Rock and Roll and Meandering Nonsense...
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This is the home of reviews, articles, interviews and general thoughts about punk, indie, metal, alt country, alternative, no depression, hip-hop, hard rock, soul, etc, etc, etc. Really, it's just a bunch of rambling garbage about rock n roll that spills out of my head...
John Mellencamp will release Life Death Live and Freedom, the eight song live companion to last year's Life Death Love and Freedom. Get a sneak preview mp3 until the album is released on June 23rd.
Flipper will release Love, their first album in 16 years, on May 19th. You never know what you're gonna get with a band like Flipper and over a decade and a half since they last recorded, it's even more up in the air. However, you can check out "Be Good Child" to get an early taste before the release.
Featuring Adam Tymn of VAUX and members of Arkham and Places To Park, Ride The Boogie is set to release their self-titled LP on Tuesday, June 17, 2008. Tymn took the time to give some insight on the track "Mustache Riders" and the struggles of being both an artist and a parent.
"The song is about two guys, infamously known as the Mustache Riders, that go out on dirtbikes to camp in the desert and someway or another happen to run into these laser hot chicks," explains Tymn of the above track. "One thing leads to the next and the ladies go on a nice mustache ride. The song ends leaving one wondering if these guys just had too much of something bad or that they actually had the most incredible night of their lives."
Tymn also explains how the track was originally a faster number that had more of a hard rock feel to it. “Actually, I first demoed the song on the John Lennon Bus for free thanks to those guys,” says Tymn. "Glenn worked with the beat and now it has a particular shuffle and groove to it that the song needed. Kevin’s slide stuff definitely sleazes the song up nicely along with Billy’s cool guitar work throughout the song especially in the pre-choruses."
Although the verses were easy to pen, the chorus was a bit of a struggle. "I was trying hard to think of a way to make the chorus be that of a heroic cartoon theme. You know, big but simple with a catchy little melody," says Tymn, pointing out that vibe is more noticeable towards the end of the song.
Ironically the cartoon theme is the non-perverse interpretation of the story, that motorcycles were the only things being ridden. "It is hard being an artist and a parent at the same time," admits Tymn. "You have to be able to keep things over your children’s heads but still allow the older folks to dig it. I remember when we were recording this song and how everything that was being tracked was becoming very sleazy sounding."
I am actively looking for new music. If you are a band or a label or a publicist and you'd like me to check out what you're doing, review your music or interview you, contact me HERE. I am currently submitting reviews and articles to both AMP and Glide magazines as well as FensePost.
For the sake of consistency, I use the following guide when rating albums:
10 - Classic 8 - Best of genre 6 - Good 4 - Mediocre 2 - Poor
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Strange Fruit Peel Sessions - My page about the the John Peel Show sessions that were released in several series of EPs by Strange Fruit Records in the 1980s.
FensePost - There's a variety of good releases reviewed here that may otherwise have slipped by undetected and a variety of writers to cover them (occasionally including me).
The Metal Minute - News, reviews and interviews. All metal, all the time.
Bring Back Glam - Glam isn't really my thing, but there's a lot of people here who love it. Their enthusiasm is kind of endearing even if I seem to do nothing but agitate them.
Pratt Songs - Chuck's blog about music reviews only those titles found in Baltimore's Enoch Pratt Free Library.
Just Gimme Indie Rock - A great blog to find new stuff. There's plenty of bands I've never heard on here.
Hard Rock Hideout - Hard rock, hard rock and more hard rock. Some old, some new.
One Man, 500 Albums - RJ is reviewing every album on Rolling Stone's Top 500 list. It's an ambitious project and displays his rather broad musical knowledge.
Sound as Language - Everyday there's more cool stuff off the beaten indie path.
Pehr Records - Your chances of discovering the next big thing might be better if you look here.
Parks and Records - A new label started by Jon and Mimi Fee (as translation.music semi-fame) with a DIY and green focus.
Non-Music:
For Callum - This site has information about Callum Robbins, the son of J. Robbins who played bass in one of my all-time favorite abnds, Government Issue. Callum suffers from SMA Type 1. The blog talks about how he's doing and how you can help.
TooManyVoices.com - My website with some other stuff I've done. Some is music related and some isn't. It includes a few of my web development projects.
Day to Day Rambling - Linda has this idea that she doesn't have much to say. I disagree. See what you think.
Tao Te Chuck - Just by watching his own little part of the world, Chuck has honed his observasion skills. What he finds is often touching and sometimes profound.
Writing from the Inside Out - This is Layla's (of Classic Rock Faves fame) non-music blog. There's a lot of cool discussions that come up here, making it a very good participation post.