Clicky Clicky Hardcorner: Life's Blood's "Left Me Behind"

[PHOTO CREDIT] So a few weeks ago we watched the seminal punk-umentary "Another State Of Mind" for a second time, and for the first time in more than a dozen years. The film -- which is surprisingly well-crafted considering the shoestring budget floating the entire proceedings -- memorializes a 35-city Youth Brigade/Social Distortion tour that transpired in 1983. The highlight of the film is where everything falls apart and Youth Brigade and Social D's Mike Ness are forced to hunker down with Ian Mackaye and Minor Threat at Dischord house for the better part of a week before throwing in the towel. Actually, the real highlight is when one of the guys demonstrates the various versions of moshing.

But as a 30-something, one thing struck us square between the eyes after watching the movie: there is a reason that straightedge hardcore, launched of course by the aforementioned Minor Threat, was not popularized by or even popular with 40-something investment bankers. That reason, of course, is youthful idealism, which surrounds the sub-genre like a moat. An argument can be made that the youthful idealism is actually naivete. But, more importantly, the context and content of straightedge hardcore was decidedly reactionary (and local, but we can explore that topic another time). Most of that reaction was manifested as anger or at least aggression targeted at one time or another at small men with big mouths, betrayal, alcohol and drug users, rivals and so forth.

But we think perhaps the most potent hardcore songs are ones that target the things that threaten the fabric of the subgenre, this aforementioned youthful idealism: change and, more specifically, maturity. It is for this reason we think one of the most affecting straightedge numbers is Life's Blood's "Left Me Behind." As an adult it is hard not to see a more universal sentiment expressed in singer Jason O'Toole's throat-shredding and surprisingly poignant recrimination: "You grew up and left me behind. You. Left. Me. Behind." According to this Wikipedia page a label called Prank Records has acquired the rights to the Life's Blood catalog and intends to re-release it. At least one member of Life's Blood went on to play with Born Against, among other acts. The Middle Aged Youth web site posted an excellent item here about Life's Blood here in 2005 -- make sure to read into the comments for a surprising amount of up-to-date information from the people that were there. The picture above was taken from the Middle Aged Youth page and used after unsuccessfully attempting to secure permission, so we hope using it is cool.

Life's Blood -- "Left Me Behind" -- Discography [Vermiform, 1993]
Life's Blood -- "Never Make A Change" -- Discography [Vermiform, 1993]
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[Out of print. You're going to have to search around.]

Today's Hotness: Fields, Johnny Foreigner, The Notwist

>> Now London-based indie rock act Fields has resurfaced with news about line-up changes and a new record. Fronter Nick Peill reports via MySpace bulletin that lead guitarist Jamie Putnam has left the quintet, and a new line-up will greet fans when Fields tours to support its forthcoming sophomore set. Peill and drummer Henry Spenner shortly embark on a trip to New York, where the duo will apply "finishing touches" and mix the songs. The as-yet-untitled collection was tracked during the last few months in a bedroom studio referred to as The Woods which the band cobbled together in Peill's East London apartment. The resulting music is allegedly "less dense and more optimistic." As we liked the density, we're not sure what to think about this. Watch Fields' MySpace wigwam for demos of the new material soon. We reviewed the band's 7 From The Village EP here, and named it one of our favorite records of 2006 here. Then the band finally played Boston last May after releasing their somewhat over-polished debut Everything Last Winter, and we reviewed the show here. In case you've forgotten what all the hubbub is about, here's the band's sublime indie pop strummer "Brittlesticks."

Fields -- "Brittlesticks" -- 7 From The Village EP
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[buy Fields records from Newbury Comics right here]

>> So, remember Johnny Foreigner? Biggest band in the world right now, yeh? The Birmingham, England-based trio's forthcoming single "Our Bipolar Friends" b/w "The Houseparty Scene Is Killing You" -- which we wrote about exhaustively [1, 2, 3] last month -- will finally be issued by Best Before Records March 10 on 7" vinyl and via digital storefronts. The vinyl is limited to 1,000 copies, and 200 of them are signed. A MySpace bulletin from the band suggests pre-ordering from RecordStore.co.uk here to get your hands on a signed copy, so perhaps in our haste to pre-order last month (from HMV) we inadvertently screwed ourselves. Oh well. If you keep your fingers crossed and wish really hard US fans may be able to snag the digital version of the single at EMusic, as the band's stellar 2007 EP Arcs Across The City was sold through the site despite Johnny Foreigner having no US label deal in place. Directly following the single release Johnny Foreigner will be wowing crowds in America at the annual South By Southwest music industry confab, and we noted the specifics here last week.

>> The increasingly indispensible Notwist-Ultras blog has posted fresh information here about the still-untitled forthcoming set from Bavarian futurerock geniuses The Notwist. The band's new record will be issued in Germany on City Slang May 2, and will feature 11 tracks. You can read all the track titles at the link above, as well as some roughly translated impressions of each song as published recently by a German blogger named Walter Wacht, who was afforded the distinct pleasure of a preview listen. May is not so far off... although we don't relish the prospect of paying import prices. Which label will step up and release the set in North America? Whoever it is, we likely won't be able to wait for the deal to be worked out, so we're beginning to horde spare change now. Them Euros are 'spensive.

>> We've already written our review of standout Glaswegian trio Frightened Rabbit's forthcoming sophomore set The Midnight Organ Fight. The record is dynamite. But as the disc isn't out for another six weeks or so, we're holding off on posting it. Although we hate to keep things sitting around, so we imagine we will run it next week. In the meantime you can watch a new video for the hot track "Head Rolls Off" right here.

Reader Rewards: Get To Know Say Hi

Electropop ensemble Say Hi, the longtime brainchild of Seattle songwriter Eric Elbogen, play Boston's Great Scott club Saturday night. And to get you in the mood, we are giving away a copy of the band's recently issued fifth record The Wishes And The Glitch. Details on how to win the set are below. But first, a mea culpa: we are, as the kids say, gutted to report that our current cold/flu situation kept us home last night, which afforded us the worst possible view of Ringo Deathstarr's show at Abbey Lounge. We are sure the capital "f" Fates will punish us with reports of a legendary performance, but alas we had no choice. Our illness will also keep us from tomorrow night's Evangelicals show -- another travesty, as we were greatly impressed and rocked by Josh Jones and company when they played at TT's in 2006. We have to believe that we'll be on the mend by Saturday's Say Hi show, which we are looking forward to even more having read Can You See The Sunset From The Southside's review of the recent Say Hi performance at The Beat Room in Chicago. But enough of our yakking. We have one spare copy of The Wishes And The Glitch to give away, and we will mail it posthaste to the first person to send us an email [link at right] with the phrase "Let's Talk About Spaceships" in the subject line. We'll update this item as soon as the disc is claimed. Good luck. If you don't win, you can always stream the record at Say Hi's Virb page here. [UPDATE: Congratulations to reader Keith, who will be listening to The Wishes And The Glitch in short order].

Today's Hotness: The Diggs, Zillionaire, Julie Ocean

>> It is to be expected that former Mineral-fronter Chris Simpson would continue to evolve musically, and his recent, folksier indie rock act Zookeeper has its share of great moments. But for those of us who can't loosen our grips on the desperate second-wave emo sounds that Mineral proffered can take solace in the fact that similar new music is being ably churned out by Brooklyn-based indie trio The Diggs. Diggs guitarist and vocalist Timothy Lannen sings in a Simpson-esque (Enigk-esque, as well, now that we think about it) tenor over albeit denser tunes that crest and slope in majestic waves of delay pedal and snare drum. The Diggs' MySpace tent perhaps sums it up best at the "Sounds Like" bullet, where the band has inserted "Frustration and Hope." The five-year-old trio's sophomore full length ctrl-alt-del will be issued by the partly Diggs-run Sugarspun March 11.

The Diggs -- "Recovery Forever" -- ctrl-alt-del
The Diggs -- "Careen" -- ctrl-alt-del
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[full-album stream -- recommended]
[pre-order ctrl-alt-del from Amazon here]

Mineral -- "Gloria" -- The Power Of Failing
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[buy Mineral records from MusicStack here]

>> The New Granada label obviously has our number, as it pitched an act to us by characterizing it as an amalgamation of '90s indie rock standouts Versus, Codeine and Seam (also Low, but we're not big Low fans -- we might have substituted Unrest if we were making the pitch ourselves). Such characterization is the sort of thing that makes us sit up and take notice, although as always we steel ourselves against possible disappointment if the billing doesn't live up to the hype. Fortunately indie rock quartet Zillionaire have the songs and the chops, and we've been thoroughly enjoying its set The Street Lights Have Been Turned Down. Zillionaire hails from Tampa, Florida, and we must admit being a little surprised, as our conception of Florida indie rock is pretty much Gainesville screamo and, well, that's it. Although we think indie pop luminaries Human Television called Florida home for a time, so perhaps we knew there was more going on. The Street Lights Have Been Turned Down was released Jan. 1. Or it was released Nov. 17. The Internet is fraught with contradictions, no? No matter. The point is you can get the record now, and if you live in Florida you should have some chances to catch the band touring this spring. Zillionaire's mid-tempo swayer "The Gardener" in particular carries the scent of Versus, and we are posting it and two additional tracks below.

Zillionaire -- "The Gardener" -- The Street Lights Have Been Turned Down
Zillionaire -- "The Occasion Of The Water Heater" -- The Street Lights Have Been Turned Down
Zillionaire -- "No Contest" -- The Street Lights Have Been Turned Down
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[buy The Street Lights Have Been Turned Down here]

>> Let's just go for the '90s trifecta today, shall we? What do you get when you combine former members of retro hardcore giants Swiz, dream poppers Velocity Girl and twee standard-bearers Glo-Worm? This is a pretty easy question: you get a new band called Julie Ocean, who first blipped on the radar last May here and here. The D.C.-based quartet will release its debut Long Gone And Nearly There on Transit Of Venus (Trolleyvox, The Shimmers) this spring. We couldn't find a hard release date anywhere online, so just go to the record store every Tuesday between now and mid-June and look for it, mmmmk? Julie Ocean (which would make for a clever billing with The Jane Anchor, no?) has posted two tracks at its MySpace yert that sound not too dissimilar from Simpatico!-era Velocity Girl's overcharged take on '60s-inflected bubblegum rock. Harness streams of "Ten Lonely Words" and "My Revenge" here.

Today's Hotness: Destroyer, Johnny Foreigner, Jakobinarina

>> We received this week promos for two hotly anticipated records: Destroyer's Trouble In Dreams and Frightened Rabbit's The Midnight Organ Fight. We'll have reviews of those in the coming weeks, but right now we'd like to draw your attention to the most recent Destroyer promo track, "Dark Leaves Form A Thread," because it is the rockingest thing songwriter Dan Bejar has done in some time, and it is undeniably catchy. The tune is ideally situated as Trouble In Dreams' second track, although we question whether it should have opened the set, which Merge will issue March 18. It probably doesn't make sense if you consider the album as a whole, as putting "Dark Leaves Form A Thread" in the no. 1 slot might suggest to listeners that the entire record will be characterized by snare-cracking anthems with edgeless roller rink synths, searing guitar and even some occasional feedback. Sadly, this is not the case. In fact there are quite a few tracks on Trouble In Dreams with no drumming to speak of, if memory serves (we've only listened to it about three times so far). Anyway, sequencing the number in the second spot probably doesn't misrepresent the record as an uptempo rockfest, but the track is so flat-out enjoyable we would have been tempted to lead with it if we were Mr. Bejar. Which, of course, we're not. Here's the song.

Destroyer -- "Dark Leaves Form A Thread" -- Trouble In Dreams
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[pre-order Trouble In Dreams from Merge right here]

>> Speaking of exceptional independent rock music, are you hearing this?! We mean, really, where is all the chatter about the new version of Johnny Foreigner's "Salt, Pepa and Spindarella" that is blowing our head off every time we don the headphones? The lucky thousands who will attend next month's South By Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas, USA have at least two chances to see the stellar Birmingham, England-based indie rock trio. March 12 the band plays an ASCAP showcase at Dirty Dog Bar in the evening, and on the following day it plays an acoustic set as part of an afternoon jawn sponsored by XFM. Speaking of dates, Johnny Foreigner have 37 show dates posted at their MySpace hacienda right now. That is a little ridiculous -- who do they think they are, The Police?

>> Have Icelandic indie rock wunderkinds Jakobinarina broken up? We can't read Icelandic, but that seems to be the gist of this MySpace message from the band. Of course, the same MySpace page has live dates posted through the end of this week. So who knows. This Wikipedia entry for Jakobinarina reports the act will break up in March. Anybody hip to Icelandic jive who can give us a rough translation of the MySpace message linked supra should leave a comment. The Icelandic sextet -- whose members were all under between 17 and 21 -- issued its debut, First Crusade, on Caroline/Regal/12 Tonar in October. You can hear a number of tracks at the band's MySpace dojo. The writing may have been on the wall for months, as the last time we wrote about the act in mid-November was when young UK indie rockers The Video Nasties announced Jakobinarina had cancelled a tour for which The Video Nasties were to have provided support. If indeed Jakobinarina is no more, we look forward to whatever the band's songwriters concoct next. And we'll be keeping our eyes out for a cheap copy of First Crusade.

Today's Hotness: The Get Quick, Superman Revenge Squad

>> El Ted unearthed the video clip above from Philadelphia glam-rockers The Get Quick, which has heretofore eluded our attention for some six months. Perhaps the most amazing thing about the clip (given the likely early hour of the performance) is it evidences band fronter Erik Evol playing the same guitar that he has been playing for at least fifteen years; while it is hard to tell from the clip, the ax used to be cherry red. Anyway, the clip finds the quartet -- including former Kam Fong drummer Colonel Mike Boran on rhythm guitar -- running through "When I First Saw You" last August on the Philadelphia NBC affiliate's "10!" morning show, of all places. The Get Quick issued its sophomore set See You In The Crossfire last May, as we noted here. While checking out "When I First Saw You" we noticed there is another clip we hadn't seen: here is the band performing The Beatles' "She Said, She Said" at Johnny Brenda's in Philadelphia last year. All of this Get Quick rock and roll has us listening through the cuts in our personal larder of GQ material, so here's a juicy outtake from the sessions that produced the band's very nice 2005 debut How The Story Goes.

The Get Quick -- "Out Of Time" -- How The Story Goes (Outtake)
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[buy Get Quick records from Newbury Comics right here]

>> As we noted here previously, today God Is In The TV 'zine issues Superman Revenge Squad's "Idiot Food" as a free digital single. The track is backed with "The Angriest Dog In The World" and "When Everyone's Dead" and you can snatch all three songs right here. In the event you didn't heed our assessments previously, Superman Revenge Squad principal Ben Parker's prior acts Tempertwig and Nosferatu D2 were also very good and there is a lot of material from those bands freely available around the Internetses that is more than worth the time to track down.

>> Manchester, England indie rockers The Answering Machine report they are demoing material with an eye toward a summer full-length debut. Production on the planned record will begin in April or May, which suggests to us that a fall offering is much more likely. In the meantime notable Internet radio operation WOXY has apparently played fairy godmother to the quartet and is supporting in some fashion -- we'd guess financially -- the band's appearance next month at the annual South By Southwest music industry confab in Austin, Texas. Readers may recall a similar bit of help from Urban Outfitters getting Scottish indie trio Frightened Rabbit to the conference last year. Expect a WOXY session from The Answering Machine to be recorded during its week-long sojourn to SxSW.

That Was The Show That Was: Varsity Drag | Cantab Lounge

Oh the cumulative hours -- possibly days -- we spent in our adolescence singing along to the songs of Ben Deily. Mr. Deily co-founded and co-fronted The Lemonheads with that better-known alternahunk in the mid-'80s, and Deily's heartfelt pop-punk compositions were highlights of the band's earlier, edgier catalog. Prompted by a viewing of the video for The Lemonheads' take on Suzanne Vega's "Luka" that made its way onto "120 Minutes" or "IRS's The Cutting Edge" (or whatever the only good show on MTV was called besides the old "Saturday Night Concert"), we engaged with The Lemonheads catalog and were attracted immediately to Deily's "Ever" and "Anyway." By the time we were hip to Deily's jive, however, he had already left the band and Evan Dando was about to release his exceptional major-label debut Lovey, which in our opinion is vastly superior to the breakthrough set It's A Shame About Ray (incidentally, the best Dando track, "Paint," is exiled to the relatively hard to acquire Favorite Spanish Dishes EP -- but we digress from that admitted digression).

Longtime readers will recall we were thrilled to discover Deily's most recent musical return in 2006. But for some reason we mistakenly presumed after perusing his web site that when he mentioned living in Portland, that meant Portland, Oregon, you know, where all your favorite stars of indie rock live (Malkmus, Daniel, etc.). So we didn't harbor any hopes of seeing Varsity Drag any time soon. Turns out, of course, that Deily lived in Portland, Maine, and now his advertising career has brought him back to Boston. And so it was that Varsity Drag topped a bill last night in our 'hood, so we strolled down in time to catch a volatile set from rawpowernewwavegrungerevivalists Perennials and then one from the Drag itself.

The trio opened its set with should-be-hits from its potent 2006 debut For Crying Out Loud and closed out the night with a handful of Lemonheads tunes. It was nice to hear that Deily's papery tenor can still hit all the notes, and the only downside to the rollicking set was a dodgy patch cord that dropped the sound coming from Deily's Gibson SG now and then. The surprise of the night had to be newish drummer Mike Quinn, whose effortless and fluid playing style and obvious enthusiasm was particularly infectious. When Deily led the band -- which also includes wife Lisa flanking on bass guitar -- through the Creator classic "Two Weeks In Another Town," the person with the widest smile in the room was Mr. Quinn.

We snatched the set list on our way out the door, and it is scanned and posted below. Varsity Drag has no further live dates announced, but watch the band's MySpace dojo for inevitable updates. A larger question remains: is there another Varsity Drag record in the offing? We snapped some photos during the set that you can look at here. Below we are posting an MP3 of the melodic VD anthem "Summertime," as well as Deily's early Lemonheads gem "Uhhh."

Varsity Drag -- "Summertime" -- For Crying Out Loud
The Lemonheads -- "Uhhh" -- Hate Your Friends
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[buy For Crying Out Loud from the band right here]
[buy Lemonheads records from Newbury Comics here]

Varsity Drag: Internets | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr