MOG - zenji's Posts

Still Blue

zenji — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 08:29:40 GMT

Here is a song that makes me think of summer nights in the woods; of cool breezes in safe dark spaces. Some songs just seem to be miracles, this is one of them, to me.

You may hear nothing but Scottish electronic hoo ha but, if that's the case, I feel for you. In a perfect world this little instrumental tune would make everybody as happy as it makes me.

Back in Your Head

zenji — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 01:09:25 GMT

As threatened, another song from "The Con," by Tegan & Sara. This is Back In Your Head.

Burn Your Life Down

zenji — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:28:58 GMT

Hey, check it out! I'm posting a song that's not 15 years old. Hell, this is so recent it almost qualifies as new. The song is Burn Your Life Down by Tegan & Sara, from their most recent "The Con." I like every song I've heard from this album so far; I may have to break down and go buy it. Next up, I'll post Back in Your Head, another song from "The Con."

Hey man, what's the matter with you?

zenji — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 22:45:28 GMT

That's a line, or rather part of the chorus from Velvet Roof by Buffalo Tom, another 90s band that deserved better than they got. Really, that's what all my posts are about. Those of you listening with fresh ears will probably not hear anything remarkable, but their brand of melodic, guitar driven rock with personal lyrics was new and interesting at the time... FWIW, I understand that John Stewart is a big fan of theirs. I was never that into them, but I loved and like this song.
*Update: I watched the video, which I've never seen before, and I can't recommend it. Nothing wrong with it, but not in keeping with the spirit of the song, IMO. YMMV. I appended the MP3 to the post, just in case you want the video-free experience =>)

Sweet Jane

zenji — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 05:49:45 GMT

By the Cowboy Junkies. I've already written about it, so just check it out.

Buggered

zenji — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 01:54:16 GMT

I can't find my buggered USB cable, so can't browse the archive for a song to play. Instead, here's a list of five songs I might have hypothetically played, if I could.
Who Stole The Soul? by Public Enemy. One of the best rock songs ever recorded. Yeah, I know it's rap, but I defy anybody to listen to it and say it is not rock and fucking roll. A real barn burner, as the kids used to say.
The Magic Number by De La Soul. The first rap/hip hop song I ever truly loved. I would listen to this one track over and over. Fortunately, but not surprisingly, I lived alone. It's the brilliant sampling that makes this song, and the way the song breaks down into a chaotic flurry of samples at the end still thrills me, almost 20 years since I first heard it.
Don't Fuck Me Up With Peace and Love by Cracker. The best rock and roll karaoke song EVAR. David Lowery is a twisted pop-rock genius. I love this song, and I used to play it when I was a DJ, when I could get away with it. It's very cathartic to shout along with the chorus.
Bug Powder Dust (Chemical Brothers Mix) by Bomb the Bass. Wow, what a Big Beat record this was. Or at least, that's what the Chemical Brothers turned it into. I know a lot of people like the Kruder & Dorfmeister mix better, but fuck 'em. The sound on this is HUGE; monstrous and overwhelming, and when, at about 3 minutes in, everything stops except a lone snaredrum, then everything kicks back in... incredible. I loves me some Chemical Brothers, they give good remix.
Sweet Jane by The Cowboy Junkies. This song deserves its own post, with an mp3 just in case you've never heard it. A slow and haunting rendition of the Velvet Underground tune, recorded live in an echoey church. Margo Timmins' voice is suitably angelic, and every word I write only places me further away from an accurate description of this incredible song. It's just beautiful, leave it at that.
Now go, go and find these songs and listen to them. Make them a part of you, and take them out into the world.

Now It's Gone

zenji — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:18:37 GMT

Thanks to Aurgasm, I found this track by Micky Green, Now It's Gone. IT's just the kind of melancholy stuff I can't resist. Apparently, Ms. Green is a former model who left that career to be a singer/songwriter. I wish her luck. This track isn't bad, maybe trying a little too hard to sound retro.

The Best 51 Seconds in Punk Rock

zenji — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 02:29:45 GMT

Another day, another mp3. Today, it's the best 51 seconds in punk rock history: Wasted by Black Flag. If I could, I would post four songs here, Nervous Breakdown, Fix Me, I've Had It and Wasted. That's the Nervous Breakdown ep, with Keith Morris on vocals (before he went on to form the Circle Jerks), and a more Platonic Ideal of SoCal punk rock does not exist. It's perfect, and the whole thing isn't five and a half minutes long.

Wasted is the thrashing climax to the album, with Morris ranting about how wasted he was as the band careens along behind him, noisy and barely controlled. It's a beautiful thing.

The Nervous Breakdown ep was also the first four songs on the Black Flag compilation The First Four Years, which is how I first heard it.

That album was my introduction to punk rock in general (sure, I knew it existed, but I had never heard anything like Black Flag before) and I fell in love with it; it was the soundtrack to a year of my life. Anyway, I can still lip-synch it perfectly. If there's ever a punk-rock karaoke, this is the song I will sing.

What Deaner Was Talkin' About

zenji — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 01:46:18 GMT

"The wash is out it's hanging up and all I have is nothing"

Next up in my list of great songs too many people have never heard is Ween's What Deaner Was Talkin' About. Like a lot of Ween songs, it is a little strange, and the lyrics are sort of oblique...

"If I was king I'd wear a ring and never hurt my people I'd stay alert and dressed to kill I might even slip you something"

I don't know what it means, but I love it. Off of their Chocolate and Cheese album, which has a lot of good songs on it, but I like this one the best. Yes, my musical tastes are largely stuck in the 90s.

Tomorrow Go Away

zenji — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 04:29:42 GMT

I've talked Cub up before, but now I'll post a song to demonstrate why these three Canadian girls kicked so much ass. Tomorrow Go Away is a pop song, as beautiful as it is simple. It's melancholy, it's sad and knowing, it's three minutes of heartbreak and one of this band's shining moments.

Am I the only person who loves this song? Seems hard to believe, but there aren't a lot of Cub fans out there, if there ever were. They broke up 11 years ago. Man, I feel old tonight.

96 Tears

zenji — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 19:59:58 GMT

This cover of 96 Tears by The Wicked Farleys is incredible. It's a psycho-garage trash meltdown of epic proportions. Like the guys says at the end of the guitar solo in On The Cover of The Rolling Stone, "beautiful, man, beautiful."

Took a while to find this, but I bought the CD off eBay once I did. Recommended if you like the thought of the Pixies doing bad acid and trashing their instruments while covering ? and the Mysterians.

Down Below It's Chaos

zenji — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 23:20:02 GMT

That's the name of the new Kinski album I bought offa eBay. Australian import of a Sub Pop album? Whatever, it was cheap.

I first heard of these guys on KCRWs excellent AM show Morning Becomes Eclectic. I can't recommend it enough if you want to hear interesting new and old music.

I have a soft spot for instrumental guitar rock, and Kinski hits me right square in it. Check out Waves of Second Guessing sometime, if you can find it. Like an instrumental Black Sabbath, sortakinda. Maybe more an instrumental Sound Garden, but in a good way.

The attached song, Passwords & Alcohol, is from the Down Below It's Chaos album. It doesn't sound like Sabbath OR Soundgarden. If pressed for a comparison, I'd say it sounds closer to Sonic Youth. At least it starts with an "S"... Good stuff, too.

Oh yeah, it's been a hundred days since I last posted. Still Smoking on Ye Olde Mog-o-meter.

I'm in love with Nicole Atkins

zenji — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 14:12:35 GMT

Of course, I don't know Nicole Atkins, so it's more a kind of creepy, stalky, unrequited love from afar. How can I help myself, though? That voice! The girl can sing. She describes her sound as "a girl group from a David Lynch movie," and that works as well as anything. Check it out fo yosef.

I'm happy to note that the live performance is better than the mp3 I uploaded. How rare is that? I definitely want to see her perform live.

1030nl
Uploaded by blamemdotcom

Familjen

zenji — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 23:06:38 GMT

I am loving this song and video from Familjen. They're from Sveden, ya, so I have no idea what it's about. Great song, though, if you dig the electro.

Update: Hmmm, only about half the video seems to be playing... if you want to hear the whole thing, follow the URL to Youtube, natch.

Fresh Post

zenji — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 18:21:48 GMT

It's been more than three months since my last post, so it must be time for a new one. I've been digging on Pandora.com, getting one station fine-tuned. I'm pretty happy with it now; I only have to skip one song every hour or so. It -is- a pretty cool way to discover new songs that you'll probably like.

Here are the last Eight songs played:

Aint Nothing to Do - Streetwalkin' Cheetahs Hillmont Avenue - Be Your Own Pet Turnaround - Nirvana Trouser Minnow - Rapeman From Centre to Wave - Loop Dog & Pony Show - Shellac Combat Baby - Metric Plug in Baby - Muse

Eh, could be worse.

Over It

zenji — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 07:49:10 GMT

Three bands i liked in the eighties and now it doesn't occur to me to ever listen to them again.

Who could ever forget Saxon? Just about everybody. These savage avatars of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal rocked the late seventies and early eighties with proto-hair metal tunes like "Wheels of Steel" "Long Arm of The Law" and "Sixth Form Girls." Ok, I have to admit that I have an mp3 of "Princess of the Night" as it still rocks 25 years later. And it's about a train, so the song isn't nearly as cheesy as the title might imply.

But the others? Eh, I don't ever need to hear them again. The last time I heard "Wheels of Steel" was in 1984. It was playing on the radio as I washed dishes at the restaurant where I worked. I thought it was really good song then, and I don't want to ruin that, so I'm not going to bother with trying to hear it again. Apparently, they still tour regularly.

The Scorpions. The fuckin' scorpions, dude. If you were a stoner/metal head in the early Eighties, you listened to the Scorpions. These guys are better known for perfecting the hard-rock ballad, for which they have much to answer (I'm looking at you, White Lion), but before they went all sissy-rock, the Scorpions were metal and they proved it with albums like Animal Magnetism, Lovedrive and Blackout. Now I am so far removed from wanting to listen to these guys that I forget I ever liked them; I forget I saw them in concert; forget that I listened compulsively to "Can't Live Without You" over and over in the summer of 1983. In my own defense, it's not a ballad.

Guns N Roses. This is an obvious one. Didn't everybody like Guns N Roses in 1988? I think it was a law. Appetite for Destruction really broke that summer; it was everywhere, the soundtrack to all the drugs and parties (but I repeat myself) and shitty jobs me and my friends hated. Really, this was one of the best debut rock albums of all time, right up there with Van Halen's first album. Guns and Roses took late eighties hard-rock to a new level. They were a white-trash Rolling Stones; nasty but arrogant, cocky and dangerous. I can still hear the lyrics to Night Train, with the snarling rhythm guitar behind it: "Wake up late/honey put on your clothes/take your credit card to the liquor store." That was pretty dissolute, and Axl Rose sneered it like he meant it. Because he did. They weren't famous guys who became drunks and junkies, they were drunks and junkies who became famous. And now? Listening to that album makes me nostalgic for those days, and those days sucked all kinds of ass, so I'm not going to fall into bullshit nostalgia for an era I didn't enjoy the first time around.

I guess I got old and the music didn't, but it feels the other way around.

So What?

zenji — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 08:44:00 GMT

One post every three months? That's not too much. Unsurprisingly, I'm still blazing on Ye Olde Mogometer. Good to know that some things never change. Yes, I am blazing. Well, metaphorically at any rate. Listening to Groove Armada, drinking beer and wondering where it all went wrong.

Wake me up when September ends

zenji — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 01:05:03 GMT

What the hell? It's been two and a half months since I was here last. Anything good going on? Who should I be reading? What's your one indispensable mog? What song are you listening to right now?* Based on the first five artists you can think of, recommend two.**

Wede Man by the Chemical Brothers
- Band of Horses, Dread Zeppelin

Hardocore Days and Softcore Nights

zenji — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 03:21:19 GMT

So, here's the disk I just made up for mi hermano Roberto in Seattle.

Hardcore Days & Softcore Nights Aqueduct Combat Baby Metric Little Razorblade The Pink Spiders Sitting, Waiting, Wishing Jack Johnson All Sparks The Editors In Bloom Jonny Polonsky Slap Me Folk Implosion It's Getting Light Outside Clearlake The Funeral Band Of Horses On The Radio Regina Spektor Seventeen Ladytron Girl Toy Boom Bip Kasparov's Revenge Lo Fidelity Allstars Terminally Ambivalent Over You The Real Tuesday Weld Drunk As A Monk Banco de Gaia Spiders (Kidsmoke) Wilco

Not a bad mix, if I do say so myself. The songs flow together well. I know the Jack Johnson is played, but Robert doesn't listen to the radio much, and he says he's never heard it. I maintain that it's a good song, at any rate.

Five More Inexpressably Great 90s Songs

zenji — Sat, 02 Sep 2006 17:37:37 GMT

Unlike my previous list, I didn't restrict my choices to what I arbitrarily call 'pop.'

Is It Like Today? - World Party: Did I say I wasn't choosing pop songs? No. Good thing, as this is straight-outta Beatles. I only know three songs from World Party; this one, Way Down Now and Ship of Fools, and I love them all. Can anybody in my vast reading audience recommend an album?

White Noise Maker - Frank Black: Still a lot of pop here. What the hell's going on? Great melodies, rock guitars and Frank Black making jokes; "You know I hear a lot of talk / So I'm headed for the stereo store / to get a white noise maker / and turn it up to ten."

Black Eyed Susan - Paul Westerberg: I probably don't have to tell you that something from Paul Westerberg is great, but here it is. A quiet, lo-fi rock song with Westerberg almost whispering lyrics about a beautiful girl with an ugly habit. Great, heartrending stuff.

Velvet Roof - Buffalo Tom: More white guys with guitars? Yeah, and another batch of guys who deserved more recognition than they got. This song proves it with propulsive drums, nice guitar hooks, and great writing. "She could make my life complete / But I'm already there to compete with her."

Dog With Sharper Teeth - Daisy Chainsaw: Finally, something that's explicitly not pop music. This is abrasive brit-punk with loud, sloppy guitars, sloppy punk drumming and lead singer Katy Jane Garside sounding like a girl on the verge of exploding, until she finally breaks down in the third verse and fucking SCREAMS. Still gives me cold chills. This band peaked right here; three songs in on their first album.

Six Inexpressably Great 90's Pop Songs in No Particular Order

zenji — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 06:31:59 GMT

Take The Skinheads Bowling - Camper Van Beethoven: Joyous, absurd, nonsensical, funny. Take your pick, it's all of those at once. David Lowry is the Marcel Duchamp of alternative rock. Oh, and technically it's from the eighties but this is my list so to hell with it.

Tomorrow Go Away - Cub: Short, sweet and simple, this is a flawless heartbreaker. "We never talk of love, cause we're much too cool for that now. We never think of peace, because hope is just for children." If there were justice in the world, these women would be famous recording artists and Paris Hilton would be cleaning bathrooms in a diner.

Yr Own World - The Blue Aeroplanes: British no-hit-wonders (at least not in the US) from the early nineties. I have always maintained that this song could have been a radio hit over here had it been two minutes shorter. At almost five minutes long, it runs a little long for a pop tune. It's got smart lyrics and catchy harmonies, and there was a minute or two in the early nineties where it could have been played on mainstream radio.

In Bloom - Jonny Polonsky: A shimmery, sixties-pop sounding version of a Nirvana song? It works so well, it makes you want to cry. Drowning in reverb, Polonsky's voice sounds distant and haunting, like something lost. This song came out two years after Cobain's suicide, and to me it sounded like nothing less than an elegy. Ten years later, it still makes me want to cry.

It's a Shame About Ray - The Lemonheads: Guitar-powered power pop at its best. If you ever wondered why Evan Dando got any respect in the first place, listen to this song and understand. Another artist who got less than he deserved.

Here's Where the Story Ends - The Sundays: Again, a perfectly serviceable pop song; expertly performed, well written, slickly produced - poppy. Tell me again why this was called "alternative"? Oh, right, because mainstream radio (and MTV) in the late 80s and early 90s was devoted to hair-metal crap like Faster Pussycat and Bon Jovi.

Even after the overthrow of the hair metal regime; after Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam took the place of Motley Crue, Poison and Skid Row, it was still all white guys with guitars. An endless number of deserving artists went unplayed on corporate radio because their sound didn't fit the "grunge" format... These are the kinds of things you think about if you were involved in radio in the early 90s.

Say What?

zenji — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 03:45:56 GMT

Things working any better around here? I hadda reinstall WindersExPee, and started a new job, and got a coupla new computer games and haven't been Mogging like a good Mogger should. So what's new, you crazy kids?

Amusingly enough, I'm still "blazing" on Ye Olde Mogometer. It's either wildly inaccurate, or truly cognizant of my deep, abiding inner blazingness. Either way, say what?

Obsolete Media or, My Sad Vinyl Collection

zenji — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 05:37:31 GMT

For the past fifteen years I've been carting a small stack of vinyl albums from place to place, house to house, state to state, across the country and back. I haven't owned a record player in that time, but I hold on to them. Because they're great? No, because I'm a packrat. I don't even remember where I got most of them. Here they are, in no particular order.

The Real Thing - Faith No More - Not sure why I have this, but I own the CD too, so I must have liked it at one point...
Rhythm of Youth - Men Without Hats - Don't laugh; there's more to this album than The Safety Dance
Reckoning - R.E.M. - My first and probably still my favorite R.E.M. album.
The Dark Side of The Moon - Pink Floyd - A classic that doesn't sound nearly as dated as 99% of all the other music released in 1971.
Heavy Metal Soundtrack - Various artists - Black Sabbath, Cheap Trick, Devo, Grand Funk Railroad, Sammy Hagar andStevie Nicks on the same album? Groundbreaking at the time...
Physical Graffiti - Led Zeppelin - I know it's heresy to say this, but it's better than Led Zeppelin 4. My copy has the original sleeves that spell out the band name and album title in the windows of the building...
Star Wars Original Soundtrack - London Philharmonic Orchestra. From 1977, with the poster and liner notes still intact. I got this from Arnie when he sold his LP collection, because I am a big nerdy geek.
The Empire Strikes Back Original Soundtrack Ditto
An Evening With Groucho - Groucho Marx - Another find from Arnie's LP collection. Yes, I am a Marxist.
Bloodrock 2 - Bloodrock - Obscure rock/metal outfit from Texas, circa 1970. D.O.A. is a song told from the point of view of a man who dies in a plane crash. Uplifting, and I'm pretty sure DJ Shadow sampled it for Organ Donor.
Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House - Disneyland Records - My brother had this "haunted house" soundtrack when I was six years old, and it scared the hell out of me. Still fun to play on Halloween, though I use MP3 copies of it now.
A Wild & Crazy Guy - Steve Martin - Another original from Arnie's LP collection, vintage 1978. Martin's breakthrough album, when he was still a stand-up comedian, with King Tut capping off the hijinx.
Master of Reality - Black Sabbath - What can you say? Sabbath fucking rules. Without Sabbath, heavy metal would not exist.
Strikes - Blackfoot - I own this because Shorty Medlock's harmonica prelude to Train, Train is a virtuoso performance which has never been equalled in rock music. Seriously.

Hmmm. Somewhere around here, I have Cub's Come Out Come Out as a stack of 7 inch singles, signed by the band... God, I hope I haven't lost that. OK. Are you hauling around any vinyl you haven't listened to in years?

Five More Songs My Six-Year Old Loves

zenji — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 03:56:57 GMT

This is a Call - Foo Fighters Happy Birthday - Altered Images Tainted Love / Where Did Our Love Go - Soft Cell Pepper - The Butthole Surfers Parents Just Don't Understand - DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince Whatcha Want - The Beastie Boys

Of course, he really likes the Scooby Doo Theme techno remix and the DJ Homer song with all of the Simpsons samples...

Beatles, B52s Over-Represented

zenji — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 01:30:25 GMT

I just noticed that my Digital Music Collection is now sorted by number of tracks per artist. I like this feature, except I feel compelled to explain. I don't really like the Beatles or b-52s THAT much. My friend Don is a big fan of both, and also an obsessive-compulsive collector. After he collected EVERYTHING he could find, he gave me copies. So, I have a metric assload of songs by the Beatles (and the B-52s). The problem is, I like some B-52s songs, and I like a lot of Beatles songs, but let me state for the record that I am not that crazy about either group. Any apparent "craze" is actually a reflection of Don's mania, not mine.

I'm guilty for the Metallica, though. When they first sued their fans over Napster, I made it a point to go out and download every Metallica song I could find. Fuck those guys.

Five Favorite Songs of My Six-Year Old

zenji — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 01:11:10 GMT

Fatboy Slim - Right Here Right Now Fred Schneider / B-52s - Monster In My Pants Nena - 99 Luft Balloons Tegan & Sara - Walking With A Ghost Tommy Tutone - 867-5309/Jenny

(thanx to Killa for the Tegan & Sara correction)

A Clue!

zenji — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 16:48:40 GMT

So I was "Toasty" on the Mogometer a little while ago, then I left a comment on someobdy else's Mog. Now, I'm Blazing. Want to amp up your Mogometer reading? Leave feedback for other people. Cool.

Toasty

zenji — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 16:54:53 GMT

Ah the vicissitudes of Mog. Not 12 hours ago I was Blazing, and now I'm just toasty. I can't keep going back and forth like this...

If You're Going to Sing, Sing Already

zenji — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 07:02:11 GMT

My friend Arnie is into roots music. When I'm at his place I hear a lot of blues and folk and Al Jolson and field hollers (well, not so many field hollers, but the threat is always hovering). Since Arnie is also a rock and roll fan, I hear a lot of Lou Reed and Bob Dylan, too.

I like Lou Reed best when other people are singing his songs.

I can't get over his delivery. I adore a couple of Lou Reed songs, and even an ignoramus like me knows that modern (alternative, progressive, what-have-you) rock wouldn't exist without the Velvet Underground. V.U. was the anti-Beatles, and just as important in terms of influence on rock and roll.

The thing is, I can take Bob Dylan's singing. Matter of fact, I think he's great on a lot of songs, but Lou Reed is another matter. His flat, monotone delivery on most of his later stuff kills me. Arnie says I don't like Reed because he's a talker, and maybe that's it. Common Ground is a Lou Reed song that I like a lot, and he sings it. Well, "singing" may be too generous for what he's doing, but I like it a lot better than when he's talking over the music, instead of singing with it.

I know. It's all a matter of taste, and lots of people with infinitely more talent and better taste in music adore Lou Reed. That makes me respect him, but it doesn't make me enjoy him more. Ah well, thanks for "White Light White Heat" Lou. It makes up for everything.

Dude, I'm so Blazing

zenji — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 21:28:34 GMT

Back to "Blazing" on Ye Olde Mogometer. All is again right with the world.

More Favorite Fake Band Names

zenji — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 18:03:05 GMT

Straight outta Warhammer (gamer geek reference), ladies and gentlemen please join me in welcoming the Blood Angel Librarians!!

More Fun w/ Mog-O-Matic

zenji — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 19:10:50 GMT

I just realized that Mog-O-Matic only crashes when I run iTunes! I'll just quit listening to music and that should solve the problem...

Still Toasty After All These Days

zenji — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 15:41:26 GMT

Still 'Toasty' on the Mogometer... All this effort is paying off.

Demoted

zenji — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 16:17:31 GMT

My status on the Mog Meter has gone from "Smokin'" to "Toasty." Why?! I've placed my entire self-worth on that thing, and it goes DOWN!! I'll do anything to get my hipster status upgraded back to "Smokin." Come on, Mog Masters, tell me what you want from me...

Auld Skool

zenji — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 23:43:33 GMT

I had to make a minor road trip today in my brother's car; about a hundred mile round trip. He's got a pretty nice stereo with a cassette player so I dug out some tapes from my collection and hit the road.

First up was Volatile by the Lime Spiders. They're a no-hit-wonder from Australia. Back in 1989, their The Other Side of You video was in rotation on MTV's 120 Minutes (Remember that? two hours of 'alternative' rock and punk and stuff on Sunday nights. I got turned on to so much music via that show, but that's another post). I liked the song a lot so I went out and bought the tape, and listened to it a few times. Even in 1990, it sounded dated to me, like the Australian bands were five years behind what was current in the States. So anyway, after 15 years or so of not listening to it, I have to say that Volatile hold up pretty well. It's pretty straightforward power pop, but I like power pop, and I like this album better now than I did then. R.E.M.-like harmonies and big guitars with fairly witty song-writing... The Other Side of You is still the best song on the album. Joe Bob says "check it out."

After I chucked the Lime Spiders back into the tape case, I put in Corrosion of Conformity's Technocracy. I bought this in 1988, on the recommendation of a music review in a magazine. What surprises me is that it's still one of the HEAVIEST things I've ever heard, and I mean it holds it's own with scary-loud thrash like Slayer, Exploited, Black Flag, The Melvins, what-have-you. Probably the most-hardcore album I have ever owned in terms of loud, abrasive power, and it's just a four-song EP.

The last tape before I got home was Walk Among Us by the Misfits. Another purchase from 1988, this one I listened to quite a bit back in the day. The whole thing's only about 25 minutes long; not long as albums go but, musically, it's infinite. If you could only ever hear four Misfits songs, the first four on side one of Walk Among Us are perfect. 20 Eyes, I Turned Into a Martian, All Hell Breaks Loose and Vampira are STILL the ne fucking plus ultra of horror rock, or whatever Glen Danzig was calling it then. If the Misfits didn't exist, Rob Zombie would have to invent them.

More Fun With Mog-O-Matic

zenji — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 14:55:05 GMT

Not like you care, but this thing is craptacular. Crashing every single time I try to run it? Quality programming there, Mogdudes.

What's Up With That?

zenji — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 17:59:14 GMT

This thing crashes like a drunk NASCAR driver, to wit: regularly and often.

WWRD? (What Would Rollins Do?)

zenji — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 19:03:24 GMT

I'm rereading Broken Summers, which is Henry Rollin's tour diary / journal from a few years ago when he put together the Rise Above benefit. The guy is just such an inspiration; there's zero bullshit in his delivery. He's the anti bullshit. Bullshit whithers and dies in his presence. Talk about a work ethic. The man is a machine. I wish I had half his drive. He shrugs off the unimportant stuff and makes hitting his goal the only point. Maybe I've got a little mancrush going on here, but lately, when I'm pondering hard work or trying to weasel my way out of something I ask myself; What Would Rollins Do? He'd restrain himself from kicking my weak ass, then get back to work, that's what.

The Best Band Name in The World

zenji — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 15:29:37 GMT

Watching Jack Black on the Late Late Show w/ Craig Ferguson: They start talking music, Abba and Black Sabbath are mentioned in the same breath. I immediately knew what I wanted to name my fictional band. "Abba Sabbath." Yeah, it's that good. Of course, with a name like that we would have to play Abba songs in the style of Black Sabbath. Or maybe Black Sabbath songs in the style of Abba. I can totally hear "Iron Man" done to the tune of "Dancing Queen."

The Most Solid Ass Kicking Live Shows

zenji — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 11:13:33 GMT

The best live shows I've ever seen, chronomological order:

The Jesus & Mary Chain, 1990. Soundgarden opening for Guns N Roses, 1991. Dred Zeppelin, two great shows in different Las Vegas venues: 1993, 1994 Crash Worship, in a dive bar in Cleveland, 1997. This show changed my life, no lie. If you've ever seen them, you understand. If you haven't, I can't explain it to you.