Wednesday, October 31, 2007

A Popkid's Dilemma.

All of you cardigan'd, horn rimmed popkids (and I'm including myself in that category, so be quiet) out there better start thinking about your plans for next weekend. This could be a battle of epic proportions:



Friday, November 9th through Sunday, November 11th, this year's installment of the colossal Popfest! New England is happening at the Elevens in Northampton, with more tambourines & handclaps than you can fathom. In particular, I would like to voice my support for the awesome Bunnygrunt, who are headlining the opening night, if you're into things like energetic Superchunk-y pop-punk with co-ed vocals, as well as the Tullycraft-meets-Beat Happening styled Lil' Hospital, who are playing the Sunday afternoon matinee show. There's a kick-ass, download-able sampler featuring all of the bands on the Popfest! roster up here that I highly recommend checking out.



But before you cough up the cash for one of those three-day Popfest! passes, you should probably be aware of the fact that Expressway to Yr Skull favorites Yo La Tengo are going to be at Mass MoCA in North Adams on Saturday, November 10th as part of their "Freewheeling" tour. From their website: "The Freewheeling Yo La Tengo Tour is a rare opportunity to see this ever-surprising band in a setting more intimate and interactive than any tour in their 23-year career. A little bit "Storytellers", a little bit "Unplugged", with a soupcon of their famously varied Hanukkah shows, it will feature the band playing an almost-acoustic set of songs from their entire catalog, with stories about their life as a band, and an encouraged back-and-forth with the audience. Already famous for never playing the same show twice, this fresh look at Yo La Tengo offers rare insight into one of the most important, unique, and beloved bands in American rock. Yo La Tengo's latest CD, I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass, will be the springboard for these shows, though anything can and will happen from there". Mass MoCa shows are pretty incredible (seeing Mission of Burma there was nothing short of mind-blowing) & Yo La Tengo has yet to disappoint me live.

So here's my proposal: Hit up Popfest! on Friday, make the trip out to North Adams for Yo La Tengo on Saturday & spend your Sunday going through indie-pop overload at the matinee/evening Popfest! shows. And after all of that, you'll probably be ready to catch a Lightning Bolt show or something to make up for things.

Celebrity Cameo

Why is it that everyone's getting Cuteoverload boners for Angus's kitten snorgling but no one's commenting about the Zach Galifianakis cameo in the new Liars video?

Waits Wednesday

Since this is one of the few days during the year that a grown person can revert back to the glory days of a seven year old, this one seems Halloween appropriate.

"I Don't Want to Grow Up" from Bone Machine

Wheezy Wheezed

Here is WMUA's contribution to the music blogs paying tribute to Lawrence, Massachusetts-born Robert Goulet's death via a Will Ferrell impersonation.



Happy Halloween! No raping! Rapping is fine.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Tuesday Bum-Out.

First, a real downer, stolen from an article at the Onion AV Club, Those of you who followed the whole mid-to-late 90s Touch & Go/Matador Records thing might remember a woefully underrated band by the name of Silkworm (and if you don't, I recommend that you go acquire all of their albums immediately, perhaps beginning with the tremendous Firewater). You might also remember the horrible incident two summers ago, when a woman attempting suicide in Chicago plowed her car into the vehicle occupied by Silkworm drummer Michael Dahlquist, killing him as she escaped from the collision essentially unscathed. Long story short, said woman was recently found guilty of reckless homicide (rather than the three counts of first degree murder she was originally facing) & is looking at up to a whopping ten years in prison for killing three innocent bystanders. Totally depressing on a number of counts - to paraphrase Bill Hicks, if you're going to kill somebody, at least have some fucking taste.

Silkworm - "Wet Firecracker" (this band ruled so hard!)


And for you fans of art-damaged dance punk: shed a tear, because apparently the Gold Standard Laboratories label has bit the dust. Now would be a good time to pick up all of those Chromatics albums you slept on, or perhaps that Fatal Flying Guilloteens/This Moment In Black History split that will rock your face off. Y'know, while you still have the chance.

Monday, October 29, 2007

Miracle of Life

Vice has a blog post up with three above and beyond halloween costumes, this one setting the bar for halloween costumes to come. Slightly (or totally) not safe for work.

And as a last minute reminder, WMUA is currently in the midst of its annual fund drive. If you have a wad of cash burning a hole in your pocket or thinking of getting deeper into debt, consider making a donation to the station. Better yet, make your donation tonight during Expressway to Yr Skull (that's Monday, 8-10 pm). Erika and I have made a bitchin' 3 CD boxset that comes free with ANY donation amount. $1, $100, $1000- everyone gets the same gift on top of the other station-sanctioned premiums available. The boxsets are each one-of-a-kind packaged and will feature a mixes made by Erika and me individually along with a joint best-of-2007 music. Catch it!

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Halloween Hangover.

If you manage to escape without catching a razorblade in your Halloween candy this week, you might want to go to this show & get your shoegaze on.



Thursday, November 1st
A Place To Bury Strangers
The Bunnies
8:30pm
Hampshire College Dining Commons (893 West Street, Amherst)
FREE!

Also, at 5pm, there's a Death By Audio workshop with Oliver Ackermann of A Place To Bury Strangers, so if you want to earn some cool points & learn about circuit bending or pedal making, here's your chance.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Stay cool, Sugarpuff.

For the weekend.

Love of Diagrams - "The Pyramid"
from Mosaic out now on Matador


The King Khan & BBQ Show - "Why Don't You Lie"
from What's for Dinner? out now on In the Red

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

If You Want To Write Rock Lyrics, You Must Learn About Where The Hobbits Dwell.

I was nerding out over indie rock from the Clinton era with my friend Charlie today & we were inspired to go digging for some lost 90s treasures from back in the day when you could actually catch a Swervedriver or Shudder To Think video on MTV (the mind boggles).

Yo La Tengo - "Sugarcube" (featuring the cast of Mr. Show!)



Chavez - "Break Up Your Band"



Superchunk - "Watery Hands" (with Janeane Garofalo & David Cross!)



Jawbox - "Savory"




To be continued.

Waits Wednesday

"Cold Cold Ground" live in 1987

Monday, October 22, 2007

RIP Lance Hahn.



Lance Hahn, guitarist/vocalist for the great Austin-via-San Francisco "anarcho-situationist-pop-punk" band J Church, passed away yesterday, apparently the result of a kidney disease-induced coma. There's a really touching tribute to him up on the Austin 360 music blog that you can check out for the exact story, or you can peruse the J Church myspace page for the sorts of always slightly unsettling post-death comments that make the internet a weird place sometimes. This dude had been a huge part of the Texas DIY community during my formative teenage punk days & will be missed terribly in Austin & elsewhere. RIP, Lance.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Do You Wanna Get Your Teeth Knocked The ***K Out (Sonically Speaking, Of Course...)

Hi All - Ladewtangclan here.

Last week's End of Radio program on WMUA (Thur 8-10pm EST. Winamp, Itunes, Windows Media player are all now on board if you want to stream live from wmua.org, btw) featured Boston's own firebrand dj HUBRIS spinning rare punk 7"s and 12"s accumulated through several decades of record collecting bliss and we were there to podcast it!

Playlist followed by the 4 part podcast...


The End of Radio - Thursday, 2007-10-11, 20:00:00-22:00:00

* denotes a request, # denotes a new release

Time Played - Artist - Song Title - Album Title - Label
#19:59:31 - Campaign For Real Time - Hey - LA Tracks 1933-1969 - Wonderdrug
20:01:57 - Iggy Pop - Success - The Passenger - Virgin
#20:05:56 - The Mabuses - Mirth - Mabused - Magpie Records
#20:11:50 - Enon - Colette - Grass Geysers... Carbon Clouds - Touch and go
#20:20:19 - Magik Markers - Circle - Boss - Ecstatic Peace!
#20:25:01 - Pinback - Barnes - Autumn Of The Serphs - Touch and Go

[HUBRIS]
20:33:14 - Television - Little Johnny Jewel - 7" - Ork
20:34:45 - Dub Diablo - Talib Kweli v. Radiohead - 12" - BFR
20:38:17 - Charles Mingus - Fables of Faubus - Charles Mingus - Barnaby Records
20:47:19 - Serge Gainsbourg - Requiem Pour Un Con - Le Selections Du Cinema De Gainsbourg - Smoke Disque
20:50:51 - El Michaels Affair - Bring The Ruckus - 7" - Truth And Soul
20:52:10 - Sinead O'Connor - Throw Down Your Arms - 7" - Taxi
20:56:51 - Jandek - Your Other Man (Secret Frequency Crew Remix) - 7" - Schematic Music
21:08:28 - The Cramps - Domino (R. Orbison) - Gravest Hits EP / Off The Bone Compiliation - Alien Records
21:11:58 - The Girls - Jefferey I Hear You - 7" (Local Boston band 1979) - Hearthan
21:12:33 - La Peste - Better Off Dead - 7" - Black Records
21:15:46 - Iggy Pop and James Williamson - I Got A Right - 7" - Siamese
21:17:24 - Roxy Music (Phones Remix) - Editions of You - 7 - Virgin
21:23:34 - Test Icicles (Digital Remix) - What's Your Damage - The Dig Your Own Grave E.P. - Domino
21:35:17 - Gossip (Soulwax Nite Version) - Standing In The Way - V/A: Kitsune Maison Compilation 3 - Kitsune
21:38:03 - The Slits - I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Typical Girl 12" - Island
21:41:50 - Soulwax - Teachers - Nite Versions - Pias
21:43:31 - Dub Diablo - Hives vs. Peaches - 12 - BFR
21:45:48 - PIL - Annalisa - PIL (Edition 1) - Virgin
21:48:34 - Joakim - Love Me 2 - Monsters and Silly Songs - Versatile
21:56:14 - NY Dolls - Human Being - Too Much Too Soon - Mercury
[/HUBRIS]


Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

enjoy,

RL

Picking Up The Hampshire Slack.

This past Friday, there was a pretty amazing Wolf Eyes/Fat Worm Of Error/Northampton Wools show in the Hampshire College dining commons & in true Hampshire show fashion, I didn't find out about it until the day before (actually, this was a step up from finding out about a show there a day or two after, which also happens with relative frequency). So as a public service of sorts, I'm going to plug a show that's happening tonight courtesy of our Five College buddies over at Hampshire.

Tuesday, October 16th
9pm-ish? Your guess is as good as mine.
Hampshire College Red Barn (near the Admissions Building, 893 West Street in Amherst).
MV & EE with the Golden Road, featuring J Mascis on guitar/drums & Tom Carter on bass.
I'd tell you how much it costs, but I really have no idea. Probably free for Hampshire students with ID & between $5-$8 for non-Hampshire types.


Hampshire show-booking peeps, if you're reading this, start emailing us about this shit so we can spread some adequate advance hype for you guys! Get on it!

Haikus, Part Two.

Yet again, Eric & I sought out requests on our show in exchange for an opportunity to earn a place in our Haiku Hall of Fame. The always reliable Joe pulled through for the second time (we're sorry that you always seem to be bogged down in homework) & after about three minutes of trying to get a request out of our caller Brian, the best he could give me was that he's really into "existentialist indie" right now & that we should just play something for him that we liked. It was a good effort, so I'm still going to give him the haiku treatment. So here we go.

AP Physics sucks
Makes Joe want to punch infants
Requests lessen stress.

-----

Brian the bearded
Driving in your Ford Contour
An old persons' car.



Apparently poems aren't very enticing to what small listening audience we have, so I think we're going to retire this gimmick. HOWEVER! WMUA's annual fun(d) drive is just over the horizon at the end of the month & Camp Expressway To Yr Skull has big plans in store, because we love you. Prepare yourself for some mind-blowing, hand-crafted, limited edition mix CD box sets that will make a lovely addition to your music collection. What do you have to do to have the good fortune of obtaining one of said box sets? Just call us on October 29th, make a pledge of ANY amount & it's all yours, buddy. Start digging under your couch cushions, selling those vital organs on the black market & making some trips to the sperm bank.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Thursday! Thursday! Thursday!




I know that you're looking for something to do this Thursday, so I'm going to insist that you (the collective you) go see Mister William Elliott Whitmore at the Iron Horse in Northampton. The first time I saw him was when he played in my friends' living room in an old creaky house in Houston's Museum District on Halloween years ago & I think that everyone huddled around him that night shared my experience of having their mind blown. Who was this guy with a whiskey & cigarettes voice that would put Tom Waits to shame, playing a banjo & getting a room full of crusty punk rock kids to stomp their feet along to Leadbelly-influenced country blues songs? He's playing much bigger venues than anarchists' living rooms now (opening for the Pogues?!), but seeing him still feels like he's just singing songs for a bunch of friends in a really great, intimate way that you don't get at your typical impersonal club show. It's a late show (doors at 10pm), so feel free to get really drunk beforehand if you're into that sort of thing, but don't miss this dude play. For serious.

Friday, October 5, 2007

Columbus Weekend Sale!

This weekend, your local Pioneer Valley Toyota Dealer is having a Columbus Day Bargain extravaganza you won’t want to miss!

-2008 Yaris Hatchbacks starting at an unbelieveable $11,300!

-Or maybe you're the outdoors, offroading type? You're in luck! Our 2007 Tacoma Pick-Ups must go! Starting price- just $14,180!

-Even the classic Camry is on sale too! And at the insane price of 18470!

EVERYTHING MUST GO!

And the mother of all bargains:

MAN MAN LIVE!
Yes that’s right, Philadelphia’s finest, MAN MAN, will be performing LIVE! Tonight! One Night Only! Featuring special guests Who Shot Hollywood! Doors open at 8:30 PM. Be There!

Thursday, October 4, 2007

So Busy

Just a warning for anyone thinking of buying the new Jens Lekman album next week- the shit will give you cavities. The below video clip from Asterix Erobert Rom is the first thing I thought of while I was listening to the LP.


Personally, I wish he’d do more covers of Arthur Russell, like the cover of "A Little Lost" he did for the awesome Take Away Show done by La Blogotheque.


I commend these guys for having the exact amount of grit on their film. Here’s one of Low's Alan Sparhawk (someone get me that sweater!) doing a great acoustic version of “Murderer” from one of my five (easily) favorite albums of the year Drums and Guns.


Also, going back to the Arthur Russell, a documentary about him is coming out sometime in 2008 and below is the trailer for the film. He had an album of his reissued recently under the Dinosaur L monicker entitled 24 -> 24 Music. It’s one of the few genuinely great disco [not disco] albums to own. If you love what the DFA and their posse have been putting out, they’ve essentially been mimicking this and Russell’s other music for years.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

I Don't Really Hate French-Canadians.

As promised, here is a haiku that I wrote for Joe, the only person who decided to take advantage of our generosity last night & make a request in exchange for being immortalized in haiku form.

Joe loves 'MUA
Thank you for requesting Sole
Math homework is lame


You're all jealous.

Monday, October 1, 2007

Moore Thurston

Thurston Moore is doing a show at the Pleasant Street Theater in Northampton tonight following whenever the last movie screening of the night ends (I'm told around 9:30 pm). Cost is ten bucks.