Author Archives: Tankboy

Graham Coxon has a new album, “Love Travels At Illegal Speeds,” coming out March 13. I’m assuming since we live in the States it won’t land here until 2008 so expect to shell out thirty bucks for the disc. It looks promising though since it is again produced by Stephen Street. The pair worked together on Coxon’s last album with terrific results. I know I was certainly pleased to see Coxon move away from dirty tape decks and half-formed songs in order to re-embrace full-blown rock and/or roll couched in some punchy pop songs.

Coxon will be touring the UK in March/April to coincide with the album release, and will also support the Kaiser Chiefs on their April UK tour, but I am again guessing that we won’t see him live until 2010 or so.

I’ve been sitting on these for a while, but Mister Sunshine has given the go-ahead to publicly disperse this link so I’m doing so. The Tommie Sunshine Radio Edits, in particular, are pretty fucking good…I mean he even makes Good Charlotte sound hip and that’s no easy feat!

Catch him on tour:

11/17-11/27 Australian Tour
12/15: Kansas City, MO @ Granada
12/17: Tampa, FL @ Hallucination’s X-Mas Party – Masquerade
12/23: Chicago, IL @ Metro w/ Kill Hannah
12/27: Amsterdam @ RAUW
12/29: Shanghai, China
12/31: Hong Kong

So I saw Bauhaus last night. I had been looking forward to this show for a long time and I did not walk away disappointed. The band is in exceptionally fine form and their set-list was impeccable. One could see glimpses of what cause the group’s break-up two decades ago by the interplay between Peter Murphy and Daniel Ash since both are born frontmen but ultimately they attacked the songs as a team and kept the band’s reputation intact. I had stated in a preview on another site that one of the reasons this particular reunion tour is one to watch is because Bauhaus quit at the top of their game and left behind a catalog that never had a chance to grow into something embarrassing or unwieldy.

In fact the only thing that has been detrimental to the band at all has been the stamping of the imprimatur of the Goth movement upon them and the unfortunate fact that many, many people less inventive than the members of Bauhaus have invoked the band’s name in connection with their own fairy tales about the dark side of humanity set to minor chords. One needs to remember that Bauhaus was actually closer to a glam band – their selections in terms of songs they chose to cover makes that pretty clear — than what now passes for Goth music. The group took what it knew, injected some dub stylings and a healthy dose of guitar atmospherics and ended up with a unique result that has stood the test of time.

So I was going to review the show in detail here but decided it wasn’t necessary since Joshua Klein has already done so in today’s Chicago Tribune. He does a nice job of factually hitting the show’s highlights and occasional weaknesses and for that I have to admire the serviceable side of his review. If only he had kept it to that.
Continue reading →

Due to the immense amount of money brought in by Lollopalooza this year, as well as other rock shows on public Park District controlled grounds, the City of Chicago has suddenly warmed to the idea of more rock shows in the near future. As Jim DeRogoatis notes in today’s Chicago Sun-Times:

Revenue from the revitalized Lollapalooza in Grant Park, the Rolling Stones at Soldier Field and 20 summer concerts that drew 100,000 people to Northerly Island generated $2.2 million for Park District coffers.

This is good news for residents’ wallets, since the strategy helps forestall a tax increase. But it’s even better news for music lovers, since we may get to hear more of the sounds we love in the parks we help fund. (full story)

Hey, we ain’t complaining…no tax increase and more rock shows? Bring it on!

Carve a pumpkin with The Gorillaz.

Now make with the smashy-smash!

Rivers Cuomo is heading back to Harvard to finish his English degree…finally! However he will be forgoing the best part of the undergraduate experience since he’s taken a vow of celibacy. No, really. I’m not kidding.

“I decided to try celibacy because I heard it would help the meditation, and I tried meditation because I heard it would help with the music,” he said. “So, it all really comes back to the music.

“Listen to ‘Make Believe’ and compare it to the previous album, ‘Maladroit,”‘ he continued. “I know I can hear a difference in my singing. My voice just sounds much more sensitive and dynamic now. I also notice a difference in the lyrics. I’m much more open and communicative about my emotions now.” (full story)

So since he’s not having sex with anyone else he’s now more in touch with himself. That actually makes sense!

I’m so sophomoric sometimes.

…they’re playing at the Belmont Army Surplus store as one of their “Renegade” shows peppered in-between their dates with Nine Inch Nails.

Awe-sumb.

Apparently only John Densmore of The Doors has his head screwed on straight. Who’da thunk it? This is really ironic when you consider Densmore was the one who really just absolutely hated lead singer Jim Morrison. One would figure that Densmore would take the years of psychic abuse, sells Morrison?s songs on Madison Avenue and take the money and run. So why doesn?t He?

“People lost their virginity to this music, got high for the first time to this music,” Densmore said. “I’ve had people say kids died in Vietnam listening to this music, other people say they know someone who didn’t commit suicide because of this music?. On stage, when we played these songs, they felt mysterious and magic. That’s not for rent.”

That not only sets the Doors apart from the long, long list of classic rock acts that have had their songs licensed for major U.S. commercial campaigns, it also has added considerably to Densmore’s estrangement from former bandmates Ray Manzarek and Robbie Krieger, a trio that last set eyes on one another in the Los Angeles County Superior Courthouse last year. (full story at The L.A. Times)

Right on, dude. Right on.

For the record, I?ve always hated Manzarek and his bogus hippy-drippy bullshit. I just wanted to get that in.

And the the frizzy-haired one? I have no opinion on him.

This just in:

Critically lauded Chicago quartet, The M’s, have just signed to the Champaign, IL-based record label, Polyvinyl Records. The M’s will release their much-anticipated, yet-to-be-titled sophomore release this spring, with a tour to follow.

cheap 20 mg levitra

The M’s forthcoming release for Polyvinyl will hit stores in early 2006. The new album, recorded this summer at Chicago’s Semaphone Studio, says Hicks, is “a definite departure from the first. It’s a bit more serious in tone.”

It’s about freaking time. While I like the M’s quite a bit it’s been a really long time since they’re produced anything new (and their lackluster Intonation performance) had me worried. Since the Brilliante debut was basically three EPs packaged as a single LP I’m dying to hear what a more cohesive and singly thought out offering will sound like.

It’s time for them to step up to the plate and deliver on the “Most Promising New Band” status they’ve been riding for the last two years. I’m personally rooting for them to knock it out of the park.

Billy Corgan loves the Chicago Cubs. How could you not? I hate all sports and even I love the Cubs!

So in today’s Chicago Tribune he participated in a Q & A regarding his favorite team. This is not that odd considering Corgan is known for calling in to local radio stations or appearing on local television sports talk shows to discuss his beloved Cubbies. However the one question that caught my eye was in regards to the music played at Wrigley Field and Corgan’s thoughts on those song selections.

“How about playing songs by Chicago artists? Every city I go to plays songs by their local artists. The theme song for the Boston Red Sox is `Dirty Water’, a song by the ’60’s group The Standells about the River Charles (and other sundry goings-on). It is absolutely criminal how bad the music is that is played at Wrigley Field. Discounting myself from this idea, how about nine innings worth of Chicago blues, Cheap Trick, Styx, etc. Instead we get passe hits and out-of-touch classics. ” (full story)

I’m with him all the way. Well, except for the blues thing since I can’t stand most of the slick crap packaged as “Chicago” blues. However, how awesome would nine innings of “He’s A Whore” and “Dream Police” be? Yeah yeah!