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......