<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Take me down to link-town:
A couple of skate videos...
(1) Real Skateboards
have been putting out their "Pushing" videos for each team rider over
the past few months, and
all have been enjoyable. But
the Dennis Busenitz one set in
SF is one of my favorite things I've seen in ages. You
can Peep it here. Dude goes
mach 10, does slappies for days, and even throws switch flatground
ollies into lines
and makes it look damn cool.
(2) Oscar Meza of Flip
also released a video. Somehow that
company continues to find these unknown rippers from
across the globe that are all
better than 90% of the pros out there today. That said, this is
usually the type of
skating I totally space out on (I
just can't relate to it in any way), but my god is this kid good.
It's worth a view just for
the enormous backside flip (2:12)
and front board (right after the backside flip) alone. See that one here.
In non-skate video news, to quote Kent Brockman "I for one welcome our
new insect overlords." A
video of an ant hill
pumped full of concrete. Might be a little cruel, but the
results are absolutely jaw-dropping.
I'm not sure I'm as sold on these
photos as much as I am the subject matter, but they are damn interesting either
way.
The documentation of the earth rejecting poor farming practices in
Mexico.
Check the
Photo
journal for snaps from three different trips - SF, Mt.
Mitchell, and Topsail Beach.
Music reviews
this month - Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Lower Dens, Divine Fits,
Mountain Goats, and more.
Honestly, not an overly exciting month of reviews on my end, and my
laziness limited the number.
Spider Bags with The Golden Boys
& The Limes
Kings
9/20/2012
Good goddamn what a night of garage rockery. Muy Bueno.
The Limes played first. I
didn't (and still don't) know dick about them, but they're from Memphis
and Goner has put out
some of their records so I figured it was worth checking out.
They started off real damn sloppy, playing a song that they
had apparently just written a few hours earlier; they got stronger and
stronger as the set wore on though. Singer Shawn
Cripps has an interesting vibe about him, reminding me a little bit of
local legend Dex Romweber, though probably not
as badass a guitarist as Dex. At their best they sounded like
garage combined with New Zealand/Kiwi pop, with
maybe a little Cramps and very early "Westing"-era Pavement thrown
in. Towards the end of the set Dan McGee
joined the band to sing one of their songs, a trend that would continue
through the night. Pretty decent - I didn't pick up
their record that night but the show definitely intrigued me to hear
more.
The Golden Boys had the middle
slot - it seems like they should have headlined, but then again the
middle slot is
often the best one so who knows. I saw them at Hopscotch a couple
of years back with Harlem and they put on a damn
fine show, so I knew what I was getting in to. They play
straight-up good-time rock n' roll with a garage rock tint, like the
Hold Steady minus the weird vocals or Lucero minus the twang.
Multiple members take turns singing lead (pretty much
everyone other than the drummer) and all handle it pretty well, even
the crazy haired and mustachioed keyboard player.
There was a running joke of them performing Social Distortion covers,
and the bassist had a pretty mean Mike Ness
impersonation. They're just a fun band ya know? Nothing
groundbreaking, but enjoyable. And again, McGee of Spider
Bags was on stage at least once adding backing (or lead) vocals to
their songs. I have no idea if he was even signing
the right things but everyone was having fun with it.
Spider
Bags closed the night. They had Kings turn off all the
stage lights and were lit only by the light coming off of the
christmas strands strung up on the side of the club and the dim bar
lights in the back. This didn't bode well for me get-
ting any good photos of this very photogenic band, but it did make for
an interesting ambiance for their show. To con-
tinue with the trend of guest singers (and since the Bags couldn't join
themselves on stage mid-set) they had a guest
female singer for their first couple of songs that gave off a strong
Grace Slick vibe. After that it was just a Spider Bags
show as usual, raucous rock-n-rollin' (in the dark), the crowd eating
it all up. Myself included. There's a reason these
guys are constantly name dropped as the best live band around.
Last Year's Men with Wood Ear The Pinhook
8/25/2012
This was a fifth anniversary party for local label Church Key...I'm
down for any folks doing good work and getting the
music to the masses, especially all the great local music we have
around here.
Wood Ear opened the gig.
My dude John had kind words to say about this band, so I made sure I
got to the Pinhook
early enough to see their set. They had a rootsy Americana sorta
vibe going on, not so much alt-country as heartland
rock. I think that means more Springsteen than Uncle
Tupelo. There were also a couple of songs that made me think
of latter-era Replacements (think "Don't Tell a Soul" and "All Shook
Down"), but I've been listening to those albums
quite a bit lately so that might be a little projection on my
part. For not knowing any of the songs, I quite enjoyed their
set - the music is strong and catchy and keeps you engaged on first
listen. Apparently Wood Ear has been around for
years, but only have two EPs to show for it, one released quite
recently. I picked up their most recent one (put out by
Church Key obviously) and I've really been enjoying it. Hopefully
I'll get to one of their show's again real soon.
Last Year's Men headlined the
night. They might look like 14 year-olds, but they sound like
seasoned vets on stage.
I've seen them a bunch of times now, and along with Spider Bags,
they're the about the best live rock-n-roll the Triangle
has to offer. Catchy garage pop with a punk attitude and a little
bit of twang, they're almost the perfect recipe of every-
thing I love in out of a band, especially live. they played their
typical set, lots of songs from their great record "Sunny
Down Snuff" and there might have been a couple of new tracks as
well. In concert with the Wood Ear write-up, you
could compare them to early Replacements, though considerably less
drunk. Well, maybe as drunk but not as sloppy.
The show ended with the drummer wearing a pair of (I think) women's
panties on his head that appeared out of no-
where. goddamn I love this band.
Neil Hamburger with Todd Barry & Brendon Walsh Kings
8/17/2012
I'm not sure how the hell to even review a comedy show, it was either
funny or it wasn't. This was really funny.
This show was a total package, no local help needed. Brendon
Walsh opened the show. I'd seen him on Comedy
Central and he is a frequent guest on the hilarious podcast Doug Loves
Movies. He was just as hilarious on this night
as he had been in those previous settings, maybe even the funniest of
the night. He's dirty and a little absurd and does
a lot of material on masturbation aides. You can watch a clip of
him talking about fleshlights here.
The middle set was by Todd
Barry. I'd seen him right here at Kings about a year
ago, and he must have thought it a
good club and turnout as he came back. Hopefully he helps word
get around to the other good comedians because
this area is sorely lacking in the funny. Barry was great as
always, wry and confident and the king of crowd work. He
did plenty of set jokes, but the man is so gifted he could easily make
his entire show just him riffing off of the crowd and
whatever absurd thought pops into his head. There is a reason
that well established (and more popular) comedians
always praise him as one of the best working today.
Neil Hamburger closed the
night. I've seen him a few times and it never gets any less
uncomfortable. He's been
doing a lot of these same jokes for many years now (it feels like I've
seen his Brittney Spears material more times than
I've seen him), but none of that matters with Hamburger - you're there
to see him physically perform more than anything.
Namely, pick up drinks and sit them back down again, over and
over. And I laugh every goddamn time. So so
ridiculous.
"Boy,
it's crazy to think we used to settle questions of paternity by dunking
a woman in water until she admitted she
made it all up. Different time, the '60s."
Dub Narcotic Sound System Meets the
John Spencer Blues Explosion - Fudgy
the Whale. Had no idea this
even existed until I saw it in the bargain bin...which is probably
where it belongs, but it at least has some novelty value.
Some selections from the Zum sampler that came out in the late
nineties. I used to listen to this a ton. Granddaddy - Ghost
Of 1672 Modest Mouse - Buttons
To Push The Buttons Paul Newman - All
Black, All Anal Songs Ohia - Sin
& Death
Songs from another sampler,
this one called "Mento Madness", which is calypso-style jams from
Jamaica, pre-reggae.
I've been listening to this a ton, especially the first song "Dry
Weather House." Hubert Porter With George Moxey &
His Calypso Quintet - Dry
Weather House Hubert Porter With George Moxey &
His Calypso Quintet - Monkey
Talk Lord Messam & His Calypsonians -
Linstead
Market
Jacuzzi Boys - Crush.
Proof that there are good things about Florida. Catchy
shit.
Bonus: Los
Angeles.
Nate Hall - Chains.
Nate is better known as the singer of US Christmas, and maybe best
known for having long,
beautiful hair like a bigfoot. This is him being a folk singer
instead of a metal singer. He's good at it.
Wood Ear - Beastless
Burden. Local band that has been around for a while
but that I only recently became aware of.
Quality alt-country influenced rock-n-roll.
Bonus: Leave
My Walls.
Wooden Wand - Death
Seat.
I'm not sure I really have anything to say about Wooden Wand, but I
like these two
songs by them (or is it just him?). Indie folk I guess you'd call
it.
Bonus: The
Mountain.
