Show161
Posted in shows on February 28th, 200903.01.2009 Speed of History Show 161
Playlist:
Fear - New York’s Alright If You Like Saxophones
The Contortions - Contort Yourself
Suicide - Touch Me
The Swans - Speak
Sonic Youth - Kill Yr Idols
The Demics - New York City
Nervous Eaters - Driving To New York
Wire - New York City
Randoms - Let’s Get Rid Of New York
The Sex Pistols - New York
The Heartbreakers - London
Neil Young - Southern Man
Lynryd Skynrd - Sweet Home Alabama
Moving Targets - Less Than Gravity
Moving Targets - The Other Side
Moving Targets - Falling
Moving Targets - Away From Me
Moving Targets - Last Of The Angels
Radon - Wash Away
So here is my Feb. column, late in the month and dealing with the best of 2008, something I should have written about one or two months ago. Such is life. At least I have had plenty of time to digest and ruminate on these releases. It’s pretty eclectic. I mean it all falls under the rather loosely defined umbrella of “punk rock” but spans from dark, heavy crust to bubblegum powerpop. I think that means it has been a good year. So, with no further ado here is my top 10 in roughly descending order.
This is hands down my favorite release of the year, which is surprising because this is well outside the spectrum of what I normally enjoy. As I have said to many people while raving about this, that either means that my tastes are really off, or it is really fucking good. Of course I am going with the latter. Originally a CD-R demo that was then released on vinyl (echoing the CRIMINAL DAMAGE LP of a few years back), MORNE is the current project of Milosz from FILTH OF MANKIND and is, in my opinion, the absolute pinnacle of modern crust, epic and emotional, while not becoming stadium or emo-crust. It’s amazing that it took someone this long to realize that what we wanted to hear was AMEBIX or ANTISECT updated for the modern age and not 15 minute long cello driven metal (sorry FALL OF EFRAFA I still like you, I swear). And just look at that cover. That is fucking perfect.
More proto-punk garage sounding goodness, this time from Alabama. The singer has a twang that is at times annoying and at times really reminds me of how Mick was trying to sound on the most countrified of the Sticky Fingers-era STONES songs, even on the punkier sounding tracks. And while I think the STONES comparison is warranted for a lot of the album there is much that remind me of EDDY CURRENT SUPPRESSION RING, such as the standout “Snake In The Grass” with its chorus that is almost permanently stuck in my head now.
The final of my trilogy of garage punk bands, I initially wasn’t that warm on this album. Not that it was bad, it just took a few repeated listens before I was sold. It’s impossible to talk about this band without going in to their history. Fred Cole has been making garage rock since 1964. Fleeing the draft, he ran out of gas in Portland and met Toody Conner, whom he married in 1967. The two of them have been making music together ever since. I was familiar with one or two of his older bands from various Nuggets-like comps and with much punkier DEAD MOON who was active during the grunge and garage rock years of early 90’s. PIERCED ARROWS is simply the newest incarnation. I was expecting more of the same and was initial drawn to the rawer of the tracks, like say “Dead Rainbows” for example but after repeated listens have decided that my favorite is the much sweeter “Caroline”.
Another Portland band, THE ESTRANGED put out several releases this year, all of which I could have chosen but I decided I liked Static Thoughts the most. While the EPs had a darker post-punk feel the LP stays dark but draws less from the UK influences (JOY DIVISION, WIRE, etc…) and much more from another band from Portland’s history, THE WIPERS. While the whole album isn’t directly updating THE WIPERS the tracks that are, such as “Don’t They Know” are some of the best.
More dark post-punk from the Pacific Northwest, from guys that used to be in hardcore bands, this time from across the border in Vancouver. Colder and sparser than THE ESTRANGED, THE SPECTRES sound like much of the darker UK peace punk, minus the accents that is. I am very excited about the current move in this direction as this sound is some of my favorite stuff.
This will be the one that most of you haven’t heard of. Modern bouncy Oi from France that doesn’t reference the gigantic French Oi scene of the 80’s so much as it does the more contemporary American style. It brings to mind a less annoying and slightly more upbeat TEMPLARS, with the rough scratchy vocals and sing along choruses with two songs in English and one in their native French. Good quality stuff without much of the cheese that generally goes hand in hand with this sub-genre.
One of the only hardcore releases I dug from this year, Germany’s CIVIL VICTIM blast out 7 songs of retro hardcore on this 7″. Ranging from sub 1 minute blast of thrash to more nuanced songs with harder, slower and heavier bits reminiscent of POISON IDEA. I didn’t want to say “mosh-parts” because they really aren’t that kind of band, which is why I like them.
THE DEFEKTORS released two EPs this year and I enjoyed both but this one wins because of the title track, a nice moody number that stays with me well after each listen. I am unsure how to characterize this band. Part of me wants to lump them in with the new bedroom punk trend because there is a certain looseness to the songs, as if they were sketches recorded live, but that really isn’t fair. They are walking a line between the colder post-punk and the warmer, earthier garage punk, while playing what are essentially power pop songs.