Here We Go.

So I guess this is going to be the first post in our little blog. Excessive ramblings & heated arguments will be soon to follow, rest assured ("Soundin' Off: Eric v. Erika" should be particularly intriguing).


The WMUA Tuesday/Friday crew (aka Eric, Erika & Bryan) was representing at the Middle East in Cambridge this past weekend to witness the rock spectacle that was Jay Reatard & The Ponys, live. If anyone was unfortunate enough to catch Awkward Noise with any sort of regularity last semester, you'll probably know how thoroughly nutty I was for Blood Visions, the album that Mister Reatard released at the end of last year on the great In The Red record label (arguably the most kick-ass record of 2006 - if you don't have it yet, don't be a fool & get it, now). Before Jay's set, Eric made a comment to the effect of "I bet he goes through his entire catalog in forty minutes". No way. He instead tore through about 75% of his songs in NINETEEN MINUTES. I danced my ass off & in spite of having to contend with an extremely drunk girl repeatedly groping my chest for the majority of the set, it was nineteen minutes of pure bliss. Do yourself a favor & pick up anything this man puts out (and good luck keeping up with everything). His new EP, "Night of Broken Glass", is particularly excellent & Awkward Noise endorsed. Oh, and a big "Fuck You" to everyone who elbowed me away from the merch table & thwarted my attempts to snag some of those impossible-to-find singles. Jerks.

I personally felt that the Ponys were doomed to have an impossible time following Jay Reatard, which is a shame given that I've been pretty keen on their new Matador album, Turn The Lights Out. On the way to the show, the three of us were talking about how the Ponys are sort of like a mixtape of all of the big "college rock" bands of the late 70s/early-mid 80s (see: Talking Heads, Sonic Youth, The Pixies, et al), which is meant in the best possible way. Plus, I was kind of stoked on how totally grunge their lead singer looked. They were pretty great, but unfortunately by mind was a total blur after Jay kicked my ass. So I'll just say that you should show them some love & pick up their new record (as well as their earlier shit on the afformentioned In The Red). I'll even momentarily put aside my feelings toward the intentional mispelling of their band name.