smith westerns- dye it blonde

the smith westerns went big time in 2010.....the hype seemed to stick to the young fuzz pop rockers, with fat possum re-releasing their s/t debut lp this year...just barely after it went out of print on hozac. everyone from pitchfork on down loved them....and with their catchy glam lo-fi garage pop, who couldn't resist singing along.

and now 2011 brings us their second long player.

(click here to snag it before it's proper release date. )

i'm posting it without properly listening to it.....but the smith westerns' dye it blonde avoids most of the perils of the sophomore slump. they wear their influences more subtly then on the s/t lp, where their love for t rex is almost too endearing.

dye it blonde is more produced and less immediate then its predecessor, but perhaps just as catchy.... maybe a little more bowie and britpop then garage and lo-fi. but rather than trading influences like some bands do as they evolve, the smith westerns just add to the mix....with good results.....

dance away and weekend are killer indie pop tracks i'm sure you'll hear plenty of times in 2011...

these kids are not one shot and out rockers.....soon everyone will love the smith westerns, not just chicago.......

and i agree with filter's summation of dye it blonde...."While the new album holds on to the qualities that endeared fans to the band and avoids replicating the debut, the slower tracks can run together at times. But if the Smith Westerns' sound calls to you, then spending time getting to know Dye It Blonde won't be a problem."

new year's eve choices.

in chicago it boils down to two competing shows at two of my fav venue.

CAVE at the hideout

or NOBUUNY at the empty bottle.....

what am i to do?

(health and yeasayer are also playing at the metro for an overpriced sock it to the hipsters on new year's show..... but that's a distant third.......)

OFF- the first four eps.

click here to grab OFF!'s lp the first four eps....

keith morris of circle jerks and black flag fame has formed a little hardcore punk supergroup......OFF! these four eps compiled by vice records would've made my list had i found the album a week or two earlier......

to quote a rare time i agree with pitchfork these days......"First Four EPs crams 16 tracks into just over 17 minutes; the thing's packed so tightly, an extra second here or there could feel like one too many. This is lean, propulsive hardcore, played just as it would've been in L.A. circa 1981. The live-in-a-room recording lets you all but hear the sweat drip on the mic...."

or in other words, it's like henry rollins never joined black flag or the circle jerks kept up the good fight.......

it's early 80s hardcore that sounds relevant and fresh now....... unlike the dated cliches most of the punker kids are playing nowadays.....

but i guess if you were there at the outset, when punk was the new thing, it wasn't so hard to think outside the box...... keith morris pulled off one of the years most addicting records, not by reforming his old band and recording a lame new lp.......but by writing catchy fast classic punk songs......

i wish there were more keiths in the music industry.........

you need this album if you like punk. i promise

tribute for those who left the stage this year, but whom made the music live on ...

2010 we lost some musicians that i love.......

may you all rest in peace.....

and know that yr music will endure.......

jay reatard

alex chilton

fred anderson

captain beefheart

xxxmas mixxxtape

this is a list of xxxmas songs i hold dear....

perhaps not suitable for mall shopping.......

the white wires- ha ha holiday

ramones- merry christmas (i dont want to fight tonight)

fountains of wayne- i want an alien for christmas

fear- fuck christmas

dickies- silent night

super deluxe- all i wanted was a skateboard (but all i got was...)

shadows of the knight- rudolph's off his rocker

the fleshtones- run Rudolph run

sonics- don't believe in christmas

t rex- christmas bop

beach boys- merry christmas baby

big star- jesus christ

raveonettes- christmas (baby please come home)

cute lepers- all i ever want (under the christmas tree)

julian casablancas- i wish it was christmas today

el vez- feliz navid

gary glitter- another rock n roll christmas

tv smith (of the adverts)- xmas bloody xmas

wild billy childish- christmas 1979

reigning sound- if christmas can't bring you home

post script....a download link for this link is forthcoming. i'm searching out a couple of these tracks, but most are located on youtube for yr listening pleasure.....

post post script....... here's the reigning sound with their xmas song, live from chicago

best of 2010.

2010 was a great year for music. who says the music industry is dead and/or lame.......

the garage rockers, noise makers, punks and indie kids won't let the music die.....

and i say we all made jay reatard proud that his brand of catchy garage punk is all of my best of this year.

we lost some heroes in 2010, but we found some new ones.......

i suggest you buy everyone of these lps right now, if you haven't already.........

the tiny grooves' top 30 lps of 2010....

1 ty segall- melted

2 harlem- hippies

3 the oh sees- warm slime

4 nobunny- first blood

5 heavy times- dead

6 tyvek- nothing fits

7 the white wires- WWII

8 moonhearts- s/t

9 disappears- lux

10 the bare wires- seeking love

11 mark sultan- $

12 strange boys- be brave

13 white fence- s/t

14 mickey- s/t ep

15 mi ami- steal yr face

16 nothing people- soft crash

17 happy birthday- s/t

18 birthday suits- minnesota mouth to mouth

19 no age- everything in between

20 parting gifts- strychnine dandelion

21 liars- sisterworld

22 cheap time- fantastic explanations

23 male bonding- nothing hurts

24 les savy fav- root for ruin

25 wolf parade- expo 86

26 double dagger- masks

27 gunslingers- manifest zero

28 moon duo- escape

29 deerhunter- halcyon digest

30 demon's claws- defrosting of walt disney

and here is the rest of my music scene wrap up for 2010......

best singles compilation:

wooden shjips- vol. 2

tied

fucked up- couple tracks

best show of 2010:

the gories oct. 22 and 23 at the empty bottle

best song:

wavves- king of the beach

best lp from the old guard:

neil young- le noise

best record label:

trouble in mind

best cover album:

hot rats- turn ons

best lp to buy yr girlfriend-

best coast- crazy for you

best chicago band:

mickey

tied

heavy times

best album name and cover art:

black time- more songs about motorcycles and death

best single and split release of 2010:

trouble in mind's record store day 7 inch with

cococoma, ty segall, white wires and the moonhearts

white wires- wwII

this is the last lp in contention for my best of xx10 list.......

canada's finest garage pop songsters.....the white wires...... click here for their new lp out on dirtnap........

and go buy the mf vinyl after the first listen.......

king khan as tandoori knights

tandoori knights is king khan's new weird side project...... "putting the IN back in indian garage punk..." according to king khan..... strange yet fun, much on the same level as the almighty defenders lp in experimental goofiness. but i love it.......

check out the tandoori knights lp here..... or buy it from norton records....

garage punk classics - the mummies - runnin on empty 1 & 2

besides the gories and the oblivians, the mummies are one of my all time fav bands.....their lps running on empty vol 1 and 2 are extremely difficult to come by.....(and long out of print.... mostly comprised of unreleased tracks.....both lps put out by estrus records........)

i've looked for these lps for ever. couldn't ever find the tracks via the web.......

until now.

click here for both.....

vol 1. and vol 2.

and turn it up loud.......it's the weekend........

the masonics- down among dead men lp

the masonics killed it at the bottom lounge in chicago with their catchy garage rock. everyone danced and drink til we passed out.....

so you need to check this lp out. members of various billy childish bands out on their own keeping the garage punk flame burning......

click here for their hard to find lp

teengenerate- savage lp

Japanese garage rock mayhem....much like GUITAR WOLF or DMBQ (or my friends Birthday Suits for that matter.....).........TEENGENERATE will destroy yr speaker and yr mind...... love it......

Here's what allmusic.com has to say...... There is an argument to be made for Teengenerate as the best punk band of the late '90s. Of course some would elect New Bomb Turks or a California hardcore group, but Teengenerate was arguably more shunted and kersplatz than a gutter full of American punks. Like their Japanese counterparts, Guitar Wolf, they were brutal and pissed, that is of the essence. Savage, released on Sympathy for the Record Industry, was their American label follow-up to 1994's Let's Go to the Top. There's another debate to be had here, as to which is the best Teengenerate album, though really they're both of equal worth -- which is to say they both sound like they were recorded on a reel-to-reel setup next to a fission reactor. Muddy and crunked as all that. Standout tracks include the incomparable "My GTO," probably the best single Teengenerate ever recorded, the passingly Black Flag-ish "Gonna Feel Alright," and the sonically violent "Wanna Drink." If you are going to buy one Teengenerate album, though, the singles collection put out by Estrus, Smash Hits, is recommended; it doesn't have "My GTO," but it does present a retrospective of the band's career.

click here to download the out of print "savage" lp on sympathy for the record industry.....

and their lp audio recording here......

garage punk classics - the chrome cranks

fans of stripped down feral garage rock a la gories, cramps, action swingers, honeymoon killers.....should check out the chrome cranks. mesmerizingly rhythmic and noisy...... it took me awhile to get turned on to these guys, so don't wait as long as me.......

if you don't trust me, here's allmusic.com's assessment...... Dead Cool is simply that, or close; an approximation of studied, stone-faced cool. The title track opens with a repeated, simple bassline, occasional bursts of jangly guitar, and Peter Aaron's one-third- Mick Jagger, one-third IggyPop, and the other third Jeffrey Lee Pierce yelped admonitions about drugs of various types. In its less than 30 minutes, this disc, the band's second, jumps back and forth through lo-fi exercises in stripped-down garage cave-stomps, dirty guitar scraping and sliding, and too damn hip New York attitude. As occasionally studied and stilted though this album -- and this band -- could be, Dead Cool and the Chrome Cranks ooze with enough abandon and creativity to rise above the sunglasses-on-the-subway vibe given off by this and other releases. As a frontman, Aaron evinces enough authenticity to rise above the heap of Stooges and Stones imitators out there, and Dead Cool offers testimony to that fact.

click here for their LP "dead cool"

rocktober almost killed me, but i will see you out and about

here's a list of shows to catch this next month or so if yr in chicago.

thu nov 11- radar eyes, reading rainbow @ empty bottle

sat nov 13- soviettes @ reggies rock club

sat nov 13- turbo fruits @ bloodline

wed nov 17- maserati @ empty bottle

thu nov 18th- white mystery, heavy times @ rockit bar wrigleyville

sat, nov 20- cococoma @ beat kitchen

sun nov 21- no age @ lincoln hall

mon nov 22- fuck knights, outer minds @ empty bottle

tues, nov 23- circle pit @ permanent records and later at Rueben's place

sat dec 4th- mannequin men, tv ghost @ schubas

sat dec 4th- stnnng @ quenchers

wed dec 8th- cheap time @ empty bottle

always check acid marshmallow or victim of time for show listing, especially those hard-tofind house shows......

tyvek - nothing fits

click here for tyvek's new lp nothing fits. their art damaged noise punk take on garage rock could only be done by kids living in the skeleton of detroit...... i love this lp..... destined for the best of 2010.....

check out what spacerockmountain had to say (btw a blog you should check out.....)

"Nothing Fits" is Tyvek’s second full length album debuting on In The Red. I’ve been waiting for this album since the summer time and to say the least I was pleasantly surprised at the raw intense sound. Tyvek has been touring these songs for the past year or so and I’ve heard them over and over again from either the massive amounts of live cds, rehearsal/demo tapes or live shows. When I first listen to these songs I knew the material was there but what wasn’t there was the studio recordings. Besides one or two live cds most of the releases that feature songs from “Nothing Fits” are intensely lofi and aren’t that pleasant to the ears. This is the studio adaptation of the various lofi live recordings/demos and its fucking fantastic! This scuzzy fuzzy detroit garage punk is so good it’ll make you shit your pants and bleed from your ears. They really worked on the quality of sound with this one and it makes up for all those recordings that weren’t on par. This is an album you want to turn up loud......"

circle pit - bruise constellation lp

i guess circle pit like the royal trux as much as i do......which relieves me of having to form a band that sounds this awesome and indebted to neil and jennifer........

here's what their label siltbreeze had to say....

We all know how well Royal Trux rocked 'n' cocked it through the '90s, and now in the second decade of the 21st century, Circle Pit have sauntered into the boozy sway with their debut LP Bruise Constellation.

Seemingly born out of the tar and tobacco of Nellcote / Exile on Main Street-session blooze, Circle Pit ably finesse a torn and frayed sound that's as retro as it is original. Oozing raw talent and possessed with uncanny sensual / sexual osmosis, Bruise Constellation will have you believing it's the Summer of '72 all over again (again).

......click here to get CIRCLE PIT's debut LP....

and if yr in chicago, they are playing for free at permanent records on tuesday nov. 23rd....

royal baths

another great release on woodsist records by ROYAL BATHS. lo-fi pysch jams that the kids all love. click the link above to grab their newly released lp "litanies"......also check out their hozac single if you can find a copy.

check out what bushwickbk.com had to say......."Though the San Francisco garage rock four piece may be part of the continuing lo-fi trend, their swampy production doesn’t disguise their catchy pop songs. There’s a very Velvet Underground-via-Jesus and Mary Chain feel to it, without the spazz in the guitars but with all of the eeriness that makes you feel a bit wrong for enjoying it so much."

purling hiss - s/t lp

check out philly's pysch noise up-and-comers PURLING HISS...... with lps out on chicago's own permanent records and woodsist, you know these kids are worth the time on yr record player.......click the link for their debut lp above. and if yr out and about, check them today in chicago at permanent and tomorrow with kurt vile at the empty bottle......if yr not here in chicago, they will be in yr town soon......

half rats - for the sake of love 7''

catchy garage pop from the chicagoland area......

click here to borrow their 7 inch "for the sake of love" on douchemaster records.......

bantam rooster - the cross and the switchblade

forgotten michigan garage punk........

bantam rooster played high octane rock n roll with the best of them (white stripes and dirtbombs included)... fast catchy and mean....

you need to steal this lp, cause i don't think you'll run across it in the used bins at yr local record store....... more good jams from crypt records.

click here for their lp "the cross and the switchblade"

demons claws

demons claws play drone psyched out garage rock in the vein of king khan, bbq and black lips...... which is to say, highly recommended......

click here to download their new in the red lp "defrosting of....walt disney"

wild billy childish

if you don't know about billy childish, you should. every one of his countless garage / punk bands is worth a listen.

check out this awesome / hard to find documentary about billy childish below..... and click on the link above for a great interview with him via VICE magazine.

the flestones- a documentary film about the most overlooked of garage bands

Watch more free documentaries

mark sultan

to get all you kids in the mood for the fall mark sultan tour (aka BBQ), here is a lil sampler for you.

click here the link for mark sultan's sultanic verses and $ lps plus the hold on 7 inch.

rockabilly garage soul from a man that's been in so many good garage punk bands....most notably king khan & bbq, the mind controls and the spaceshits.........

enjoy. if yr in chicago, i'll see you at the empty bottle on oct 21st.......

gentlemen jesse and his men

click here for the gentelmen jesse and his men LP. a great off-shoot band of my hotlanta favs, the carbonas, and often tour mates of the black lips, gentlemen jesse is jangly power pop garage that'll keep you humming all night long.......

on tour with the strange boys, both of which bands i'm about to go see at the empty bottle tonight.....

the rip offs - got a record

click here for the rip offs' 'got a record' lp plus a bonus handful of songs.

the rip offs are the ultimate in lo-fi sleazy garage punk.......

and their music is difficult to come by.........so enjoy.

fireballs of freedom- greasy retrospective

always loved the fireballs of freedom......

.....fans of noisy garage punk should grab this cd only comp wantage records put out years ago, it collects really hard to find 7 inches from this under noticed garage spazz band from the northwest.......

click here for the fireballs of freedom's greasy restrospective........

the new deerhunter lp

click here for deerhunter's halcyon digest lp.

crocodiles - sleep forever

click here for the new crocodiles LP sleep forever......

and dont forget to see them for free at the empty bottle this monday with heavy times....

upcoming shows

shows for all you cool cats.........

wed. sept 8. radar eyes at the beauty bar

sat. sept 11 wooden shjips, high places at the empty bottle

sun sept 12 wavves, christmas island at lincoln hall

wed sept 15 the oh sees, hot machines at lincoln hall

sat sept 18 white mystery, outer minds at the empty bottle

mon sept 20 heavy times, crocodiles at the empty bottle (free show)

fri sept 24 lover!, sonny & the sunsets at the beat kitchen

tues sept 28 strange boys, gentleman jesse at the empty bottle

thu sept 30 the clean at the bottom lounge

sat oct 2 moon duo at the empty bottle

sat oct 2 pierced arrows, mickey at the subterranean

wed oct 6 king khan & the shrines at the bottom lounge

fri/sat oct 22-23 THE GORIES..... at the empty bottle

yep fucking love chicago...almost all my fav bands are coming in the next month.....lots of drunken garage rock dancing in my future........

intelligence - males lp

via worst friends....

grab the new intelligence lp 'males' here

and don't forget to check them out in yr town this october.......its always a good time........

nobunny - first blood

omg...... i love NOBUNNY..........

the new record, FIRST BLOOD, is out very soon but you can grab the mp3s now....
...then buy the LP later.

its on goner records, so dont stiff 'em.......but if yr like me you just can't wait to hear these songs....

....and you know everything sounds better on vinyl...

garage rock classics - count five

COUNT FIVE are one of my fav garage rock bands, who released probably the best the rock n roll song of all time, psychotic reaction.......

all i can say is you gotta check them out.......

so click here to grab some of the best garage rock you can get yr hands on......

seeds - s/t lp

the SEEDS were one of the best and most original GARAGE ROCK BANDS in the late 60s.......

most bands just wanted to be the beatles or the stones, but some took it to the next level......

PUSHIN TO HARD and CAN'T SEEM TO MAKE YOU MINE are classic garage rock singles.......

i could go on and on about the SEEDS but if you like rock n roll, you need to check them out........

so click here to download the SEEDS s/t lp....  
and if you don't wanna take my word for it, check out some youtube below........

garage punk classics - cheater slicks

the cheater slicks were purveyors of some of the best trashy blues punk / garage rock out there......throw them in a group with the chrome cranks, the gories, gibson bros, honeymoon killers and the oblivians......  all these IN THE RED issued lps are way outta print, but lucky for you the download links are below........enjoy!


don't like you

refried dreams

forgive me (disc 1 and disc 2)

new jams: the BARE WIRES

the next big garage glam indie pop sensation on everyone's fav label, castle face (home to the oh sees and ty segall).........is the bare wires. check out the song below from thier seeking love LP....you should buy it....

and if you live in chicago, they're playing crown liquors sat. august 21st.....all you other kids should check their tour dates via myspace....they might be in a town near you soon.

BARE WIRES - I LOVE YOU TONITE from Daniel Hilsinger on Vimeo.

sedatives - s/t lp

the sedatives are synthy punk rock from ottawa, canada........quite catchy and fun.......for fans of the lost sounds and the murder city devils........   


click here to download the s/t lp out on p trash / deranged records.......

drunk pixels: les woven bones

the hozac recs showcase was awesome. radar eyes and woven bones are great live. red mass was crazy. and you know i love mickey......

so here are so photos of the woven bones......

woven bones

hozac records showcase at the empty bottle this saturday, the 26th..........hope to get drunk with of of you there.......

the show is headlined by woven bones, fast becoming one of my favs. in addition to red mass, radar eyes and mickey.........(maybe they'll throw their drum set around again....)

anyway check out woven bones below, if you haven't heard them yet.......

captain beefheart: the BBC documentary

spending my saturday evening watching great BBC documentaries on youtube.

thanks to the RIAA for not taking down the video........

i could listen to captain beefheart all day long.......

krautrock: the rebirth of germany.....

part one of this BBC documentary that someone posted on youtube......

(just search the title and all 6 parts come up.....)

the best 20 lps of the last six months......

best of xx10 so far.......it's going to be hard to make this list at the end of the year, i just know.

1 ty segall

2 harlem

3 the oh sees

4 white fence

5 strange boys

6 wolf parade

7 disappears

8 mi ami

9 happy birthday

10 male bonding

11 liars

12 nothing people

13 woven bones

14 heavy times

15 gunslingers

16 spoon

17 mark sultan

18 birthday suits

19 double dagger

20 is a tie between moon duo and golden triangle

rock n roll in the streets

summer music in chicago...for free (or donation).....

taste of randolph street june 19th

with superchunk and others less interesting to me....

taste of chicago jun 26th (illinois lottery stage)

with white mystery, the yolks, mannequin men and johnny & the limeliters

green music fest june 27th

with david bazan (aka pedro the lion), maps & atlases and others

west fest july 10th and 11th

with fucked up and others not all announced yet

wicker park fest july 31st, august 1st

with holy fuck, happy birthday, mission of burma, pinebender, capt n jazz, la riots, plants & animals, hood internet, torche, baroness and more.......

that's not even the end of the list. check out oh my rockness for a full list. every monday there are lunch time and evening shows for free at millennium park....as well as the empty bottle's free monday night shows.......

see you there.

drunk pixels: les fleshtones

yep i tried to use my phone as a camera......all i can say is you should of been there.....the fleshtones are one of the best live shows i've seen......

fleshtones tonight in chicago.....

yep, the fleshtones...

a band highly under-rated and ignored.....even though they play awesome catchy garage rock.......i guess when everyone was obsessed with new wave, playing garage wasn't the best way to hit the charts....but they've been around since the late 70s and haven't missed a step........

check out their lps hexbreaker, roman gods and live in paris.....not to difficult to find and most of the time under $10......

michael yonkers with the blind shake

legendary psych guitarist MICHAEL YONKERS.....backed by my friends the BLIND SHAKE......good times.........

child abuse

always liked these noise kids.....here's an awesome video from a few years back.

heavy times - dead

Heavy Times is the recently formed band featuring the drummer from Cacaw, Kyle Reynolds. Those looking for Cacaw's brand of dirge-y noise rock won't find many similiarities here though. Mr. Reynolds keeps it real simple in Heavy Times, a four on the floor, lo-fi punk rock band with more hooks than a bait shop, courtesy of dual guitarists Bo Hanson and Matt Courtade. There's technically no bassist in Heavy Times, but the bass is barely missed. The first thing that came to mind when I was trying to think of how to describe this record was "Stoned Ramones", but there's so much more to Heavy Times than that.

Their debut LP on Rotted Tooth Recordings, entitled "Dead", is everything but, unless you use the word "dead" inversely like when people call good things "bad". It's an eclectic, quite lively, affair with some upbeat punk numbers, a mostly instrumental doom-er, and literally everything in between. Side A starts off all power pop influenced and bippin' and a boppin', but before the end of it, one can see why they call themselves Heavy Times. The B-side comes rippin' in like a 'roided-out rodent and then, the best cut on the album, "Drug Lake" hits you square in the huevos and it hits hard. Very few bands have managed to pull off the heavy pop thing over the years, but Heavy Times totally nails it. Pure nirvana. Not Nirvana with a BIG N, but they're not necessarily a bad point of reference here. Heavy Times ain't no bullshit grunge throwback band though. They sound like a more psychedelic Spits or Wavves on a bad trip. Heavy Times, indeed.

"Dead" was pressed in a limited edition of 300 copies with beautifully hand screened fold over sleeve art, a la MLU, Mayor Daley, and Cacaw. The same folks were behind this one y'all, which means you're not just buying a record, you're buying a (master)piece of art.

(thanks permanent records from the bio, love you kids.....and that's where i'll be purchasing this lp)

(ps...click MEDIAFIRE for a download of the DEAD LP...)