"Angel of Destruction, the Angel of Redemption's Got You Beat"

"Get ready Virginia, We're gonna kick your asses!"  So quoth Marah's facebook page.  Boastful and confident, to be sure.  No way they can kick anyone's ass in a place called Jammin' Java in NoVa!!  There can't even be a remote chance of that happening, right?  I hate being wrong- ask any girlfriend.  But, jesus, in this situation I welcomed the possibility.  Well, not to worry kids!  I went to see Marah 12/15/2010 and my body and ears were still sore from the asskicking they laid upon me.

I really dislike shows on weekdays because it's so damned hard to find someone to go and, to be honest, work sucks the next day.  But, I was able to convince the ever trusty Andrew B. to miss an ornament party, and RM wanted to make it as well.  They made the trip all the way to what would be my first show in my nemesis state of Virginia. 

To start the evening, Richard Bauchus opened.  His set was brooding, slow, and unapologetically depressing.  Andrew made a comment that a guy with just an acoustic guitar just doesn't do it for him anymore.  I don't necessarily agree, but if there is just a guy with a guitar, he better be pretty damn sincere- Mr. Bauchus did not strike me as such.

Next, we got to the Rock Show.  Jesse Malin and the St. Mark's Social came out and opened with a pretty good rock song- "Burning the Bowery"- which is what my soul desired.  He then slid into quite a few songs that couldn't help but sound the same with the same tremelo guitar solos and "Whoas" behind his vocals.  He then proceeded to namedrop everyone from J.D. Salinger (he wrote a song called "The Archer" about Salinger) to Bruce Springsteen.  However, he redeemed himself, in my opinion, by doing an awesome, AWESOME, cover of "Bastards of Young."  Jesse Malin isn't bad by any means- in fact, he's fairly good.  But, he just wasn't memorable.  I would say only 3-4 songs were impressive.  Regardless, he did a much better job of getting the crowd ready for the upcoming rock of Marah!!

Now it was Marah's turn to turn it up!  To everyone's festive delight, the set was started with a bagpipe version of "O Holy Night."  The bagpipes then gave way to an electric banjo wielding Dave Bielanko and the rest of the crew.  They took rock'n'roll exactly where I love it- fast, loud, and sweaty!  By the time the first couple of songs were done, Dave Bielanko was drenched in sweat and goading the band (who were completely capable) to keep up.  As a side note, Marah had asked for requests via Facebook.  Yours truly requested the remarkable songs "Angels of Destruction" and "Freedom Park."  "Angels of Destruction" was the first song they played from the choices and I could not have been happier.

Next, Bielanko and keyboardist Christine Smith did a couple of softer numbers including a song off of their newest, bruised album Life is a Problem.  The song aforementioned is "Within the Spirit Sagging."  Listening to the slower songs was quite an experience.  I mean, this is a band that lives and breathes by rock'n'roll.  To be able to take on the slower songs so beautifully is quite the testament to this band's ability and songwriting.

Now, back to the Rock Show.  The next set of songs were incredible, in-your-f***ing-face rock songs.  Midway through this set, they invited a kid of about 14 years old to play guitar on "Roundeye Blues."  They were in a "wish granting" mood due to the holiday season.  It was an awesome experience for the kid and he was pretty damn good as well!  Now we were getting closer to the end and here it was- "Freedom Park."  At this point it was hard for anyone to stand still!  What energy, charisma, and will to kick rock'n'roll ass!

There were a few Christmas songs sprinkled throughout the Marah set, but the full-fledged Christmas music (not quite traditional) didn't start until Jesse Malin joined Marah on stage.  This was a pretty good time and it was a hell of a time to see these rock'n'roll personalities really get into the holiday spirit.  I'm not huge on Christmas music, but if everyone played the Christmas tunes I heard last night, I think it would be a completely different story!!

So, was Marah's Facebook comment boastful- yes.  Was it completely vaildated?  HELL YES!!  It took a few days before my ears and body finally got over the full-fledged assault.  Marah, you are one of America's unsung rock heroes.  Please, please, PLEASE keep doing what you are doing and make the return to D.C. very soon!  I already need you back in my life!

Streakin' it

I'm realizing that I am just not someone that can listen to 20 different artists a day and like them all. I'm streaky, listening to only a few artists at one time. Unfortunately it leads to a lot of burn out.

Fall and Winter have been dominated by the Hold Steady, Lucero and the Henry Clay People. Summer was Arcade Fire and the Roadside Graves; spring was the Mountain Goats, My Morning Jacket and the Weakerthans. Its how i operate; its not perfect. At a certain point i get tired of the bands and move on to other ones. Eventually, i look back on past bands and realize how good they are and have them re-enter my rotation.

Anyway, we are coming to the end of the line. My girlfriend is going crazy with my repetition of Hold Steady lyrics, and doing the voice of the lead singer from the Henry Clay People just doesn't feel the same in 2011. I need to decide what comes next, and was hoping for some help from the blogging community. My leading candidates are the Gaslight Anthem, the Avett Brothers, Spoon, and maybe, just maybe, the Drive-by Truckers.

The very overdue "Extra Lens" post

On October 20th, Johnny, Jshay and I went to see the "Extra Lens" at the Rock and Roll Hotel. Before the show, I offered to write the review of this show. Here we are in January of a new year and I am finally fulfilling my duties. Anyway, to more important things: the band and the show.

Bruno and Darnielle: The Extra Lens is a two-man band consisting of Franklin Bruno and John Darnielle. Bruno is the frontman of Nothing Painted Blue and a visiting professor of philosophy at Bard. John Darnielle is the voice of The Mountain Goats and the author of "Black Sabbath: Master of Reality" in which a 15-year boy in a psychiatric center explains how Black Sabbath acts as a special agent to alien races, explaining to them his society and culture. Oh, and Darnielle’s also a vegan. So yeah, I understood why Johnny bet me that more than half the people in the crowd at this show would be wearing glasses.

But hey, I wear glasses and John Darnielle is the man. I discovered him and The Mountain Goats a couple years ago and got hooked on their albums “All Hail West Texas” and “The Sunset Tree”. Darnielle’s lyrics are brilliant and he has a voice you’ll learn to love if you give it time (just like Craig Finn of the Hold Steady). I saw the Mountain Goats at the 9:30 club a year ago and was really surprised at how good of a live show they put on. For such a cerebral band, they had the venue electrified with songs like “This Year” and “No Children”.

The Band: Darnielle is a self-proclaimed bad guitar player so he decided to hook up with Bruno, who plays guitar and piano, to record a couple of albums. The first album was recorded under the name the Extra Glenns and the best songs (in my opinion) are “Going to Marrakesh”, “Baltimore” and “Memories”. The second album, which came out just as we saw them in concert, saw them change their name to the Extra Lens. My favorites from this album were “Cruiserweights” and “How I Left the Ministry”.

The Show: I was pumped to see John Darnielle at such a small venue after last seeing him at the 9:30 club. We got to the Rock and Roll Hotel about 20 minutes before the music began, and we took in the crowd. Fewer four-eyes than Johnny predicted. It was my first time at the Rock and Roll Hotel and I liked it. Pretty basic setup, seemed to be about twice the size of the black cat back room where we saw the Henry Clay People.

John Vanderslice opened the show solo.

I had heard Vanderslice through the NPR Tiny Desk Concert series and enjoyed him with his band. His solo act was underwhelming; but it was a tough spot for him, playing solo in a big crowd of anxious Mountain Goats fans. However, I think Vanderslice, who produced several Mountain Goats albums, was just helping out Bruno and Darnielle on their short tour. He would later come out and play guitar and piano briefly for the main act.

After Vanderslice, Bruno and Darnielle took the stage.

They were rusty, not having played together in a long time. On several occasions, Darnielle was playing the wrong chords and had to be corrected. His energy more than made up for his mistakes. Darnielle is fascinating to watch up close, and you can’t really look away. Dressed in all black, frantically playing guitar, he belts out lyrics like:

the day of reckoning is coming


faster than anyone here realizes


and our love is like jesus, but worse.


even though you seal the cave up

where you've lain its body,


it rises! it rises!

Bruno and Darnielle ripped through most of the songs from their two albums. Some members of the crowd yelled at Darnielle to play the Mountain Goats, to which he said “sorry, that’s a different band”. But it wasn’t really. Just as Darnielle is the Mountain Goats, he was the Extra Lens. And most of the songs that we heard at the Rock and Roll Hotel might as well have been on a Mountain Goats album. The real departure for Darnielle was the last song they played, “Memories”, off their first album. The song had Bruno playing piano and Darnielle singing about his failed attempts at seducing a woman. During the song, Darnielle grabbed a camera from a girl in the audience and took over as her videographer.

Thankfully, she posted it on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIfebbC73tI

All in all, we had a really good time at the show. Any time you get the chance to see a band led by John Darnielle in concert, I highly recommend it.

Top 10 Albums of 2010

So we are coming to an end for the 2010 year.  It has been a hell of a year complete with great rock shows and an undefeated regular season for my Auburn Tigers.  There have been tons of awesome albums released this year and I decided I wanted to make a list of my top 10 from this year.  I hope you check out each and every one of these releases, and if any of them come even remotely near you, go see them!  Without further ado, here are my top 10.

10)  Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses- Junky Star-  With Junky Star, Ryan Bingham really hit his stride.  On this album, Ryan sings of everything from murder (from the murderee's POV, no less), depression-era poverty, and life on the run.  It's a beautiful album really with a great mix of haunting, stripped-down and rollicking roadhouse numbers.  I love all of Ryan's albums, but I think this one is clearly his definitive album, taking everything that worked from the previous two and leaving out what didn't. 

9)  Ben Harper and the Relentless 7- Live from the Montreal International Jazz Fesitval-  How do you outdo your best album in years??  You take that album and the band that helped make it and make a live album.  This album just blew me away.  It had been a while since Ben Harper had actually turned the knob to 11 and broke it off.  He did it with 2009's White Lies for Dark Times and with this album, he ups the ante, playing older songs, covering "Red House," and just absolutely ripping through the 2009 album. 

8)  The Gaslight Anthem- American Slang-  This band really took me by surprise this year.  I had heard so much about them in the past couple of years, so I finally decided to give 'em a chance.  This is exactly what The Boss would have sounded like had he grown up in the 90s.  There's a soft spot in my heart for songs about down trodden folks and the towns they are stuck in.  Well, this album has that and more.  It is a great rock'n'roll album full of athems that our generation should be singing for years to come. 

7)  J Roddy Walston and the Business- S/T-  Holy shit!  Take 1/3 KISS, 1/3 Guns N Roses, and 1/3 Jerry Lee Lewis.  Mix violently.  What you get is J Roddy Walston and the Business!  These guys are incredible.  To see them live is one of life's great pleasures.  I was pretty unsure how they could ever really take that energy and put it on an album.  But, wow, they did!  This album just makes you want to stop whatever you are doing and turn the volume up, keep it up, and just move- whether that be, shake, dance, convulse.  It just takes hold of you and doesn't let go until the 10 songs are finally, exhaustingly, over.

6)  I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch In the House- Sounds of Dying-  With a name like that, you either need to be a gimmick, or a band that undeniably rocks and rolls.  Thank god these guys are the latter.  I was, understandably, skeptical of this band, but after one listen to Sounds of Dying, I was hooked.  This album completely grabs you and refuses to let you stop listening.  It's loud, it's raw, it's dark.  It's very reminiscent of the amazing 90s album Gentlemen by The Afghan Whigs.  Whereas Gentlemen was a drug infused frenzy tale of relationships, Sounds of Dying is more of a whiskey drenched version.  It's an album that's unforgiving- Michael Dean Damron refuses to take blame for anything, which is what's so harrowing and powerful.

5)  American Aquarium- Small Town Hymns-  What's that you say?  BJ Barham has broadened his scope on his songwriting?  No, can't be.  Believe it!  That sounds like a slam on Mr. Barham, but I assure you it is not.  The man can write a heartbreaking song about girls and booze, no doubt about it.  But on Small Town Hymns, BJ writes up 10 songs that really deal with living in a small town.  From getting stuck in a small town to facing down demons at the bottom of the bottle, it's all so honest and almost .  Coming from an incredibly small town, this album hit very close to home.  The band is extremely tight on this album as well.  This is American Aquarium's finest album.  And that is saying a lot considering what they have put out in the past. 

4)  The Henry Clay People- Somewhere on the Golden Coast-  Once again, a band that completely blindsided me this year.  Thank god they did!  Talk about a band that is straight up 70s and 90s rock'n'roll hybrid.  This album takes everything that seemingly just plain sucks about being on the road and being dirt poor and makes it sound like it ain't so bad when you are doing what you love.  There is fun and triumph in all of the songs on this album.  This album also contains probably one of the coolest rock'n'roll lines: "We were working part time. All. The. Time."  My suggestion to you is to go to their website and buy this album.  And then, hope and pray they come near your city!

3)  The Black Keys- Brothers-  The Black Keys consistently churn out really great albums.  The only exception, in my humble opinion, being the 2008 release, Attack & Release.  So, when I heard about the new album, I was a little torn.  Would I hate it?  Would I love it?  I wasn't sure.  So, I tentatively gave it a listen.  Whoa!  The Black Keys brought it for this album.  They went down to the rich history of Muscle Shoals, AL and recorded their best album since Rubber Factory.  All of The Black Keys' influences show up on this album along with the bands and groups that made Muscle Shoals what it once was.  The album is an incredible return to form for The Black Keys.  They proved that they may have misstepped slightly on Attack & Relase, but were able to make up incredible ground with this strong album.

2)  Drive-By Truckers- The Big To-Do-  Between 2008's Brighter Than Creation's Dark and 2010's The Big To-Do, the DBT's released a live album and a rarities album.  While these were all great albums, much of the fanbase was dying for a return to form (Southern Rock Opera, Decoration Day, and The Dirty South).  Some were disillusioned with the toned down setting of Brighter Than Creation's Dark- I was not one of those.  So, in 2009, when DBT came out and said they were working on what would be very much a rock album, everyone was completely stoked!  The DBT's delievered.  The songs on this album are everything that makes DBT.  They are gritty songs about strippers, circus acts, and a grisly murder among others.  I could not think of a better way for them to return to their classic "southern" rock sound.  With the addition of a full-time keys player, the band has really been able to broaden it's sound.  The three guitar attack is still there, thank god.  But, admittedly, it isn't as loud and as "hungry" as, say, Southern Rock Opera had been.  That isn't to say that this album isn't as good.  It's just different.  It's still a rock album.  It's still dark, yet undeniably hopeful.  Everything I love about DBT is on this album, and more.  Shonna has grown into her own and I look forward to hearing more from her in the future. 

1)  Two Cow Garage- Sweet Saint Me-  Now for the main course!  Where to even start on this band, let alone this album!  As far as a band coming in and completely blowing all expectations out of the water, Two Cow Garage will forever hold the top spot.  I had no idea who these guys were coming in to this year.  But, thanks to another blog, ninebullets.net, I decided to check them out- specifically 2008's Speaking in Cursive.  Wow.  I was not disappointed.  These guys were loud and uncompromising.  They were also honest and incredible.  I just couldn't believe that it had taken me this long to hear them.  So, as soon as I heard they were due to release another album in 2010, I quickly went over to suburbanhomerecords.com and pre-ordered  the album.  Sweet Saint Me is pure rock'n'roll glory.  It is everything that we love about rock'n'roll.  It's girls, it's booze, it's questioning religion, it's murder.  The song cycle here is incredible.  I was floored by the subject matter of this album and how incredibly accessible it is.  I think the biggest disservice one can do to themselves would be to overlook this album.  This album will be in my rotation for many, many years to come.  I think it has the sort of staying power to be relevant in 10 years, hell, 30 years from now.  Go.  Go now, and get this album.  iTunes or whatever.  Just go get it.  I promise you will not be disappointed.

So What If All My Heroes Are the Losing Kind...

Ok, so it's been a while and there's been a few reasons why I haven't been on here for this long.  One being the increasingly dramatic saga that is surrounding my beloved Auburn Tigers, and more specifically, Cam Newton.  Enough of that though...

So, 2 weekends ago I woke up to some pretty awesome news thanks to LH.  This news being that Lucero was going to be playing a free show in Baltimore at Rams Head Live!  I got Andrew to make it up with me.  I had been telling Andrew that I wanted him to see Lucero live for quite a while, so I was pumped when he said he was down.  For anyone who hasn't heard of Lucero, you should definitely take some time out right now and listen to all of these songs.  This is one of my favorite bands and I have often said that this band is one of those bands that really wasn't meant to be heard any other way than live. Lucero have a background in punk, and to see them live you definitely see that come through the whole show.  They play with an incredible energy and enthusiasm.

To start the show, Frank Turner came on and warmed the crowd up.  I had never heard of the guy, but thought he did a great job.  Andrew told me that he was categorized as "punk folk."  I would say that is probably an accurate description.  He had a sound that mixed both of these styles very well.  I heard someone in the crowd say he reminded them of The Pogues, and that is very true.  So, if you like The Pogues or Flogging Molly, you would probably like Frank Turner.  So, go check him out!

Lucero came on very inconspicuously.  It was really cool to watch them interact with the crowd and at one point when a girl offered him a shot, Ben Nichols responded, "I'll save this for later.  Trust me, it's better for me and you!"  That's right folks, a new and improved Ben Nichols.  So, with all smiles, Ben Nichols and crew started the show complete with the fairly recently added horn section.

The show started off really great with songs like "Just That Kind of Girl," "Nights Like These," "Sweet Little Thing," and "Smoke."  I thought it was a great way to start off the show, but Andrew thought they started off just a little slow.  That may have been my fault as I had been preparing him for all but an all out punk rock show.  Lucero still have enough country roots to sing the sad songs as well as the faster, rockin songs.  Once again, this was a band that had the ability to pull off what could be a sappy song with just enough sincerity to make into an honest rocker.

They then proceeded to play some very rockin' songs which got the crowd far more engaged.  The songs now included one of my personal favorites- "Last Night in Town."  This song has one of my favorite lyrics that I always listen to when I'm leaving TN- "Raise up that glass, Goodbye Tennessee."  They then played "Tears Don't Matter Much," which ended with lots of spewed beer and a sweaty mob of people.  It was a great experience and I was glad that it got somewhat rowdy so Andrew could witness what I had been raving about.

Ben Nichols, with his white tee shirt, tattered jeans, worn out boots, and "bad tattoos" looks and sounds like he's lived a pretty tiresome life.  A life which has seen lots of Jameson shots, lots of cigarettes, lots of beds, and more road.  The songs they sing are incredibly honest and while most of them are about giving up or losing some girl, they never really get monotonous.  This is one bad ass band that really play "Southern" rock n roll in a way that many bands try but never come close to.

Finally, I got to meet Ben Nichols which was great.  Somewhat awestruck, I muttered something incredibly embarrassing about how much I really loved Lucero (why the hell can't you think of something cool in these situations!?).  He responded with his signature rugged modesty.  "Me?!  I'm a fucking drunken idiot!"

*Note:  I talked with John Stubblefield (bassist) about possibly seeing a re-release of their previous albums (before Rebels, Rogues, and Sworn Brothers) on vinyl.  He seemed very excited about the possibility of this happening in the immediate future.  I for one am super pumped about this!