Astroworld Content.

I just read this great interview with Daniel Johnston that's up on the Onion AV Club right now - y'all should check it out. The part where his sister interrupts to say that any money sent to Daniel would just be spent "at the pizza place" is kind of sad, but still made me smile, probably because I'm a jerk. Seriously though, I love Daniel Johnston & I love his stories about talking frogs at Astroworld (RIP) even more. Houston represent.

Daniel Johnston on the Henry Rollins show? Yes, please!

What's So Great About The Internet?

I wanted to post about the Kites show that's happening in the area tomorrow, but the internet does not seem to be yielding the proper information. I saw a nice silkscreened poster for it next to an ATM in downtown Northampton, so if you're really interested, hit up Main Street & maybe you can figure out the details that are currently escaping my memory.

There's also this show, on Saturday, which might also be worth investigating:

Sian Alice Group (ex-Jesus & Mary Chain)
Mike Bones (on The Social Registry Records)
Vio/Mire
Saturday, March 1st
Hampshire College Red Barn
9pm, $5 or free with Hampshire ID
Hampshire AMC/CMC for more information.

Aren't They Beautiful?

Eveytime I watch this clip I feel like some director decided to copy Spike Jonze's "Buddy Holly" music video. Whereas "Buddy Holly" was done for laughs, this was how it actually was back in the 1960s.

"Pushing Too Hard" by the Seeds on the TV show Mother's in Law (1966)


while I'm at it, be sure to check out the video uploader's youtube site, which features over 100 great freakbeat/psych 60s video clips, including this one of Boston's own Remains performing "Diddy Wah Diddy"

Dollar Short

I wanted to post this prior to the Neptune's show but I never found a version to embed. It's like a Terry Richardson video shoot. Or not.

"Grey Shallows" from Gong Lake

Snow Day.

We're on a temporary roll right now with noteworthy non-Boston shows. Conversions come highly recommended if, like me, you're a fan of fast, female-fronted punk. Failures are a hardcore supergroup of sorts (this is where I drop the "members of Das Oath, Cancer Kids, Ampere & Cut The Shit" line) & I think this is like their second show ever or something. Go to the show because I know you kids love the punk rock.

This is the Sound

I was going to drunkenly post about the Fat Worm of Error/Bunnies show but we have such an excellent staff here that I was beat to the punch. Instead, here's a Spacemen 3 video, which is about all I listen to these days. Apparently Mr. Spacemen has an album coming out this year under the Spiritualized pseudonym, which you can blogsearch elsewhere. He also released a guitar loops record a few years back which I want to hear over here. I should probably care about what Sonic's been up to but I haven't. Sorry!

Test Your Retinas.

If lately you've found yourself thinking, "I'm really bummed that my eyes have not recently been assaulted at a seizure-inducing capacity", first of all, you're fucking crazy, but second of all: Fat Worm of Error's myspace page.

If you're not in the market for an epileptic fit, I'll just share this juicy little tidbit with you:
Friday, February 22nd
Fat Worm of Error
Bunnies
Severe Severe
Rabbit Rabbit
9pm, 21+
The Elevens (140 Pleasant Street), Northampton, MA

Excruciating Boredoms.

This is probably old news, but there's a new Boredoms album on the way on Thrill Jockey. And they're touring next month! And coming to Boston! Rejoice!

Saturday March 29, 2008
Boredoms!
8PM, 18+
Paradise Rock Club, 967 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA

Boredoms! Boredoms! Boredoms! - "Vision Creation Newsun"


Hey Vice Records, if you're reading this, you're dead to us for never sending the rest of those Super Roots reissues over!

Piss Pot

Pavement - "Range Life"
directed by Scott Blen

Do those kinds of freewheelin' urinals exist at concerts these days? And that actress at the beginning and end of the video looks familiar, but I can't put my finger on it.

A Raging Case of V-D.

Even if nobody else loves you... WMUA loves you.

Happy Birthday To Me!

We've got another drool-worthy show on the radar this weekend featuring Neptune (see: the Oneida/Kinski show we gushed about a few months ago). It's also their album release show, but the real cause for celebration is that it's MY BIRTHDAY*. The incredible, amazing & underrated Helms are also playing, along with These Are Powers, who put out one of 2007's finest albums while out Liars-ing Liars.

Neptune
Helms
These Are Powers
Animal Hospital
Saturday, February 16th
9pm, $10.00, 21+
Great Scott
Harvard and Comm. Ave
Allston MA 02134

A film-noir inspired video for "Silver Lung" by These Are Powers, complete with lots of potatoes:



* I will be accepting vegan baked goods & gifts if you wish to bestow them upon me in honor of the twenty-third year of my existence.

Cheap Thrills #2

Now that the sludgy noise rock renaissance seems to be in full swing (we have Pissed Jeans to thank for this), it's as good a time as any to give this little record that I acquired quite cheaply some much deserved props in the form of a Cheap Thrills post.

Everyone's been quick to ride David Yow's metaphorical jock in giving credit for inspiring the recent wave of ugly, pissed off rock outfits who no doubt have rediscovered their copies of Goat. But without laying all of the credit at the feet of the Jesus Lizard, there's a whole slew of early-to-mid '90s bands who made albums just as gloriously fucked up as Mister Yow & Company that I guarantee you will be represented in the collections of Clockcleaner, Pissed Jeans & their ilk. And shockingly, not all of them were on Touch & Go or Amphetamine Reptile! Which brings us to this beast, The Scientific Supercake by the perenially underrated godheadSilo, who crawled out of the same excellent Northwest sludge that spawned Karp & the Melvins.

A quick list of why this band is awesome:
1. It's two guys - bass & drums, no fucking frills.
2. I can say with absolute certainty that they are hands-down the greatest band to ever come out of North Dakota.
3. Their last album, Share The Fantasy, accomplished the twin feat of the most metal cover art this side of Iron Maiden AND a cover of "In The Air Tonight" by Phil Collins.
4. Their bassist later teamed up with Zak Sally of Low (yes, that Low) for the great Black Sabbath-worshipping project Enemymine.

Bringing it back to 1994! YEAH!

Kick the Can.

Yet another benefit show for our beloved Flywheel is happening tomorrow night.

Wednesday, February 13th
Amherst, MA @ Hampshire College's Centrum Gallery
8PM, All Ages, Benefit for Flywheel Arts Space:
The Can Kickers
Chris Merenda (The Mammals)
Zebu
Free for Hampshire Students, donations everyone else.
Proceeds support Flywheel!

We hit it off with Zebu last year, due to a mutual appreciation for noisy, fucked up rock & roll over the airwaves. They have a new album out called Chainsaws & Cheerleaders, which I haven't heard yet, but I'm sure it's worth your hard-earned cash.

The Cover-Up 3.0

In honor of the upcoming Magnetic Fields shows in Northampton on Monday & Tuesday, it's time to resurrect the Cover-Up, our on-going spotlight on crimes against album aesthetics.


This is the most recent Magnetic Fields album, Distortion. To his credit, Stephin Merritt is certainly doing his part to disprove all of those stereotypes linking homosexuality & a knack for design. When I first saw the cover for this, all I could think of was that it almost looked like it should have been on a novelty shirt that some mallrat teenage boy would buy at Spencer's Gifts. Something like this, perhaps.



C'mon! A little more effort! This cover looks like it was thrown together using Microsoft clip art from the early '90s. Points also deducted for the choice of using two non-matching fonts, as well as the less than appealing juxtaposition of the pink/black & red/grey/black color schemes. And I still can't wrap my head around how the little male bathroom sign symbol is supposed to fit into the whole thing. Previous Magnetic Fields album covers haven't exactly set the bar high for stunning displays of graphic design, but this one is really, really fucking bad.

Everybody's Working For The Weekend.

Two days to get busy.


February 8th @ The Paradise, Allston, MA (969 Commonwealth Ave)
Liars
No Age
8pm
18+, $14


February 9th @ The Tavern, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA
Little Women
Kurt Weisman
Peter Bonos
9pm
$5, or free with student ID (Hampshire ID, I'm assuming)

It's no secret that we're huge fanboys/fangirls for both Liars & No Age, so that show in particular comes highly endorsed by the crew of the WMUA blog. Angus Andrews of Liars also apparently fucked his back up before the tour, or so the internet tells me, so it should be interesting. Probably not as interesting as this, though:

Liars - "We Fenced Other Gardens With The Bones Of Our Own"

Two Scoops of Raisins

PISSED JEANS in Boston

Saturday, April 12, 2008
Tufts University, Medford MA

Saturday, April 12, 2008
Middle East, Cambridge MA