Today's Hotness: The Beatings, Bob Mould, Modest Mouse

>> Clicky Clicky's most neglected band The Beatings, whose 2006 record we enjoy greatly but who we can't seem to actually get out of the house to see play a show, was recently featured on the Band In Boston podcast. The band delivers eight tunes, including a pretty soulful version of "Upstate Flashbacks." The local act performs semi-acoustic and with an organist sitting in for bassist Erin Dalbec, giving the proceedings an unusually rootsy feel. Typically The Beatings bring more of a Mission Of Burma-influenced, in-your-face assault (in fact the band is interviewed in the Burma documentary we reviewed here last week), and to prove it we're pointing to an MP3 below. And you can snatch down the MP3 or subscribe to the podcast here. We reviewed The Beatings' Holding On To Hand Grenades here at the beginning of the year.

The Beatings -- "Feel Good Ending" -- Holding On To Hand Grenades
[right click and save as]

>> In a move reminiscent of the bizarro-world occurrence of Superchunk opening for relative youngsters The Get Up Kids several years ago (described by Superchunk's Jon Wurster here), Bob Mould reports here that the Bob Mould Band will support Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!! for a New Year's Eve show in New York City. In case you've been under a rock for the last week, The Clap announced details about its sophomore set and posted two new MP3s. You can find them everywhere, so there's no need for us to point to them here.

>> So yeah, remember when that Modest Mouse record was sposed to come out on the 19th of this month? Word on the Filter blog here is it will be more like March. This Modest Mouse Wikipedia entry cites the official Modest Mouse site as stating the album has been postponed until "early next year." We're sure the delay means the record will leak in three, two, one...

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Tell The Miss Alans That They Are The Only One [MP3]

A funny thing about mix tape culture is the strong associations drilled into your mind about how two songs just must go together because you've heard them that way on a cassette that you played to death. It's the sort of thing that we suspect happens less and less as we all increasingly interact with music digitally, and not in the linear, Side A/Side B world of cassettes and vinyl. Anyway, last week as we were getting blown away by that live Texas Is The Reason material we posted, it triggered a memory of a song from a long lost mix tape. The memory was of an act whose name had the word "Miss" in it (but wasn't erstwhile Northampton, Mass. act Miss Read), sounded like The Stone Roses, and put out a 10" record in 1995 or 1996. Stumped as to the band's identity and with only a melody and snippets of lyrics to go on, we drafted an email to our former college radio cohorts. And as we expected, as soon as we pressed send on the email the name of the band popped right into our head. Never fails.

The Miss Alans, according to their Trouser Press entry here, were formed at Fresno State University in California and owed a great debt to R.E.M. (we still contend they sound like The Stone Roses without John Squire). We were only familiar with The Miss Alans' Big Sun 10" released on Mach in 1995, but after the band dropped off our radar it re-released most if not all of that EP on the 1996 full length Ledger. Ledger, incidentally, was issued on once and future Gang Of Four and Intel man Dave Allen's World Domination label, which also released much if not all of the catalog of under-rated Philly indie rawkers Latimer around the same time. Anyway, after the name "The Miss Alans" popped into our head we did all the research that resulted in this entry, and we also ordered a used copy of Ledger for *a cent* plus shipping off the Internet. The set is really pretty good, although the high points are almost solely the cuts from the Big Sun EP, at least at first listen.

Anyway, here is an MP3 of the song that started us down this line of inquiry in the first place. And to bring the item full circle, we are also posting an MP3 of the song that in our mind will always be inextricably related to "Big Sun" because of their being adjacent to one another on the mix tape referenced above: Boys Life's "Two Wheeled Train," from the amazing and out of print Christie Front Drive/Boys Life split 10" issued by Crank! in 1996 or so. "Two Wheeled Train" is a capital R Rocker, and for months and months after the record came out we would scream along in the car to the line "WITH THE RADIO OOOOOOONNN, YOU MAKE THE WHEEEEEEELS TUUUUUURRNNN."

The Miss Alans -- "Big Sun" -- Ledger
[just click]
[buy Miss Alans stuff from Music Stack here]

The Miss Alans: InterWeb | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

Boys Life -- "Two Wheeled Train" -- Christie Front Drive/Boys Life Split 10"
[just click]
[buy Boys Life stuff from Crank! A Record Company here]

Boys Life: InterWeb | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr


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Review: Not A Photograph | The Mission Of Burma Story [DVD]

"Imagine if you could go back to something that was totally amazing 20 years ago and basically, it's not the same culturally, the world is completely different, but that thing is pretty much where you left it... I cannot think of too many opportunities in life where that happens," enthuses Fenway Records head and former Geffen A&R guy Mark Kates toward the end of "Not A Photograph," the Mission of Burma documentary issued late last month on DVD by MVD. That sense of awe and wonder regarding the reanimation of noise rock legends Burma several years ago permeates the indie star-studded film and giddily carries it aloft for most of the movie's 70-odd minutes.

If there is a problem with "Not A Photograph," it is that (through no fault of the filmmakers) there is no clean arc to the Mission Of Burma tale, and the film's opening and closing credits bookend what is an increasingly incomplete segment of the story. Mirroring somewhat the manner in which the band broke up too soon in its career (to soon for fans, anyway), the documentary stops short of portraying the band's protracted success recording and touring following the reunion shows (to whit, earlier this year Burma birthed its second post-posthumous set The Obliterati to critical raves, and the band has just announced several January shows). The film is hampered by its boundaries, featuring interviews that underscore the uncertainty of the future of a band that has since carpe diem'd with increasing aplomb. And so "Not A Photograph" must grapple with the question of how do you film a documentary about some reunion shows when in fact the story of Mission Of Burma in this decade is one of resumption. It's the narrative difference between raising a man from the dead and reanimating a caveman (well, three cavemen) from a glacier.

Even so, the film is an enjoyable document of a time of unbridled excitement within and about the band, capturing in one place vintage and reunion performances and never-before-seen rehearsals. The film's buoyancy has an inverse: toward the end of the film drummer Peter Prescott talks about how the members are uncomfortable with the critical and public adoration, "Deep down inside we feel like we don't deserve it." Mr. Prescott also confesses to being frustrated at the thought of returning to the relative anonymity of his other musical pursuits once the Burma reunion subsides. Fortunately for him and all of us, the juggernaut continues to roll.

"Not A Photograph" comes with copious bonus clips of the band in its early incarnation, live clips from various reunion shows and footage of the band tracking songs in the studio for its 2004 set onOFFon. The trailer to the documentary is embedded below, and here is a link to the original version of the trailer. Finally here is an MP3 and a link toward a second MP3 from Burma's most recent record.

Mission Of Burma -- "2wice" -- The Obliterati
[right click and save as]
Mission Of Burma -- "Donna Sumeria" -- The Obliterati
[Get it at the Matador MP3 page]

[Buy "Not A Photograph" here]

Mission Of Burma: InterWeb | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

January Tour Dates:

01/12 -- The Double Door -- Chicago, IL
01/13 -- E.A.R.L. -- Atlanta, GA
01/19 -- Irving Plaza -- New York, NY
01/20 -- The Paradise -- Boston, MA



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Today's Hotness: The Cure, Logh, The Hold Steady, Interpol

>> This one snuck up on us: veteran alternarockers The Cure today released a DVD called "Festival 2005" that captures the band performing live at, you guessed it, a handful of festivals last year. You may recall that for a short time in 2005 the band was performing as a trio, which in our opinion was the most exciting thing the band had done since 1992. Well, "Festival 2005" features The Cure as a quartet comprised of Robert Smith, Simon Gallup, Jason Cooper and the recently returned-to-the-fold Cure veteran Porl Thompson. The 155-minute DVD includes 30 songs, and you can watch the band tear through a raunchtastic version "Never Enough" at this link. In related news, The Cure has just disclosed it will headline the Ultra Music Festival in March. More details here and here.

>> Superlative Swedish indie mopers Logh have completed their forthcoming record and posted a new song sample to get us jazzed. The sample is for a tune called "Thieves In The Palace" and it is distinctly more rocking than the previously posted samples we discussed last month here. Anyway, the new record (title not public yet) will be released in March on Bad Taste records and it will have ten tracks. You can see the titles of the songs that made the cut at the Logh web site here, where you will also find the song samples in the "Audio" section.

>> The degree to which Pfork jocks The Hold Steady verges on embarassing, but even so the interview they are running today with band fronter Craig Finn is very good, and chock full of interesting information. Here are some things we didn't know: The Hold Steady's triumphant Separation Sunday only sold 20,0000 copies and this year's Boys And Girls In America sold that amount in three weeks; Finn works at digital music distributor The Orchard; he has never met his idol Paul Westerberg (of The Replacements). There is also discussion of Finn's writing process (with the priceless quote "...there's never a shortage of material. If we needed to write a song, we could probably go do it right now."), a mystery novel he has been pondering and working with Soul Asylum singer Dave Pirner (who sang the male part on "Chillout Tent," a song which, personally, we kind of abhor). Anyway, it is a very good interview. Read the whole thing here.

>> Pun Canoes reports here that Interpol has begun recording its third record. The band recently signed to Capitol Records, a label that has spent a fair amount of energy snapping up big indie acts The Decemberists and Lily Allen.

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Year-End Wrap Party: Clicky Clicky's Favorite Tracks Of 2006

As with any survey, it is the parameters that determine the final product. And so with year-end lists the content is a function of certain limitations. Which is one way of explaining why our list of favorite songs released in 2006 could actually be two lists (but isn't, because, you know, like, who cares, right?), and is tempered with some subjectivity. So the obvious guidelines: the song had to be initially released this year. As such, even though Meneguar's ass-kicking triumph I Was Born At Night was reissued by Troubleman this year, its original release in 2005 disqualifies the remixed version of "The Temp" from making this list. Also, albums that were supposed to be released this year but weren't don't make the list. Which means that although Haywood's "Far Rockaway" and "Your Bag" would technically make our top 10 most-played cuts of the year, the band never actually released their rock-solid posthumous As Long As There Is Track, I will Not Go Back this year. Not on the list. Finally, to make our list more varied, we include only one song from each charting act. Which means that even though Lilys' "Black Carpet Magic" and "With Candy" were near the top, we include only the former.

And so, with caveats voiced, we present to you our favorite tracks of 2006, as determined by overall number of plays this year in our ITunes. But there is one more thing. It should be noted that the relative rank of these songs tells a bit more of a story than you might think. Take for example tracks one and 10: The Hold Steady topped our list despite releasing their record just this fall, while Lilys' "Black Carpet Magic," from a record we received here at HQ in late December of 2005, just squeaks in under the wire. What does that mean? It means that Craig Finn and crew only had a few months to rack up the thirty-something plays that placed it atop this list, whereas Mr. Heasley had the whole of 2006 to garner a still impressive play count. Yes, we played the crap out of The Hold Steady tune. Finally, just a note about a top albums list for the year: we're still on the fence about doing one, but we are leaning towards doing it if only as a means of further emphasizing records we really enjoyed this year that we think got short shrift from the wider blogosphere. Anyhoo, here's the list, with MP3 links to boot -- so get ready to right click and save as.

1. The Hold Steady -- "Chips Ahoy!" [MP3] -- Boys And Girls In America
2. Human Television -- "In Front Of The House" [MP3] -- Look At Who You're Talking To
3. Okay Paddy -- "Fraktur" [Live version MP3] -- The Cactus Has A Point
4. The Lemonheads -- "No Backbone" [MP3] -- The Lemonheads
5. Asobi Seksu -- "New Years" [MP3] -- Citrus
6. The Mobius Band -- "A Hint Of Blood (Demo)" [MP3] -- Website Download
7. Fields -- "Brittlesticks" [MP3] -- 7 From The Village
8. Lilys -- "Black Carpet Magic" [stream] -- Everything Wrong Is Imaginary
9. Snowden -- "Anti Anti" [MP3] -- Anti Anti
10. Destroyer -- "European Oils"[stream] -- Your Blood

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Today's Hotness: Pop Ambient 2007, TGTBTQ, The Texas Governor

>> Essential read Brainwashed here alerts us to two new releases for the coming week that we failed to include in our final Rack And Opinion of the year last week, so we acknowledge them here. First, superlative German techno label Kompakt releases Pop Ambient 2007, the annual installment of its ambient electronic music compilation series. We have the 2005 issue (and reviewed it here for Junkmedia) and it is incredibly dreamy. The big draw for the 2007 set (according to the marketing verbiage) is the rare, rare, rare Gas cut "Nach 1912," which has not been released on CD previously. You can stream a sample of it and the rest of the compiled tracks at Kompakt's site here. A second release of note this week that Brainwashed hipped us to is Deadbeat's 12" Version Immersion, song samples and the details of which you can check out here at ~scape. We reviewed Deadbeat's Something Borrowed, Something Blue for Junkmedia here in 2004.

>> We sat on the link to the forthcoming second The Good, The Bad And The Queen single "Kingdom Of Doom" until this morning when we could give it appropriate attention with a cup of coffee and the headphones. And we think it is strong enough to share up, for those of you who didn't hear it at Stereofork and Pitchgum or whoever it was that posted the track earlier this week. We didn't think that much of the song until the smudged guitar drops in right ahead of the chorus, but we were sold right then and there. Hear it for yourself below. The Good, The Bad And The Queen is led by former Blur/Gorillaz dude Damon Albarn and includes Clash bassist Paul Simonon among others. The band's debut will be released late next month.



>> We didn't intend to write about the Texas Governor set we took in last night before we went, thinking it would be nice to see something without feeling the need to analyze it, but a couple things stuck out. First, sometime in the fifteen months or so since we saw the act last they dropped their bass player and band leader David Goolkasian, former bassist for the apparently resuscitated The Elevator Drops, has switched over from second guitar to bass, cutting the quintet to a quartet. Secondly, perhaps as an even clearer nod toward the return of The Elevator Drops, The Texas Governor included the former band's "Be A Lemonhead" in its Saturday set. Finally, intrepid fan H-Dawg From Accounts Receivable posed a question to Mr. Goolkasian after the set regarding the possibility of an Elevator Drops tour next year, and the bassist said no plans were made as of yet. The Elevator Drops will release a fourth record, OK Commuter, Feb 14, 2007.

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YouTube Rodeo: Texas Is The Reason, Armalite, Meneguar

>> Watch all-too-briefly reunited emo legends Texas Is The Reason completely slay at their reunion gig last weekend. We're not sure about the fashion choice with the scarf on that one guitarist, but the Townshendian windmills are awesome. At the clip atop this item the band runs through the first half of "Back And To The Left," from Texas Is The Reason's sole full-length release, 1996's Do You Know Who You Are. Here's a longer clip of the same song with awful, almost unlistenable audio. Egads, that's some capital "R" Rock music. We hope the band shot the show for a DVD. Anyway, here's an MP3 of "Back And To The Left" in the event you want to try to synch the audio with the video with the shoddy audio linked supra.

Texas Is The Reason -- "Back And To The Left" -- Do You Know Who You Are
[just click / buy Texas Is The Reason stuff from Revelation Records here]

>> Given how rarely the band performs because of various schedule conflicts and health problems, we think it is more than worth pointing to this video of pop-punk supergroup Armalite's October performance in Gainesville, Fla. at Fest V. The clip actually has pretty great audio and video, but because it is shot from the side of the stage instead of the front (where the PA likely delivered the vocals fairly well), there are virtually no vocals to be heard. The band, which features Atom Goren of Atom And His Package/Fracture fame and Dan Yemin of Lifetime/Kid Dynamite fame, performs two songs in this video from Armalite's 2006 self-titled tour de rock. We believe the tunes are "Husker Dave" and "Entitled." Look for Armalite's record on our list of favorite discs of 2006. Hey, that sort of rhymes.

>> Yeah, we know this clip isn't on YouTube, but given the recent acquisition we think we can include it: Hit this link and watch one of the best underground band's in America play to an inexplicably small crowd (six people, maybe?). It's clicky clicky faves Meneguar playing "Kids Get Cut" at the East River Music Project for New York Noise earlier in the year. Incidentally, we always forget about Google Video, and as such we hadn't seen this clip before (although it appears it was only uploaded a few weeks back). But if you hit the link you will find a longer clip (with poorish sound quality) of the band playing several songs at American University in 2005. Definitely watch the cataclysmic one-two punch of "House Of Cats" and "Kids Get Cut," it will give you whiplash. And if you stick around for the last four minutes the band plays the triumphant anthem "The Temp," although the stream jumps around a bit and on the whole we'd say it isn't the strongest performance of the awesome song.

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