Today's Hotness: Bully, Palberta, Bored Nothing

>> When it comes to rocking songs, how does one objectively define a blaster? A banger? A stomper? It's a deceptively interesting question to ponder, even while sober (maybe), but at the moment the easiest answer might be to direct answer-seekers to the electrifying "Milkman" by Nashville indie rockers Bully. The song comprises the top half of the threesome's new 7", which was released April 25 on Chicken Ranch Records with "Faceblind" gracing the flip. The up-tempo (a blaster's gotta be uptempo, right?) "Milkman" metes a master class in how to concoct an A-side, while proffering some of the most riotous guitar pop we've heard this year. Bully's new single follows three pressings of the act's self-titled EP [as we wrote here] with tracks that feature similar sonics but even more power and more purposeful production. This reviewer is not a rich man, but he'd wager a fiver that the two-minute "Milkman" blows up in the underground in the coming weeks. Fronter (and producer) Alicia Bognanno drives the song's propulsive tempo and tried-and-true chord changes with her affectingly raspy soprano, which is reminiscent of that of Juliana Hatfield. Ms. Boganno's would seem to be a voice destined for greatness -- it's equally effective at punk sneers, candy-coated hooks screamed down an ear, and precise self-harmonizing, a rare gift. Also worth mentioning: "Milkman" presents some of the most tasteful cowbell heard in recent memory! "Milkman" b/w "Faceblind" is available in a limited edition of 500 flat, circular vinyl discs. One-hundred-and-fifty of these were pressed to blue vinyl and only three of those remained as of a week ago; the balance of the pressing is on black media. We recommend pre-ordering the new single now via the Bandcamp embed below, as the band's need to continually repress old records should be ample evidence that more and more people are in on this great, perhaps not-so-secret, Tennessee secret [Tennessecret? -- Ed.]. -- Edward Charlton



>> No-wave noiseniks Palberta returned earlier this month with more economical, tweaked tunes on a cassette split titled Special Worship, which features music from the equally madcap New England Patriots on the back side. When we last wrote about the Annandale-on-Hudson, New York-based threesome here in December, the prankster surprises and spooky songwriting on its creaky/jerky/perky debut collection My Pal Berta had successfully loosened at least a few screws in this reviewer's brain. Across five tracks on the new collection, Palberta delivers succinct blasts of wiry, squirming guitar, minimal drum textures and grungy, lo-fi bass. The great groove of "Store" -- a tune that echoes the taut, dry weirdness of Brooklyn-based punk-funk luminaries Ava Luna -- is interrupted in its last ten seconds by serrated guitar strums and high, menacing yelps that suggest a young child's new-found ability to sing with reckless abandon. A delightfully skewed cover of "Hot Cross Buns" takes the tune somewhere it's certainly never gone before. Skittering atop the wonderfully concise compositions are dueling female vocals, which almost seem to play out the roles of Freud's Ego and Id, respectfully. One voice is calm and collected, often evoking the cool, speak-sing street moves of Kim Gordon, while the other trades in bubbly shrieks that imbue the trio's music with much of its chaotic swagger. Palberta continues to tap into something rare with its music, and we recommend you keep an ear on what they are doing. Stream Special Worship via the embed below, and maybe consider buying it at the hilarious and awesome $1,000 minimum. -- Edward Charlton



>> It's not boring, and it's not nothing: it's the latest bit of pleasing downer-pop from Melbourne, Australia DIY pop outfit Bored Nothing, the nom de indie rock of one Fergus Miller. Titled "Why Were You Dancing With All Those Guys?," Mr. Miller's new slow-burner is a beautiful, rainy strummer, flush with delicate electric jangle. High-string whammy bar action floats low in the mix and lends the ballad just the right amount of lovesick tension. Handclap accents on the snare hits and perfect, brief guitar and organ leads say just enough without getting in the way. Additionally, on this track Miller's voice reminds this reviewer of Elliot Smith, but in an alternate universe where the famed singer-songwriter attempted to audition for Slumberland Records after hearing The Aislers Set. "Why Were You Dancing With All Those Guys?" comes in a limited edition of 30 lathe-cut 7" records (housed in sleeves that bear the likeness of cartoon antihero Bobby Hill), which we imagine must be sold out by now. Bored Nothing's Facebook and Bandcamp pages don't state definitively that the packages are all gone (they do state there will be no repress, and the song will never be made available as a download), so who knows. Orders come packaged with a shirt, sticker and letter that are all related to the tune, making the $40 Australian price tag a bit more understandable. Stream "Why Were You Dancing With All Those Guys?" via the embed below, and click through if you feel like trying your luck at getting what may be the very last piece of vinyl. We previously wrote about Bored Nothing here last July. -- Edward Charlton

That Was The Show That Was: Lemonheads | Boston Common | July 20

While it is not the most rock 'n' roll sentiment, seeing Lemonheads perform last night was a tremendous pleasure primarily for personal reasons: it was the first time we were able to synthesize rock-show-going and family-having. The logistics of raising two kids and managing careers just hadn't allowed allowed us to attempt every resident at Clicky Clicky HQ attending a show together until last night, and being able to have the missus and the kids along while taking in a set by a Clicky Clicky All-Time Top Five act was even more enjoyable than we had hoped. When it was announced months ago that Lemonheads would play at a relatively family-friendly hour, we began to plot our attendance, and fortunately the kids enjoyed it and the weather held out. It was also great to be at a show with Clicky Clicky Managing Editor Michael Piantigini once more. We've been silent on the issue in the blog out of respect for his privacy, but many friends of Clicky Clicky know that Michael experienced a major health issue in the late spring, and so we hadn't seen a show with him in months. It is great to have him back on the scene.

Lemonheads held up their end of the bargain by delivering a dynamite set, dipping as far back as the '80s into a repertoire that is overflowing with should-be-hits. A highlight of the set was a three-song stint featuring founding member Ben Deily, with whom Clicky Clicky readers are well familiar due to our coverage of Mr. Deily's current combo Varsity Drag. Deily -- who left Lemonheads to focus on his studies at the turn of the '90s -- joined the quartet last night for "Don't Tell Yourself It's OK," "Uhhhh" and "Amazing Grace." He first reunited on stage with Lemonhead-in-chief Evan Dando more than three years ago, but we haven't any idea when the last time was that the two shared a stage in Boston, so this was pretty special. Lemonheads also played cracking versions of personal favorites including "Stove" and "Rudderless." Mr. Dando was focused and funny, his voice as solid as ever and more than able to convey and color the emotions guiding his brilliant songwriting. The complete set-list is below. This iteration of Lemonheads is abetted by guitar virtuoso and musical journeyman Chris Brokaw, who -- in addition to playing in Come and The New Year and Codeine and numerous other acts, in addition to being a talented songwriter -- is the best utility player in rock music. Your lead guitarist get eaten by a shark? Call Mr. Brokaw. Drummer explode? Call Brokaw. In the context of Lemonheads last evening, his leads and rhythm playing stayed true to the band's recordings, while also creatively accenting tunes with well-place salvos of harmonics or other flourishes. He even occasionally recreated melodic elements from the recordings that weren't guitar lines, such as when he approximated a missing vocal line from "It's About Time." Brokaw's playing is brilliant, and damn it if he doesn't seem to get younger-looking each year, too.

Lemonheads are in the midst of a short strand of tour dates, having playing Providence Friday night and with a planned date in Connecticut tonight. We've posted a few more dates, and also last night's set list (as well as a link to a photo of same from Deily's Instragram feed) below. Surprisingly, this is only the second time we've ever seen Lemonheads; we reviewed a December 2006 show -- when the band was touring its self-titled Vagrant record -- right here. As for the future, Fire Records is expected to reissue expanded versions of the first three Lemonheads records later this year, and sessions for a new Lemonheads record -- a record that would include input from Deily and Juliana Hatfield, as we reported here -- were begun with Ryan Adams in 2012.

Lemonheads: Internerds | Facebook | YouTube

SET LIST: [Instagram]

Confetti
Down About It
Alison's Starting To Happen
Hospital
Drug Buddy
Style
Great Big No
Left For Dead
It's A Shame About Ray
Break Me
Dawn Can't Decide
Don't Tell Yourself It's OK (with Deily)
Uhhh (with Deily) [video]
Amazing Grace (with Deily)
Outdoor Type
Hannah + Gabbi
Tenderfoot
It's About Time
Stove
Rudderless [video]
Into Your Arms

MORE ROCK MUSIC:

07.21.13 -- Hamden, CT -- Spaceland Ballroom
07.23.13 -- Asbury Park, NJ -- The Wonder Bar
07.24.13 -- Brooklyn, NY -- Knitting Factory
07.26.13 -- Edgartown, MA -- Flatbread Pizza Co.

Today's Hotness: Lemonheads, She, Sir

>> We didn't expect to be learning stuff last Saturday night when we took in the big Varsity Drag show at Midway Cafe, so when fronter (and Lemonheads co-founder) Ben Deily laid out a surprising little history lesson for us, we were caught a bit off guard. We followed up this week with Mr. Deily who graciously reiterated his tale, which concerns one of our favorite Lemonheads songs, "Mallo Cup." When Evan Dando originally brought the song to the band, it bore the title "If Only You Were Dead," the arrangement lacked the metal vamp in the middle, and the chorus had entirely different words. In place of the familiar section that begins "I never will forget," the words instead were "If only you were dead, I'd walk on home, if only you were dead, I'd know I was alone." While Mr. Deily is a big fan of the popular, well-known version of the song, he and Varsity Drag tore through the original version at Midway Cafe Saturday, blowing both our 38-year-old mind as well as what remains lurking within of the mind of the 16-year-old kid who cut the lawn hundreds of times listening to Lemonheads' Lick on cassette. Earlier this fall -- in the wake of news that Deily and Dando were reuniting to create a new Lemonheads record along with Juliana Hatfield and Ryan Adams -- London-based Fire Records announced it will reissue in 2013 that record as well as Lemonheads' debut full-length Hate Your Friends and Creator, which along with Lick are the three records made during Deily's original tenure with Lemonheads. What's more -- and this is where we tie things together, people -- Fire Records issued "Mallo Cup" b/w "Mallo Cup (Live on VPRO 1989)" on "super-limited" edition 7" vinyl Nov. 26 (buy link). That live version is the one found on the tail end of Creator, as fans will likely recognize. It turns out "Mallo Cup" isn't the first Lemonheads single Fire has released; the label, through its Roughneck Records subsidiary, released a single for "Different Drum" in 1990. And that single, incidentally, contains our very favorite Lemonheads b-side "Paint," which was released domestically as part of the Favorite Spanish Dishes EP. While you twiddle your thumbs waiting for those album reissues, why not stream "Mallo Cup" via the embed below?



>> Just as our hunger for new She, Sir jams was rumbling again in the wake of the delicious digital single "You Could Be Tiger" [coverage here], the Austin-based dream pop heroes have announced they will finally release the long-anticipated Go Guitars full length early in 2013 on Japan's Happy Prince Records; the band continues to look for a suitable domestic label situation for the record. But clearly the season of giving is upon us, as the group is also sharing the first single from the planned album, "Condensedindents." The new tune confirms that the act continues its delicate revisions to the tape-saturated noise-pop which first captured our hearts with the brilliant, brilliant 2006 mini-album Who Can’t Say Yes. "Condensedindents" stands apart immediately, as it is marked by She, Sir's signature timeless sonics and composition, but also appropriates signifiers hence unheard. Specifically, there's a smooth, '70s-funk-inspired bass line that mingles with the delay pedals. That single instrument imbues the song with a playful, relaxed bounce that transports She, Sir's dream-pop to the yacht club. Add to this the brief yet effective and creamy guitar strums in the breakdown, and you've got all the makings of another classic from collaborators Russell Karloff and M. Grusha. The duo now works with a steady slate of members including lead guitarist Jeremy Cantrell and drummer David Nathan, both of whom seem to fit seamlessly into the band's aesthetic. She, Sir fans have had to be patient while the band simmered in the studio and practice space in recent years, but the release of Go Guitars is looking and sounding like it will be fine reward for all the good boys and girls that kept the faith. For now, enjoy "Condensedindents" via the embed below. -- Edward Charlton

Original Lemonheads Dando And Deily Reunite For Ryan Adams-Produced LP Featuring Juliana Hatfield, Blogger Dreams Realized

[PHOTO: Dando and Deily in 2010 by Joshua Pickering, used with permission]

Perhaps it's not a bombshell on the order of the Mittens video, but Ryan Adams' tweet last night announcing he is producing a new Lemonheads record featuring both Evan Dando AND Ben Deily, as well as Juliana Hatfield on bass, certainly shook the earth for music fans. We caught up with Mr. Deily this morning, who confirmed the news and told us he will fly to Los Angeles tomorrow to begin tracking songs to tape. Perhaps a recorded reunion of the O.G. lineup of Lemonheads was inevitable, following the long-awaited live reunion of Mr. Dando and Deily at the 2010 SXSW festival that we wrote about here. But Deily tells Clicky Clicky the recording plans with Adams -- who will also drum on the planned album -- only solidified after he received a call from Dando three weeks ago. "Of course, my piss-poor listening skills being what they are, I misunderstood initially and thought the date [to record] was November 20th... and was panicking anyway, [regarding] song development," Deily said. "Then, of course, when I realized (about a week ago) that I had ONE WEEK to buy a ticket, get time off and write as many half-decent songs as I could, then, well, I just relaxed. Because of course THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE."

Dando, Deily and Ms. Hatfield have already demoed an unknown number of songs, and folks luckier than us have heard them. Given the very compressed timetable for writing material before tape starts rolling tomorrow, it's certainly likely that the storied act will revert "back to the punker sounds," as Adams tweeted. As everyone over the age of 35 knows, Hatfield played on Lemonheads' commercial breakthrough It's A Shame About Ray, which celebrated its 20th anniversary last year. That record followed the band's excellent, but wrongly overlooked, major label debut Lovey by two years, which in turn arrived a year after Deily left Lemonheads in 1989 to commit to academics at Harvard. As Clicky Clicky readers know, Deily has been musically active in the interim with projects including Pods and his current vehicle Varsity Drag. Things have been relatively quiet in the Varsity Drag camp, however, since the release of the excellent long-player Night Owls in 2009 [review]. The most recent new music from Deily came in the form of a score to a 2011 production of Hamlet in Boston, some of which can be heard at Soundcloud here. A version of The Lemonheads featuring Dando and Hatfield has a tour booked next month supporting Psychedelic Furs, and full dates are posted below. We will certainly keep you abreast of the progress being made on the new album as we are able. For now, treat your ears to some classic tunes.





10.12 -- St. Louis, MO -- The Pageant
10.14 -- Minneapolis, MN -- First Avenue
10.17 -- Royal Oak, MI -- Royal Oak Music Theatre
10.19 -- Glenside, PA -- Keswick Theatre
10.20 -- Port Chester, NY -- Capitol Theater
10.21 -- New York, NY -- Best Buy Theater
10.22 -- Washington, -- @ Howard Theater
10.24 -- Asheville, NC -- Orange Peel
10.25 -- Atlanta, GA -- Variety Playhouse
10.27 -- St. Petersburg, FL -- State Theatre
10.28 -- Miami, FL -- Grand Central
10.29 -- Orlando, FL -- House of Blues

Muxtape No. 8: Let Them Eat Rock

[PHOTO: Jay Elliot] Better late than never, below is the explication for our weekly Muxtape, which went online Sunday. This mix features a number of big rockers, and we'd deem the overall vibe as one of exuberance. That said, the tone cools out as the other end of the mix approaches -- or at least it was intended to. For some reason the last few songs aren't working right now, and in their stead the mix just starts over with "Let Them Eat Rock." But we're OK with that. We've thrown in a couple links to MP3s and YouTube clips in an effort to make up for the technical difficulties and lateness, so read on and start right-clicking links. Finally, here is the link to the Muxtape.

1. The Upper Crust -- "Let Them Eat Rock" -- Entitled
(The introduction to this song, in which the band is introduced, is wildly entertaining. As is this band; The Upper Crust dress like foppish 18th Century French aristocrats. Their stage names include Lord Bendover and Jackie Kickassis. And they sound like AC/DC. Really what else is there to say? This song rocks most steadfastly. Improve your life now by watching the video here.)

2. Latimer -- "Citizen Jive" -- Live From Sour City
(Many drives to, from and around the City of Brotherly Love in the late '90s were soundtracked by this excellent album that melds The Stooges and David Bowie and some other influences into a formidable alloy of indie rock. We don't think Latimer, which was signed to Dave Allen's World Domination label, lasted out the '90s, as we recall seeing what was supposed to be a final show at Philadelphia Khyber Pass about 10 years ago. This number in particular opens the excellent Live From Sour City (which, of course, is not live) and it is an impressive call to arms, or, for us, a call to beers. And, hey, this YouTube thing is amazing: here is a clip we've never seen before -- with miserable sound quality -- for the track "Used Cars" from the same record.)

3. Juliana Hatfield -- "Raisans" -- Forever Baby EP
(Yeah, a Dinosaur Jr. cover. Pretty darn good one, too. Why isn't Dinosaur covered more often? We don't know. Perhaps guitarists are intimidated by Mascis' soloing? This doesn't seem to perturb Ms. Hatfield, who was just introduced to us the year this EP came out via her contributions to The Lemonheads' It's A Shame About Ray. Her vocals make the album for us. "I JUST WANT A BIT PART IN YOUR LIFE!" and all that. And the line "tired of getting high." Anyway, this is a nice take on the Dino classic, and we give a tip of the hat to Idolator for bringing it to our attention a couple years back.)

4. The Get Up Kids -- "Last Place You Look" -- Four-Minute Mile
(This song is huge. The vocal performance is amazing. The production is great. All of the missteps the band made before and after this are completely absolved by this song. When singer Matt Pryor belts those last lines it is among the most exuberant, recklessly in-the-moment crescendoes in rock and roll music. There is a certain caliber of amazing song that towers over the others and instills in us a desire to hit ourself in the head with a sneaker, a la Jeff Spicoli in the popular American film "Fast Times At Ridgemont High." This is one of those songs.)

5. The Strokes -- "I Can't Win" -- Room On Fire
(Relentlessly upbeat. Mrs. Clicky Clicky always thinks this track is "Last Night" when it comes on, which is understandable. The Strokes: where did it all go wrong? A friend of ours saw the band as they were just breaking at a club gig in Chicago before Is This It? came out and likened the experience to seeing Nirvana on the cusp. Not so hot anymore. That said, the first Albert Hammond, Jr. solo record was solid and we are eager to hear the second, which is titled Como Te Llamas? and will be issued July 8. Care for a preview MP3? Here's the track "GfC," which we haven't heard yet, but we will be disappointed if the main chords in the jam aren't the aforementioned G, F and C."GfC" -- well, the link is already dead, so go check at Hype Machine.)

6. Mazarin -- "My Favorite Green Hill" -- A Tall-Tale Story Line
(Fuzzy, swirling, feedbacky bliss. Yeah.)

7. Jets To Brazil -- "You're Having The Time of My Life (Live)" -- Irving Plaza
(Blake Schwarzenbach nails some strong, wry and poignant lyrics here. Right from the great opening line, "When you become a stranger again..." And then "I would start back at the start" is beautifully simplistic wishful thinking. Musically there's nothing fancy going on here. But there are strong melodies and harmonies happening. And some hot drum fills on this live version. We saw Jets To Brazil at TT The Bear's so long ago we can't even remember whether it was before or after we actually moved to Boston in 1999. We certainly wish we could go back in time and see the show again, although it was before Four Cornered Night, the set that included this song, was released. Is it possible that the show was Jets To Brazil with Burning Airlines? Man, what a night that must have been. If only we could remember...)

8. Joy Division -- "Disorder" -- Still
(We're reading a book that collects selections from the 33 1/3 book series and therein is a chapter about Joy Division. It references producer Martin Hannet's errrr... production, particularly the barely perceptible amounts of delay he employed on drum tracks. And so that got us going through our records again, and as always we stop on this version of this song, which is amazing. But what is Hooky doing at the end of this track? We never understood.)

9. My Psychoanalyst -- "We Disagree" -- "We Disagree" b/w "Panophobia"
(Sometimes Johnny Foreigner tourmates single from last year that is very strong. We love the ambient humming that fills the air between the bass and guitar, the boom-boom-bap drum beat, the meditative vocal. A great song by a band we expect will issue a great full-length sometime soon.)

10. The English Beat -- "Save It For Later (12" Mix)" -- What Is Beat?
(Sometimes we just look down and all of a sudden we've brought home some new records and we don't know where they came from. We think this was picked up on our most recent trip to Lancaster, PA at a used store that was selling all full-lengths for $5 or something. This is one of those records we always mean to pick up, because we never actually pull out our tapes anymore. You know, stuff like that Squeeze singles comp. Stuff you should have, but you forget even exists. Anyway, we've loved "Save It For Later" since seeing the video on MTV as a youth. As a freshman in college a billion years ago, we rediscovered the song for a while, and here we are re-rediscovering it.)

11. Mark Robinson -- "Misplaced On The Kitchen Floor" -- Canada's Green Highways
This is a great song. And so is the next one. But we just realized that our Muxtape is messed up. Specifically, tracks 10-12 just play The Upper Crust's "Let Them Eat Rock" when you click on them. And you know what? That is fine with us. The track is crazy good. You need to hear it four times in one mix.

12. Grenadine -- "Fillings" -- Triology 7"
It's really a shame you don't get to hear this quiet, Jenny Toomey-sung meditation on love and dentistry released in 1992, so we're offering an MP3 of it. You'll thank us later. "Fillings" -- right click and save as.