Medications
CD/EP
(Dischord Records, 2004)

I’m not sure if every Dischord release is recorded at Inner Ear Studio, but enough of them have been that I’ve noticed. And Brendan Canty of Fugazi fame and glory mixed this one down. Not being in touch with the newest of the new Dischord acts, I have to take for granted that Medications fit into that sound. Ya know the press release says so anyway. Regardless of that, there’s a little Minutemen influence on the guitar, which some how is sung along to almost note for note on a few tracks. Going back to the Dischord family idea; even though I was able to buy the Minor Threat discography ten years ago for the price of this cd/ep, the tracks on here all clock in at about four minutes, so at least I get twenty minutes of new music. As for the notes that come outta your stereo, most of them are good ones, occasionally the band begins to sound like Weezer, but more talented and with louder instruments. So, simultaneously that’s endearing and aggravating. The cowbell rears its’ ugly head on “Excersie Your Futility” while the track somehow maintains the sound of urgency that not too many groups can achieve. Departing from the frenetic pace of other tracks, “Reconcile Awake” is served with smooth drumming becoming tense without the track being overbearing. Unfortunately, someone decided to stick a clunker on at the end of this slab. “The Perfect Target” sounds similar to most average rock songs, only adding in some dissonant chords during the chorus for good measure. I don’t think there’s anything bad about this band or this release, but let us refrain from canonization until a full length comes out.

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I was once chastised for listening to Fela Kuti. There wasn’t any good reason for it, but there was some vague mention of world music being lame.

Music geeqs need to take umbrage with such a statement. The term ‘world music,’ obviously construed by some westerner, seeks to encompass all non-Anglo based musics under a single banner. Absurd. Fela Kuti has very little to do with Burning Spear, but there’s unquestionably a number of record stores where browsers are going to find the Afro-funk band leader sitting in the same bin as that reggae stalwart. Not only is that unfair and damnably disconcerting, but it discredits each man’s work.

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The throngs of kids that grew out their hair in the ‘60s resulted in a wash of hippie rock and boogie bands. Pretty frequently these acts wound up sounding like nothing more than your friends getting hammered and playing Bo Diddley songs with extended guitar solos patching things together. Of course, some of those acts work better than others, but seeing as Chicago’s Mountain Bus stayed away from too much of that Bo Diddley beat and opted for a cowboy ethos its recorded legacy isn’t too horrendous.

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One of the coolest things about folk music – apart from the tunes of course – is the fact that each song has a life of its own. There’re countless derivations on any single standard that differentiate one version from the next in any variety of ways. It might be that the original was played on a piano and subsequent versions were rendered in six string terms. But any sort of snake like tracking of a song requires ample knowledge of Americana’s history. For whatever cultural reason – the impending youth movement, civil rights and work towards social equality – the late ‘50s and early ‘60s saw a ground swell in not just an interest in folk music, but a spate of new performers.

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Never having made it to the big time – at least not in the same way as its Northwest brethren – the Melvins have remained a vital part of the underground rock thing for the past twenty seven years or so. That’s a phenomenal accomplishment on its own. But even more impressive is the fact that over that expanse of time, the Melvins have continued to release vital and original music while collaborating with some of the rock scene’s most high profile low-lifes.

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Maintaining a cult status for the better part of four distinct decades is a pretty phenomenal feat. It’s not that it hasn’t been done countless times in the States and abroad. But a Japanese band called Les Rallizes Denudes ratchets up the weirdness to hitherto untold heights.

Founded in ’67 and making its live debut early the following year, Les Rallizes Denudes, centered around Mizutani Takashi, sought to incorporate as many different modes of expression into performances as possible. There were films, lights, disco balls and the like all functioning alongside the rock-steady drum beat and repetitive bass lines that comprise such a dense block of the group’s catalog.

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It’s always amusing when a member of a musical act branches off into some other work, yet the resulting recordings ostensibly ape the same sounds that the original group trucked in. That’s the case with Sonic Boom, his first group the Spacemen 3 and what would wind up becoming at least a portion of the Spectrum catalog.

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01.15.10 – Agnostic Front - Thee Park Side

For its 25 birthday, these East Coast hardcore types are hitting the road. At this point it’s more nostalgia than spit and vinegar. But the story that’s taken Vinnie Stigma and Roger Miret from cult status afforded them by covering little known skinhead bands to international stardom is mirrored in punks various rises in popularity over time.

01.21.10 – The Black Lips/No Bunny - Great American Music Hall

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Gigging around the same town that would soon yield the Violent Femmes - Milwaukee, Wisconsin – the guys in Plasticland sound more beholden to ‘60s rock stuff then the stripped down sounds of the ‘70s. There was of course still that revved up aggression that was the hallmark of the punk era, but it was tempered by sappy background vocals and a litany of mid-paced rock with enough twisted guitar soloing to confuse the most sober and even the unapologetically stoned.

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Dark Meat - Truce Opium
Though the hype – albeit of the most underground variety – around this Athens, Ga band has subsided a bit since the first tour in support of its first long player, Dark Meat came back in 2009 with a new disc. The same sort of revved up Detroitisms that the ‘60s lent Dark Meat’s first full length are present, but there’s a new element of song craft introduced on Truce Opium. These still aren’t pop songs, but the band has worked towards constructing sensible tracks. The extended jams are still present to sate old fans, so don’t worry.

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