Pussy Galore

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What's that you say? The original "Exile on Mainstreet" isn't raw enough for you? Well, no matter - Pussy Galore will make it totally unlistenable!
That is, unless you're the special type who loves the lowest of the lo-fi. Bassholes, Gibson Brothers, '68 Comeback and the like. when I was 18 this stuff said to me that it was perfectly acceptable to release a boom box recording on vinyl. Not just a good sounding boom box recording either. How about a recording at the back of a shitty club you were playing (while drunk and out of tune) with batteries that were dying and annoying beer bottles clinking around? Your record need not have to sound like Boston or Queen or even as quality as the Cramps or Ramones - That's what Jon Spencer and Jeffery Evens tought me. Bless them.
In any case, if you love Exile give this a listen. If you already love Pusy Galore how about revisiting this great tribute to commemorate Exile's anniversary? Eh? Nudge Nudge.

It's Just A Click Away
It's Just A Click Away

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Tar Babies

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In an era before The Bellrays and the Dap Kings, the Tar Babies (and the Big Boys) were bringing out the funk!

Three ex members of the Madison, Wisconsin hardcore scene calling themselves the "Tar Babies" and playing funk music must have been pretty daring back in 1982 (depending on what side of the tracks they were performing at I imagine). While their earlier band Mecht Mensch were a pretty great punk band, the Tar Babies were also more than capable at handling complex funk-based tunes. Less jazzy than their SST label mates, Universal Congress Of... and certainly less punk or "alternative" than the rest of the roster, perhaps they were just out of place in the '80s and never got as huge as they should have been (after all, the Chili Peppers didn't get big 'till they "whited" up their sound). If not for the "Savannah Slamma" skate video they were in 21 years ago, I may have never heard of them either.
"No contest" is my favorite, but "Honey Bubble" and "Fried Milk" are classics as well. I got their 4th record on cassette several years ago...but I've actually never played it yet for some reason.

fun fact: their bass player is the drummer of Old Skull's dad!


Husker Dude

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Shonen Knife

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It's my birthday, so I'm feeling happy. Shonen Knife reminds me of happy.
For me this is their "classic" album. It features a few of my favorite songs (Baggs, Lazybones, Diet Run) as well as a great cover of "The Luck of the Irish" featuring Redd Kross's Jeff McDonald. Another great track is the tribute to one of my favorite bands called simply "Blue Oyster Cult" that borrows ever so slightly from Agents Of Fortune's "Debbie Denise".
If a few of you are new to Shonen Knife, don't let the first song (that sounds more like Cibo Matto) scare you off. You're also better off starting with 1992's "Let's Knife", which is sort of a re-recorded compilation of earlier stuff.

After this, go listen to the Sleaze Sisters, Supersnazz and the 5,6,7,8's!

Bear Up Bison

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TSOL - Change Today?

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I first heard of T.S.O.L. in 6th grade, because for some weird reason all the 7th graders (even the preppies) somehow got into them (maybe it was the same year they played a party in the desert - a show my band mate Nick got to see - and news spread to us middle schoolers?). In any case, I'd heard them ("Code Blue" really appealed to my sense of humor at the time), and seen pictures of them when I got my "Hardcore Punk in California Book" in 8th grade, but I didn't get INTO them 'til a year later when in 9th grade (the year I really got into all the punk stuff) I bought a skate video called "Summer Sessions". the video was pretty crappy, but it was my first skate video so I watched it over and over again. Also, the entire soundtrack was nearly every song off of "Change Today?"
It was the beginning of the end for TSOL, and by the time I was a senior, my friend who was into stuff like Tesla, Skid Row and Guns 'n' Roses became a fan (always the sign of a band going "mersh"). They also, as you know had no more original members.

Anyways, at band practice the other day we all broke into an A cappella version of "How Do", and last practice I annoyed Nick trying to figure out the riff to "Red Shadows". He swears he'll never listen to this record again after that. This is for you, buddy!

p.s. For some reason I never got in to the opening track, "Black Magic" so I always start on the second song. Always. Maybe I'll give it another chance.


Heroin!

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HORNSS

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Wow, how long has it been? So yeah, I got the old '83 diesel chevy van and haven't blogged since!
Just one more thing to suck up my time, right? Also I went back home to Palm Springs for a few days (Film Noir festival and Grandma's 89th birthday!), also been working 6 days a week as usual, and band practice...and to top it off street cleaning is 7 DAYS A WEEK in my neighborhood! And they still can't get rid of the human shit that's everywhere! I mean, if you're homeless and you gotta poo, by all means take a dump on the street, I don't own the sidewalk or tarmac...just clean up as best you can, or make some kind of effort. Sheesh!

Anyways, I'm still kinda busy, but more rips are on the way! In the meantime, our new band finally has a Myspace page with a couple rough songs recorded at band practice (with overdubs and tinkering obviously)

check it out:

http://www.facebook.com/HORNSS
http://www.myspace.com/hornssf

be back soon with something good!

-Mike

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Rolling Rooms: A Blog the Jerk! Comp

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I basically grew up in the late '70s and early '80s. At least those were the formative years of me sneaking my first beer, managing to score a few copies of Oui magazine from a friend, trying cigarettes and weed for the first time, and watching all kinds of things on cable my mom didn't know I was watching.
Back in those days a young kid could glean from movies that a. you weren't cool without a cool car and b. you will never get laid without a cool car. and c. beer and weed were cool (this was pre Nancy Regan, remember). The "cool cars" back then (according to Hollywood) were Corvettes and Custom Vans. The film "The Van" and the van featured in "Rock n Roll High School" left a permanent mark on my brain, and though my first two cars were neither of those things, I have gone through life with van-envy. Until now.
That's right, I finally got myself an old Chevy van! A 1983 G20 with a diesel engine (vegetable oil conversion kit included). Am I excited? HELL YES. Of course parking it in San Francisco is going to be a nightmare (as of this post I'm picking her up in a day or two).
Well, 'till I pick her up, I have been obsessively "vanning" the internet. I Joined a couple of online van sites, been reading mechanic manuals on my van, and constantly visioning all the custom things I wanna do to her. I also made this Van-tastic (yeah I went there) comp for my first trip out with her!
I'm not posting a track list since some of it is major label, in print stuff...but it's a "mixtape", so no harm done. It's pretty freewheelin' and I tried to mix some old hits with some more obscure stuff (like the James Rolleston song from "Bad News Bears in Breaking Training" and "S.O.U.L.")

Vankhana

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Tony Rojas

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Most of San Francisco knows Tony from being in Shotwell (and Flophouse and his other current bands), however, hidden deep in the recesses of Tony’s closet (according to Jimmy Shotwell) lie boxes of Tony’s solo CD. It’s too bad there aren't more out there, 'cause for a while this didn’t leave my stereo and a lot of people would really dig it.
It might not be for every fan of his other bands — some of it sounds more like Chance the Gardner or Wonderful Broken Thing rather than the sorta Mission District peace punk (if that’s what you wanna call it) he normally plays — but if you’re like me and like mellower stuff too (Bill Fox's solo stuff comes to mind on “Brother”) you might wanna give this a chance. There’s also a couple garage rock stompers, a little bit of Cheap Trick, and some good ol' political lyrics, including a better, acoustic version of Shotwell’s “R U Insane”.

Salt of the Earth

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