Just had the Growlers on Beyond Beyond is Beyond on East Village Radio on Thursday and man, was it wild! There was a record 10 people our tiny little booth:
1 – vocal
2 – guitar
3 – guitar
4 – bass
5 – drum
6 – tambourine
7 – Mindy on sound
8 – Me on DJ
9 – EVR videographer, Tito
10 – Growlers tour documenter
Whoa…
Click through for some pics of the affair…
I just have to post this. ‘Twas a good day!
If you watched the Grammys (as I did for some reason), you know that the highlight of the whole event was when Jeff Beck took the stage for the Les Paul ‘How High the Moon’ tribute with an old friend of the Beyond Beyond is Beyond show, Imelda May on vocals. If you missed, dig…
I’m proud to say that this silver-throated Irish rockabilly knockout was on my Beyond Beyond is Beyond show on East Village Radio back in September, so I just thought I’d share the interview again. She and her husband and amazing guitarist, Darrel Higham, also performed an exclusive acoustic tune for us at the end of the interview.
Check out the news piece on the EVR website where there is a link to the interview
OR
Go straight to the interview
I also chose her Love Tattoo album as one of the Best of 2009.
See some of my Imelda pics…
*all photos (c) Mike Newman
I went to see Rolling Stone’s David Fricke interview Lou Reed, Maureen ‘Moe’ Tucker, and Doug Yule of the Velvet Underground last night at the New York Public Library. No, there was no performance or reunion announcement or even anything remotely deep that the VU hardcore wouldn’t know already.
I must admit that I originally bought tickets immediately after seeing these lines on the NYPL’s website, which really painted an ambiguous picture:
Today, the Velvet Underground are the stars they always deserved to be, with a rich and still mysterious story that continues to unfold: in the new visual collection, The Velvet Underground: New York Art, and tonight, in this unprecedented reunion of Reed, Tucker and Yule-the words,music and rhythm of The Velvet Underground.
Yeah, I was thinking there would be a performance…at least for the couple minutes it took to buy the tickets. All that said, it was a very cool night of discussion in which I got some decent pictures and confirmed a few things in my mind…
Lou Reed is indeed an asshole
Lou reed hates everyone except Andy and Moe
*click on through for more pics and confirmations…
Was JT at Indie-music fest, All Tomorrow’s Parties in Monticello, NY this weekend. It sure looks that way! 
Timberlake a Jesus Lizard fan?
You’ve probably heard me singing the praises of Dungen’s brand of Swedish psych-folk rock before, and I’m still singing…especially after the recent release of the 4 album and the Kemado Records CMJ showcase that they headlined on Friday night at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. If you have any kind of ear for beautiful throwback psychedelic rock they way that I do, you are already a big fan. And if you’ve never heard them and you’re still reading this, listen up below! This is “Satt Att Se” from their new album, 4 (which is indeed their 4th album)….
Dungen – ‘Satt Att Se’: [audio="http://kemado.com/_files/audio/dungen/SATT_ATT_SE.mp3"]
See! I told you so. Dungen is one of the newer bands out there now on the rock fringe, proving that rock music can still be adventurous and even sound pretty…and still rock hard. They are part of the new batch of neo psych-rockers (along with bands such as Black Mountain, Wooden Shjips, Howlin Rain, and Earthless) that are keeping that vibe alive in what may just be a reawakening era of rock music.
Dungen are a band who jam, but aren’t a jam band (not that there’s anything wrong with that!). Their live show is pretty true to the music on their albums, and when you hear their albums, it makes you want to hear them live. It’s beautifully-composed pastoral soundscapes with bursts of raw guitar feedback freak-outs and real old-school groove from a rhythm section that knows how to sit right outside of the pocket. All that AND Swedish lyrics.
Definitely go see them on tour if they come to your town. It’s the best kind of music out there…at a value price, because they don’t quite have the mediocre appeal of bands like Coldplay (sorry, Coldplay fans…no I’m not).
Get their new album, 4, here at Amazon, or the other highly-recommended Ta Det Lugnt from 2005. Oh yeah, and it’s pronounced Doon-yen!
More pics after the jump…
(Anyone get the ‘pickin’ pockets’ reference?)
Well, yesterday was Brooklyn’s famous Atlantic Antic street festival, the absolute best of all the New York street festivals because it’s massive, it’s the last gasp of organized outdoor fun before the cold weather kicks in, there’s live music, the food is amazing, there are plenty of adult beverages to enjoy, and it’s in Brooklyn! And, for me, it’s right outside my apartment door.
I didn’t get out there till about 3:30 because I was nursing a pretty hefty hangover from a late Saturday night, but quickly grabbed myself a bloody mary and a yummy Vietnamese sandwich and was on the up and up. I met up with a couple friends and ran into some others, but mainly spent the next couple of hours first with Red David and then just with my hazy hangover-headed self.
It was really nice to see all the Obama frenzy at the Antic this year. Everywhere I looked were people of different races, colors, religions, sexes, sexual preferences, musical tastes, and ice cream flavor preferences banding together in support of positivity, hope, and America’s future. You could get your picture taken with a life-size cutout of Barack, you could order an organic Obama burger, and even order Biden gelato. It reminded me of New Yorkers inate ability to see through bullshit, and it’s easy for us to see that there is only one presidential campaign right now which is running on truth and honesty…and it ain’t McCain/Palin.
Another highlight was walking by at the right time to watch a fantastic country rock band from west Jersey playing outside of Hank’s Saloon. I found that the band was called Citizens Band Radio, and these guys (and gal) know how to jam! It was cool seeing all types of people smiling and dancing to CBR’s music. Cheers to the band if they happen to stumble on this post!!! Keep up the good stuff!
And another highlight for me was scoring some new cheap vinyl! I got all of these for $1 each! And they’re all perfectly listenable. I’m listening to Fleetwood Mac’s cover of the Yardbirds’ “For Your Love” right now. Mystery To Me is a great album…I don’t think I even knew that the amazing song “Hypnotized” was done by the Mac. Here’s the full haul that I got for a total of $11…
I also, while I had the camera and records out, took some pics of the last couple vinyl scores I had over the last couple months. Click on through to see the others…
What a great show last night at the Ballroom, where the sound is always perfect! We got there towards the end of the opener, Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter, and were pleasantly surprised to hear a top-notch folk-psych outfit who could be Steeleye Span folky one minute and the next, launch into some scorching jams led by electric guitar maestro, Phil Wandscher. Jesse’s voice is beautiful and hauntingly mesmerizing, and completely set apart from the vocal style that a lot of ‘alternative’-ish female singers are latching onto these days. Dig their songs on MySpace!
And then it was on to the main event, Black Mountain, who started strong and never let up. Here’s the setlist…
…and that’s about the best picture I got, since the band likes to keep the stage nice and dark. They are named Black Mountain, after all! These guys pound you with heavy riff-filled sound that you can’t help but bang your head to…kinda like Black Sabbath, but more trippily-psychedelic, and with killer proggy keyboards. They have a female singer with a ‘bleating vibrato’ (a la Roger Chapman…anyone?) and the guitarist also sings. And the band is at their best when the two are singing together, like in the third song of the night, “Wucan”, a song that puts me in a willing trance every time I hear it. Check out their video for the song…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8upxRhff7cE&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1]
…is that not amazing? And it was 11 times the badassedness live at Bowery Ballroom last night. There was nary a dull moment. Other highlights for me besides “Wucan” were “Druganaut” and “Stormy High”. Check this band out if they come to your town!
I love that there are now bands like this out there playing to indie-rock audiences and reminding them how good a guitar solo can sound. It seems like the guitar had become just an instrument to make cutesy little jangly sounds on for so many indie-rock bands, as it somehow became unhip to have songs with guitar solos. Why is this? Did all the sensitive guys think of a guitar solo as an extension of their penis, which of course they would never want to admit to having? Or maybe their lyrics were so deep that a guitar solo would only water down their dire message to the world. Well, I’m happy to say that I’d rather wallow in the guitar-centric new pool of talented psych-rock bands such as Black Mountain, Dungen, Howlin Rain, Wooden Shjips, Earthless, and Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter.
Check out Black Mountain music on MySpace and, if you dig ‘em, pick up In The Future, an album that I nominated for one of the best albums of 2008 at mid-year.
Hey, check out thes two killer new garage rock n’ roll bands who are using my awesome photos for their MySpace profile pics! They’re Apache and Electric Shadows.
While you’re there, check out their songs and their tour dates, because these guys know how to throw down!
When I was at the Stoned Crow in the Village a couple weeks ago, enjoying a strange and very real absinthe buzz, I went to the bathroom and found myself in a wonderland of amazing old rock photos. There was Angus Young, Mike Bloomfield, The Stones, The Beatles, Van Morrison, Cream, Clapton, Doors, Dylan, The Dead…and these Boobs. And I couldn’t figure out who they belonged to. My first guess was Debbie Harry, but when I thought about it, I thought ‘that’s not her body!’.
So tell me someone, is this her body, or is this another dame? Whose boobs are these?!
Mystery Tits
…East Village Radio