack-o and the tennessee tearjerkers

white wires

catchy lo-fi garage punk goodness,

my fav band of the month.......

the white wires......

Self Titled - The White Wires

the chicago scene in one easy to check webpage.

go to victim of time's

website for a fairly complete listing of shows around town....

which includes some of the house/loft show scene.

they list bands playing at the automatic collective,

bloodline and the ottoman empire...

shows which are difficult to find out about unless

someone gives you a handbill in the ukrainian village....

that's the inside track.......

friday night at the hideout

with cococoma (chicago, goner records) and the hex dispensers (austin, douchemaster)....

can't wait til tomorrow........

jay reatard on A>D>D

check out JAY REATARD playing live for PITCHFORK....


TOTALLY FUCKING CLASSIC, btw.....

the outsiders

also found the outsiders' LP, time won't let me. a bit scratched but good soulful garage pop....you'll recognize the title track, but they were one hit wonders, though you should pick up any of their LPs if you come across them.......

generation x

just scored gen x's kiss me deadly lp for cheap......

the mummies....

greg cartwright at goner fest

the seeds on american bandstand

the litter....minneapolis at its best.

when you think of the twin cities, it's always prince, husker du and the replacements.......

what about the litter? garage, psych rockers from the late 60s. they put out an amazing three lps all of which you should grab .....

listen below...

$100 Fine - The Litter