Rock Over Boston | Joe Pernice | Lizard Lounge | 1.14.10

I am perpetually behind on my reading - probably because I'm spending too much time on this here series of tubes - but having now twice seen the author read a few pages from it, Joe Pernice's It Feels So Good When I Stop is begging to be bumped up the pile. His contribution to the 33 1/3 series, a novel about The Smiths' Meat Is Murder, hit a chord within those of us who have grown up marking time by an expanding music collection. The vibe of that book, along with the feeling of familiarity that you get from listening to a musician's work over a long period of time, exemplifies a sort of common aesthetic - one maybe even more specific than, say, Nick Hornby's High Fidelity, which had many of me and my music-obsessed cohort fairly creeped-out at how well he had captured our times. Pernice's view is more from the inside than Hornby's. The passage that Pernice read on Thursday night from his latest had the narrator's roommate singing along to Mudhoney, so yeah, been there.

Though Thursday night's show at the cozy, excellent beer list-having Lizard Lounge was ostensibly in support of that new novel and its scene-setting, all-covers soundtrack of the same title, Pernice played only one selection from it, Del Shannon's "I Go To Pieces," accompanied (on this and a few other songs) by Pernice Brother Bob Pernice on guitar and harmonies.

Of the handful he played, the highlight catalog track of the night was easily "Grudge Fuck," which goes back to Pernice's Scud Mountain Boys 1996 breakthrough classic, Massachusetts (and re-recorded on the Pernice Brothers' last one, 2006's Live A Little) I'd say that it's one of those once-in-a-lifetime classics for a songwriter, except Pernice has a few. "Bum Leg," from 2000's Big Tobacco is another, but we were deprived of this when Pernice was temporarily flummoxed by the somewhat elaborate requests being laid out by Boston rock impresario Billy Ruane. A few bars, a capo adjustment, and out.

All this made time for him to preview several new songs from his apparently completed, forthcoming in some as yet undetermined future, new album to be titled Goodbye Killer, according to Pernice. In the solo format at least, the new ones sound to like they are on the folkier end of Pernice's style; the narrative character driven stuff that he's so good at. If there's going to be as much of the sunny pop we love on Pernice Brothers albums on the new one - and Ric Menck's involvement suggests there is - we didn't get as much of that, but then it's been a while since we've spent time with this side of Joe Pernice anyway. These solo shows, which we wish were more frequent, are a rare treat.

-Michael Piantigini

Joe Pernice: Intertubes | MySpace | Facebook

Joe Pernice at the Lizard Lounge, 1/14/2010 Setlist:
Judy
Goodbye Killer (new)
We Love the Stage (new)
Man Descending (new, working title)
Grudge Fuck
(book chapter)
Oklahoma
I'm Not the Loving Kind (new)
I Go To Pieces
Somerville
Amazing Glow

Review: She Sir | Yens EP [MP3]

There are two phenomenal shoegaze acts operating out of Austin, Texas of which we are aware, and 2010 seems like it will be a big year for both the mighty Ringo Deathstarr and the more cerebral and mysterious She Sir. The latter act, as we noted here in late October, has been promising a follow-up to 2006's devastating full-length Who Can't Say Yes for some time. While the planned sophomore set Go Guitars has been delayed until "later in 2010," Yens reiterates -- more concisely, across four songs and fewer than nine minutes -- some of the dense guitar swirl, reverberant pining sentiments and arresting melodies that made the band's debut so captivating. According to lead songwriter Russell Karloff, "although we have a fair number of new studio recordings sitting unfinished and/or in progress, Yens was our answer to getting something out sooner rather than later."

She Sir has stated that Go Guitars will be "as diverse as it is coherent," and we expect the coherence is more readily apparent across the full length than simply the four tracks here. Yens places less emphasis on dense sheets of guitar, which we admittedly miss, but the point of the EP seems to be to play up the new directions of which the band speaks at its web site. And so the typically magnificent opener "Ginger" offers shoegaze swirl familiar from Who Can't Say Yes, while "Lemongrass" -- which we've posted below -- exhibits a broadened palette centered around organ, bowed strings and bright ethereal vocals. The short closer "Boystown" is even more stylistically distant from the material on the first release, as it touts foregrounded Animal Collective-ish layered vocals underpinned faintly by percussion, organ and guitar.

Mr. Karloff tells Clicky Clicky that She Sir plans a return to the studio in February ("and beyond") to continue crafting Go Guitars. It is interesting to note that She Sir was previously billed as the duo of Karloff and M. Grusha, but the credits for Yens note the four tracks were written entirely by Karloff, with only certain "editing and supplementation" executed by Mr. Grusha and a fellow named Jeremy Cantrell. Yens will be available in digital format tomorrow; a 7" vinyl version will be issued Feb. 15 in a limited edition of 300.

She Sir -- "Lemongrass" -- Yens EP
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[buy She Sir music from the band right here]

Previous She Sir Coverage:
Today's Hotness: Projekt A-ko, Pants Yell!, Shout Out Louds, She Sir
Today's Hotness: Johnny Foreigner, She Sir, Armalite
Today's Hotness: She Sir, Deadbeat, The Radishes
Best Of 2006 Addendum: She, Sir's Who Can't Say Yes

Agenda: Varsity Drag "Night Owls" Release Show, Et Cetera

Perhaps there is a subset of rock 'n' roll fans who either like being told what to do or recognize that they benefit from such firm direction. If this sounds like you, listen up: the editorial team at Clicky Clicky has quietly conferred and has set the agenda for the coming weekend in Boston, a weekend as chock-a-block with high-grade indie rock as we have seen for some time. Our approved itinerary goes like this: you will see Joe Pernice at Lizard Lounge Thursday at 8PM _sharp_ (this is an early show and we've read that tickets are moving); on Friday night you will go to Church and see Varsity Drag's record release show for the late '09 pop punk gem Night Owls; and on Saturday you will go see Mission of Burma. Sure, there are some alternate plans. We know certain among you would rather sever a minor appendage than miss the Wrens show at Middle East. That's fine. After some soul searching the team has agreed that at this point you can probably skip a Burma show without fearing that they will take another 18-year hiatus. Maybe.

Varsity Drag, as you may have read in these digital pages, released a sophomore set (if you don't count live albums, perhaps you do, so be it) in the UK late last year called Night Owls (is the graphic starting to make sense now?). It was even named one of 2009's best by our own Michael Piantigini [full review here]. The Cambridge, Mass.-based trio is giving the collection a proper "how do you do" for the Americans Friday night. We think as far as physical media goes, the U.K. release is it, sadly, but Varsity Drag has made Night Owls available for download via its Bandcamp page here, so you still have an opportunity to express your appreciation for a job well done. For some time the band was also offering for free download a crackerjack live radio set via Bandcamp, too, but we think the offer has expired on that. Which is all the more reason for you to grab the MP3 below from same. See you Friday, at Church.

Varsity Drag -- "Night Owls (Live)" -- Live Owls: Varsity Drag Live On WMFO
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[buy all manner of Varsity Drag records here]

Rock Over Boston | Grant Hart | Middle East | 1.11.10

Just yesterday, Bill Janovitz was talking on his great blog about how hard it is to write great 'simple' songs. In my comment, that this seems to be "especially true for songwriters with long careers - so many try a little too hard to avoid repeating themselves that their songs get a little complicated for their own good. Wilco might be a good example of this. How great and fun was Being There? I'm still a fan, and do like their recent records more than most, but they do require more patience and work to listen to. Which is not to say that all simple songs are good, of course; there's definitely an art to doing it just right."

Janovitz was talking about singer-songwriter Jesse Winchester, but he could have just as easily been talking about Grant Hart. He's a guy that still sparks those Lennon/McCartney or Tweedy/Farrar sorts of debates for his part in Husker Du, which is silly since we can - and do! - have both (Full disclosure: I have engaged in these sort of debates from time to time). Hart's albums and visits are so infrequent that this reminder of how much he can do with just a few chords and some great melodies was long overdue.

Last night's generous nearly 90 minute set had them in spades. Hart was here in support of his excellent recent album Hot Wax, which has these sort of simple chord progressions and vocal hooks that he can still put a new spin on. These were well represented last night with "Barbara," "California Zehpyr," and the cabaret swing of "I Knew All About You Since Then." There were the hits too - or many of them, at least: Hart covered a lot of ground with Huskers faves "Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill," "Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely," and a breezy "Books About UFOs," along with Nova Mob tracks "Last Days of Pompeii" and "Werner Von Braun," and earlier solo nuggets like "2541," "Evergreen Memorial Drive," and "Run Run Run to the Centre Pompidou." And, oh yeah: "Teen Angel." And "Wild Thing." There was no "Green Eyes" but you can't have everything, I suppose.

And that guitar... Man, did Hart's Gibson hollow body sound gnarly, brutal, glorious, and, well, kind of awesome through the Vox he was borrowing from opener Mike Gent. I could - and did - have my face melted by that sound all night.

-Michael Piantigini

Grant Hart: Intertubes | MySpace
Mike Gent: MySpace

YouTube Rodeo: Sir Yes Sir's "Not Excited"

We discovered the above video at London-based blog F*ckingDance an hour ago, and we can't stop listening to the track. "Not Excited" has a wall of guitars and a buried vocal and tons of attack and melody and harmonic noise and swirl and punch and flat-out awesomeness. We only turned on to Sir Yes Sir -- a trio containing Joseph Logan, Daniel Cowley and Sam Turner -- via Another Form of Relief last week. And while we liked the track AFOR posted ("Have I Hell," get it here), we are bonkers for "Not Excited." According to its MySpazzzz Sir Yes Sir will play with Johnny Foreigner in Manchester, England Feb. 2. That's a hot bill. Curiously, the Not Excited EP will apparently be released on *cassette tape* March 1 by the un-Google-able Hope Club Records. We're hoping the EP also makes its way into digital storefronts, preferably ones serving North America. We're selfish like that. With the rock.

Today's Hotness: CNC, Van Gumby, Portastatic

[PHOTO CREDIT: Zuzia Skoczek] >> As our 2003 trashing of the debut by poptrash audioporn puppets T.A.T.U. suggests, we are interested in learning about music scenes in non-English-speaking countries. So we were eager to listen to Polish shoegaze duo CNC when we received a pitch from their organization late last year announcing the November release of the new EP No Mood. The band casts itself as "shoegaze psych-pop" (its MySpace blurb charmingly promises "same f*cking riff again"), and we suppose that is a pretty apt description, although we hear elements of straight guitar pop in "Magenta Ants" and even Darla Records-styled ambient trip-hop (Junior Varsity KM, Sweet Trip) in the icy gleam of the droning title track. About CNC we know little. The act is comprised of Borys Dejnarowicz (also a principal behind CNC's label Draw Records) and Piotr Maciejewski, and we're told its music isn't typical of what is going on in Polish popular music (since they are a shoegaze band, this does not surprise us, after all, where is shoegaze typical?). Typical or not, we think there are more than enough sparkling moments to warrant recommending to your attention No Mood. CNC has permitted us to offer a teaser, so we are posting below the title track.

CNC -- "No Mood" -- No Mood
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[buy No Mood from one of these various outlets 1, 2, 3, 4]

>> On the day that we read of Gumby creator Art Clokey's death, we received our second email missive from Florida-based indie pop quartet Van Gumby. Odd coincidence. We had been mildly intrigued by Van Gumby's prior release "Mostly Chimp," but had doubts as to whether the home-spun-sounding production effectively presented the combo's music. Van Gumby's new EP She Has Arrived is a sonic step forward, and the four songs clearly benefit from clearer production. The title track, written in London in 2008, is a mid-tempo strummer appointed with a surf guitar lead that will fit nicely into your picnic playlist once warmer weather arrives (it is 21 degrees fahrenheit in Cambridge, Mass., as we type this). The second track "Astrogirl" is an acoustic ballad with tons of phaser on the vocal. The phaser is a little distracting, but the Oberst-y vocal, synth and melodica make up for it. The highlight of the four tunes is "Seasons Go" (co-written by band fronter Spencer Tricker and Shomik Chakrabarti) which recreates the chiming electric guitar lead over acoustic strumming that underpinned the title track, but with more insistent pacing and a weary vibe that reminds us of some of our favorite Okay Paddy tracks (Van Gumby cites Teenage Fanclub, Stone Roses and Blur as influences on this latest collection). You can stream the entire She Has Arrived EP at the Van Gumby Bandcamp page right here, at which page you may also purchase tracks for a price of your choosing. Van Gumby has graciously allowed us to offer "Seasons Go," so have a listen.

Van Gumby -- "Seasons Go" -- She Has Arrived EP
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[download/purchase Van Gumby releases here]

>> While we expect you have seen this file all over the Interzizzles by now, we couldn't ignore the fact that Portastatic has released a free download of its cover of Destroyer's amazing "Foam Hands." The original was one of our top songs of 2008. Merge Records is selling the track as part of Portastatic's Make It Sound In Tune digital-only covers EP, the proceeds of which will go to benefit certain charities selected by subscribers to the SCORE! subscription service.

Portastatic -- "Foam Hands" -- Make It Sound In Tune EP
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[purchase various Portastatic musics right here]

Reader Rewards: Win The Entire Audio Antihero Catalog (Including Nosferatu D2's We're Gonna Walk Around This City...)

[UPDATED] Remember 2009? Good times, right? We remember it fondly. In particular, Monday night we remembered that we had promised to give away a copy of the mighty Nosferatu D2's sole release We're Gonna Walk Around This City With Our Headphones On To Block Out The Noise. And then it sort of slipped our minds. Well, the giveaway did, but the record certainly did not. After singing its praises here, we named it one of the 10 best records of 2009 right here. The very good news is that -- in addition to a copy of We're Gonna Walk Around This City With Our Headphones On To Block Out The Noise to bestow upon one lucky reader -- we also have a copy of the other 2009 release from Audio Antihero, the label that liberated Nosferatu D2's opus from darkening memory. That would be Londoner Benjamin Shaw's curious, watercolored dreamer I Got The Pox, The Pox Is What I Got. This set has not nearly received the attention it deserves, either in the UK or the US.

So how are you going to get your hands on these potent slabs of indie music? The answer is simple. Be the first to send an email to us (address is linked in the sidebar at right) with the phrase "Commercial Suicide For Me, Too, Please" in the subject line. This giveaway is for US residents only, as those of you in the UK should just head over here and give Audio Antihero some pecuniary love -- we assure you the music is worth the expense. We'll update this item as soon as we have a winner, and the discs will be shipped first class on Thursday directly to the winner. No muss, no fuss. [CONGRATULATIONS to reader Matthew! The contest is over.]

What else can we tell you? Let's see... Did you know that Nosferatu D2's final, crushing, beautiful and desperate performance -- supporting Los Campesinos! in March 2007 -- was bootlegged and is freely available on the Internerds? Hit this link and download the whole kaboodle. Unsurprisingly, our favorite track from the collection is "A Footnote," which we're posting below as an added inducement.

Nosferatu D2 -- "A Footnote (Live)" -- Live at The Spitz, March 2007
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[buy Nosferatu D2 music from Audio Antihero right here]