Yearly Archives: 2003

Ever since I saw Eastern Youth live, their new album, What Can You See From Your Place, has pushed all my other current favorites to the side, making it the most listened record in my large pile. Sorry Raveonettes, sorry Superchunk.

Eastern Youth’s music is aggressive and beautiful. The fact that they’re singing in Japanese only makes it better: why learn English just to be more marketable when you can release true emotion in your native language?

I know a lot of people get turned off by albums by bands who perform in a language that you don’t know. (Except for Sigur Ros). You’re missing out, literally, on a world of great music. If you stop getting wrapped up in WHAT IS HE SAYING? and consider the voice as an instrument, like a guitar or a bass, then it all clicks into your head a lot better. And besides, the passion is clearly in Hisashi Yoshino’s voice.

God I love this album. Do yourself a favor and check it out, or try to catch them live. It’s time for me to start filling up my Eastern Youth back catalog.

PS: Download Eastern Youth MP3 here or buy the album there.

Han stirs up the donewaiting.com stew with a review of a Los Angeles Pretty Girls Make Graves concert:

In the midst of all this madness is lead singer Andrea Zollo, another brilliant frontwoman in a time of brilliant frontwomen. With bangs that fall over her eyes, she looks a bit like a pre-shrunk Karen O, with even some of the same microphone poses and mannerisms. The main difference is that where O situates her persona as larger than life, Zollo strives to connect with her audience on a more human level. With heavy eye contact and audience interaction, she’s insistent on making the concert as much of a communal experience as possible. Personal material like “The Getaway” and “Sad Girls Por Vida” resonate with genuine honesty and “This is Our Emergency” is performed with a sincerity that makes it difficult not to answer her call to arms. (full review)

I’m looking forward to seeing the band live, although I must admit the new PGMG record is falling flat in my ears.

Garfunkel son and dad.

I swear I can look at that photo for hours.

Speaking of The Onion, those funny kids hit a little too close to home.

BOSTON?Fifty years after its inception, rock ‘n’ roll music remains popular due to the ardor of its fans and the hard work of musicians, producers, and concert promoters. But in the vast universe of popular music, there exists an oft-overlooked group of dedicated individuals who devote their ample free time to collecting, debating, and publishing the minutiae of the rock genre. They are the losers who write rock’s rich and storied history.

“The city of Boston is about more than just Mission Of Burma or Galaxie 500, and it’s certainly about more than Boston or The Cars,” said 28-year-old Dana Harris, a rock historian. “The scene in Boston is full of history, but it’s also vibrant right now. Someone needs to record all the amazing things going on here, even if it means that person will never have a social life.”

For Harris, rock is the only topic of conversation and the only form of entertainment. While other men his age go on dates or enjoy the sunlight, Harris haunts the rear corners of local rock clubs like The Paradise, where he sits alone, hunched over a notebook. During the day, he works in his windowless bedroom compiling facts about the city’s rock history for his web site, BostonRockScene.com. (full story)

If you can’t laugh at yourself… Heh. Umm.

“Pronouns are weird.” — Conor Oberst

WHOOOOP! WHOOOP!

11.01.03 – Northampton – Ironhorse
11.02.03 – Burlington – Higher Ground
11.03.03 – Rochester – Water Street
11.04.03 – ??, The Egg
11.06.03 – Baltimore, MD – Recher
11.07.03 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
11.08.03 – Brooklyn, NY (Northsix) OR Hoboken (Maxwells) TBA, obviously
11.09.03 – New York, NY – Bowery
11.11.03 – Cleveland, OH – Grog Shop
11.12.03 – Chicago, IL – Park West
11.13.03 – Nashville, TN – Belcourt
11.14.03 – Ashville, GA – Orange Peel
11.15.03 – Athens, GA – 40 Watt
11.17.03 – Austin, TX – Mercury
11.18.03 – Dallas, TX – Gypsy Ballroom (source)

Time to prepare yet another Cleveland trip.

Brassy – Gettin’ Wise [Something Really New]
I’ve described Brassy’s peppy and groove-laden Got It Made (2001) as “cheerleader funk,” but Gettin’ Wise is aptly titled: this is something those same cheerleaders might groove to in the summer between high school and college-a bit more sonically sophisticated, a little less hyper energetic but still balls to the wall fun. Where Got It Made was a band playing rock while DJ Swett added funk, drum-and-bass and hip-hop accents, Gettin’ Wise flips that manuscript and only has a full band set up on a few tracks (“Dust,” “Mine” “So Long Baby” and “Turn This Thing Up” in particular). Aside from those songs, Gettin’ Wise is all about DJ Swett finding dope grooves and loops to back up Muffin Spencer’s white girl boats (“Still stealing/out from under your nose/Thought you were hot/but the audience froze” is pretty typical). While this album isn’t the sequel to Got It Made that I was expecting (I thought it was going to sound more like Junior Senior’s D-D-D-Don’t Stop The Beat), I still found a lot of delicious head-bobbing and booty-wiggling contained in its tracks– plus the bonus 4-track remix disc is pretty good as well. If you need a taste, peep the full length Real Audio samples here or illegally download “Dusted” and marvel at the funky groove they make out just barely re-working the guitar loop from Betty Wright’s “Clean Up Woman.” Then go pay your penance and buy the CD.

All Girl Summer Fun Band – 2 [Something New]
The All Girl Summer Fun Band couldn’t be any cuter if they tried. In fact, if they tried it would just be too much and then they’d look desperate. They specialize in sweet-natured pop-rock love songs a la The Beach Boys or The Shangri-Las with a modern twist- such as falling for skateboarders and heavy metal dudes from the wrong side of the tracks, crushing out on Jason Lee and looking for a place to park en route to a booty call. The only thing that has changed since last year’s self-titled full length debut and 2 is that their harmonies are a lot tighter and Jen Sbragia and Kim Baxter seem to have found the switch on their guitars that give ’em a bit more distorted sound. It’s a grunge-y but not dirty pop-punk sound with an emphasis on the pop. While they’re not headed into The Donnas territory, this is still a good development as it gives all their “yeah yeah yeah” and “sha na na na” and “moon/spoon/June” lyrics some contrast and makes for a more interesting sonic pallet. Hook yourself up with some free Mp3s here and then do that pop rock lover inside you a favor and pick up their discs.

Mary’s Danish There Goes The Wondertruck… [Something Old]
If the Funk Thrash scene was emerging today, the two women who fronted Mary’s Danish would be called “the first ladies of Funk Thrash” much like Rah Digga is the First Lady of the Flipmode Squad. Wait, does anyone remember Funk Thrash? That late 80s- early 90s pre-cursor to grunge that included The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Faith No More, Living Colour, 247-Spyz, Follow For Now, Mind Funk, Infectious Grooves, Shootyz Groove, occasionally Anthrax and…Mary’s Danish? Actually, today Mary’s Danish would be considered alt-country-leaning heavily on the “alt” thanks to the popping funk bass of Chris Wagner. They’d probably get a lot of love on the jam band scene. Anyway, There Goes The Wondertruck… was their debut album, mixing country’s heartache and swagger, funks grooves and rock’s sweaty energy and passion– not unlike a funky X frotned by two Exene Cervenkas. Beyond the ass-kicking music, frontwomen Gretchen Seager and Julie Ritter were great lyricists- “Hey There Man,” for example, is the story from the other side of every male centered “there’s a beautiful girl at the bar” song ever written: To wit: “I don’t think you know me/and I don’t think you want to/You can’t take me home tonight/Don’t you ask again/There you sit and watch ’em walk/Take a shot and wash it down/You’re no action, you’re all talk/Anything could come around.” And I defy you not to listen to “Well Well (Home Is Where The Heartbreak Is)” or “It’ll Probably Make Me Cry” and not tear up just a little bit. The story of why Mary’s Danish are not international rock stars right now, of course, involves a lot of industry chickanery and bad timing. My suggestion-! pick up There Goes The Wondertruck and play it as you read all about the band’s premature death here. — Randy Reiss

I’ve been writing about the Columbus music scene for one year now. Time flies when you’re having fun, I suppose.

Anyway, a small reflection of the past twelve months has been written up for your reading pleasure. It’s been a good year, next year will be even better.

I actually liked them.

“I think my heart was in Smashing Pumpkins,” Corgan told a local news affiliate in Chicago this morning. “I think it was naive of me to think that I could find something that would mean as much to me. I enjoyed my experience in Zwan, but at the end of the day, without that sense of deeper family and loyalty, it becomes like anything else. In some cases I felt that the band members viewed it as something they could decide to do or not to do.” (full story)

[Thanks for the tip, Tim]

Honestly — I don’t really care that much. If that’s what you want to do, totally do it — I’ve done it myself (though I don’t anymore) — I’m glad you have the music — seriously! (read more)