I can’t do it. I’ve tried for over 30 minutes now and no dice.
I simply cannot find a negative or even luke warm review of PJ Harvey’s latest, “Let England Shake.”
Here’s a fairly typical quote from Spin, “…Harvey’s eclecticism—her ability to gracefully flit between genres and tones — is what keeps her work so vital, yet Let England Shake is still something of a revelation. Arguably her most pop-friendly record since 2000’s Stories From the City, it’s an intense indictment of the way countries fight, apolitical only in that it outlines what war does to human beings, not governments. Sung with warmth, these tracks offer a welcome antidote to her more familiar performance mode — spectacular austerity. They’re as bloody and forceful as the battles Harvey references…”
And how’s this for gushing via the BBC, “…Ah, Earth, so much to answer for. But thankfully we have PJ with another fearsomely creative, emotional record to lead the resistance. God bless unique, unfathomable, great Queen Polly.”
Well, it turns out we have two copies of Polly Jean’s latest to award to two of you in exchange for your comment to this post. Let us know why this bit of brilliant vinyl should be yours and yours alone, and the most convincing of the lot will be mailed PJ’s latest.
Remember you have to be in the US or Canada to be mailed the record and we’ll give you a week to suitably impress us. We’ll choose our winners on 4/7. Now, get shakin’.
Don’t worry, this isn’t an april fools’ joke, we are legit freaking out about this pre-LCD Soundsystem’s-last-show-ever-party at Le Bain (Standard Hotel) tomorrow night. Enjoy DJ sets by Juan Maclean, Shit Robot, and Matt Cash and cry about how you didn’t get tickets to the MSG show on Saturday night. Or talk about how you did and you’re so excited that you could just cry. Either way, there will be crying of some kind, and also a whole lot of dancing, partying, and fun.
Waterloo Records is having their annual anniversary storewide sale starting today through Sunday (4/3). This marks their 29th year in business and to celebrate this achievement, all regularly priced merchandise in the store is 20% off! So that means every non-sale priced compact disc, DVD’s, LP’s & accessories in the store is on sale!
Also, visit www.waterloorecords.com and shop online from Thursday through Sunday and get 20% off regular list price on anything in the on-line store.
Oh, and in case you didn’t already know, their have increased their vinyl section!
Here’s the new single from Cass McCombs, from the forthcoming album ‘Wit’s End’. It’s a cracker, and will be released on April 11th by the ever-excellent Domino Records. UK shows in Newcastle and London have been announced for the end of May, let’s hope more will be added round the country…
In each city Mike plays where there’s an affiliated TVD, we’ve got an opportunity for one of you to win the aforementioned “hyphenated-man” on vinyl in exchange for your comment to the contest posting. Let us know why you deserve to win Watt’s latest vinyl opera and the most convincing of the bunch will find the LP in his or her mailbox.
For the fifth in what will be ten opportunities to win the new LP, Mike Watt + The Missingmen play at the Black Cat tonight, 3/31! You have one week from today to be sufficiently convincing in the comments to be awarded the record. Comments from a previous hyphenated-man giveaway will still be considered for future ones. Winners must have a mailing address in the continental US or Canada.
Mark Fagan of TVD Austin spoke with Mike in advance of the tour:
Mike Watt’s rock & roll résumé is as impressive as they come. His legendary career began with the Minutemen in 1980 alongside guitarist D Boon and drummer George Hurley which ran until the tragic car accident in December 1985 that took D Boon’s life. He then started fIREHOSE with Hurley and Ed Crawford which existed from 1986 to 1994, and has played bass for the legendary Stooges fronted by Iggy Pop for the last eight years. And those are just a few highlights from his storied career.
He’s back in support of his newest solo album and third opera, hyphenated-man, which features Watt on lead vocals and, of course, holding down the low end on electric bass with his signature flowing style that has inspired and influenced fellow bassists for decades. Interestingly, he actually composed hyphenated-man on D Boon’s Telecaster instead of the bass as per his usual practice.
Due to the growing backlog of projects, Watt decided to start his own label—clenchedwrench—and hyphenated-man has the honor of being the first release from this new imprint. The Vinyl District had a chance to chat with Mike before he hit the road.
A BUNCH OF LITTLE THINGS MAKE ONE
TVD: I read that hyphenated-man is inspired by the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch. Can you go into further detail on this? Watt: … [The documentary film on the Minutemen] We Jam Econo, have you heard of this?
TVD: Oh, certainly. Watt: Ok, [hyphenated-man] was being made about the same time these cats Keith [Scheiron] and Tim [Irwin] asked me to help them. So I hadn’t listened to Minutemen in a long time because of sadness – with D Boon – but I had to hear it, ya know, for this thing. They wanted me to do a spiel and drive ’em around town. But hearing it was it was like, “Wow, I kinda like this little thing.” [Watt laughs] Ya know, no filler. I wanna work again with this kind of thing. I mean we got the idea from the English band called Wire, Pink Flag. But I still like the way ya know George [Hurley], Boon, and myself went and did this. I wanted to do it again. It struck a chord in me, a resonance in me. Mr. Bosch used all these little things to make one big thing.
Minutemen kinda did that with a record or a gig ya know, a bunch of little things make one. That’s where I kinda found a little parallel. So, in a way I went back to my old days, but then in the opera form. … I was also thinking of this other angle, as far as the middle-aged thing goes. Dorothy and The Wizard of Oz. I don’t know the intention of the writer, it was a man, L. Frank Baum. I don’t know his intentions. But my take is like, you notice that that tin man and scarecrow and lion, they’re the farm hands.
There’s nothing better than going to a show to see a band you’ve never heard before and being totally blown away. Two years ago I attended EMP’s Sound Off! with no big expectations but instead had Dyno Jamz completely win me (along with the rest of the city) over and watched them walk away the new winners of the biggest underage battle of the bands competition in Seattle. Dyno Jamz perfectly blends hip hop, jazz and catchy beats into music that sounds good in any setting. With a good band name, trumpets, trombones, passionate musicians and a charming MC, how could you not love them.
I’ve been hearing about Dyno Jamz ever since. The band has definitely been staying busy over the past couple of years, playing some of Seattle’s biggest music festivals and receiving plenty of well-deserved attention. I was lucky enough to sit down with them before their practice earlier this week to ask them a few questions.
Before I share, let me begin with a disclaimer: I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I decided to interview a band with 9 members, each with their own opinion and answer to my questions. While this was obviously normal for them, I found it to be hilarious. I don’t know what would happen if you tried to herd dinosaurs, but if its anything like herding cats then their name is fitting.
TVD: How have things have changed since winning Sound Off! 2 years ago?
DJ (Zac Millan, MC): We work as a group better now and have discovered our sound more. Before Sound Off! we were only together for about three months and now we are locking in what we want our music to sound like. Our next project will be a better representation of the evolution of Dyno Jamz (no pun intended).
TVD: What has been your favorite show you’ve played so far?
DJ (Nick Simmons, bass) : Folklife was cool because we were able to actually look out over the crowd without all the lights in our faces.
DJ (Colin Pulkrabek, trombone): The crowd was sitting when we started and by the end of the show everyone was dancing.
DJ (Zac): I’m more excited about the future. I think it’s more about what’s to come and what we have to look forward to. We have some potential shows coming up that should be pretty memorable.
TVD: If your music was to take the form of an animal, what do you think it would be?
DJ: A chimera.
Note: If you don’t know what a chimera is, neither did I. I guess I need to brush up on my knowledge of mythological creatures. Also, don’t be fooled…it took the band a while to come to this answer, they started with a platypus and also discussed the hydra.
TVD: What would be your dream venue to play?
DJ: Central Park, Safeco Field, The Paramount, Sydney Opera House, Jazz Alley, the main stage at Capitol Hill Block Party, Hyde Park, in the reservoir on a floating stage.
Note: Those were some of the many ideas that were shouted out but they told me I could come up with the final answer to this one…so I’m going to say I’d like to see Dyno Jamz play in a giant glass snow globe…underwater?
TVD: What are you listening to now?
DJ (Zac): People Under The Stairs
DJ (Colin): Nujabes
DJ (Nick): AgesandAges
I wanted to know what would be in Dyno Jamz’ dream green room. Bear with me while I do my best to create a compilation of the long list of things that were suggested. Their dream green room would be a cabin in the woods. The interior of the cabin would be “not dirty” and tranquil, with a mini waterfall and a bridge. They would be offered massages, bourbon, and lets not forget the chocolate fondu fountain. When it was time for them to play, they would be airlifted to the show…at lightspeed. Another option they mentioned: 9 separate green rooms.
I asked the band if they had any music guilty pleasures. I really liked their final answer which was that there “isn’t really any guilty pleasures in music.” Before they agreed on this answer Lady Gaga, Bonnie Raitt, “Whip My Hair” by Willow Smith, and Rebecca Black were all mentioned (naturally).
My final question for Dyno Jamz was what one musician (dead or alive) they would choose to spend the day with…but the catch was that they had to agree on one person. When I used the word “agree” their immediate response was “uh oh..” but they finally settled on Quincy Jones (honorable mentions: Mos Def, Tom Waits, Miles Davis and Mr. Rodgers).
Although my time with the band was short, there was something about the interview that stuck with me that I feel couldn’t be translated to text very well. It might be easier to understand what I mean by listening to their music because it will make your soul smile. Nothing makes me feel more energized than interacting with passionate people and this interview was a prime example.
When I asked them what was in the future for Dyno Jamz they explained to me that they really like the music they make and want to keep doing it regardless of the interest they are receiving from the industry. They are very wary of “the big break” and have no interest in trying to get big quick. Dyno Jamz is composed of extremely down to earth people who aren’t trying to take the fast track to the top, but are more interested in enjoying the process. Why? Because they love making music. I think this is perfectly put in “Lunar Ops” when Zac conversationally explains at the end of the song that “whether [he’s] affecting one person or one million, [he] can still keep [his] head high and that’s what’s real.”
Dyno Jamz will be playing at the Hard Rock Seattle on April 9th with Theoretics. In addition to the night of good music you will experience if you attend, you will also score the Theoretics’ debut CD for free!
If you can’t make it to the April 9th Hard Rock show, you’ll have another chance to catch them at the Showbox SoDo on April 14th with Living Proof and Kung Foo Grip (tickets on sale soon).
You can buy their Dyno Jamz‘ self-titled album on their website and check out their Facebook for more information.
This week’s show, well, let’s just say that if you are under 25 you’ve probably never heard of her. Directly, that is.
Exene Cervenka joined the early stages of the LA punk band X in the late 70’s and went on to release a bunch of records as their co-lead vocalist. She still does work with X, but also has her solo and alt-country career. Anyway, she’s at the Hi-Tone Saturday night.
Dances With Wolves was dedicated to her by author Michael Blake, so she’s gotta be at least pretty awesome.
Kevin Seconds, former lead singer of 7 Seconds, will open. Doors at 9, and tickets are $10 over 21/$12 under 21.
I wish I’d found Sebadoh at the age of fourteen when I was wandering the streets of Pittsburgh feeling like a dejected Lou Barlow. While he was estranged from Dinosaur Jr, I had self-evacuated from my house as a rebellious runaway. Both of us looking for some sort of approval, “started smoking pot, thought things sounded better slow,” trying to escape the battle in our brains that told us to keep running, far far away from the disconnect and disapproval we perceived.
I wish I’d found Sebadoh three years later, curled up on a sweat-stained bed in a dingy basement apartment stoned out of my mind listening to The Swans’ “The Golden Boy that was Swallowed by the Sea” on repeat, goth phase in full force. I’m glad Barlow and Lowenstein found themselves in Sebadoh because they have made some damned good music.
Eventually, I found Sebadoh in waves. The music would creep into various corners of my life, playing in the background of some band crush I never clicked with because I didn’t latch onto the whole grunge thing. I liked Nirvana, but I didn’t dive much deeper than that. I didn’t have the luxury of an older sibling to introduce me to good music, and so I relied on friends to shove sounds at me as fast and furiously as they shoved 40’s at me. They gave me punk mixes, and eventually I found Nick Cave. But sometimes, I think “Freed Pig” would loop on a tape as we drove through the night at 3 AM, over hills and through back alleys, the “bare introspection framed in melody.” We drove aimlessly until the gas ran out or we found ourselves back where we started.
Standing in line waiting to see Sebadoh, the anticipation is palpable. A strange dude in front of me in line treats me like an old friend, as if he were in the backseat of that car when I was seventeen. “Are you excited, are you ready to ROCK?” he asks. We obviously share a bond. And now, I am faced with this mysterious band that always lurked on the sidelines.
“…I have an indellible memory-snapshot of the moment I first touched, and was touched by (or maybe ‘rearranged by’) REM’s ‘Murmur.’ In the early ‘80’s my BFF David Wain’s dad worked in radio, and so we always had promotional copies of whatever was being pushed on any given week. Amidst one week’s booty was a dark, kind of murky-blue album cover sitting by the Wain record player (a photo of kudzu or something? I looked for this fecundity everywhere when Shudder To Think first made it down to Athens, Ga.) that seemed weird, Other.
We put the album on, staring directly at the vinyl on the turntable, which is often what I did when not staring, unblinking, at an album’s cover. What came out was perplexing and awesome, didn’t quite compute–it wasn’t punk or new wave, which was increasingly becoming ‘our’ music, but neither was it familiar radio-rock.
This may have been my first experience with music that I don’t immediately ‘get,’ but whose siren song keeps me coming back until I am utterly drowned. From then on, as I grew older and became a much more discriminating, obsessive vinyl collector, I would increasingly seek that peculiar, vertiginous sensation that I first felt with David’s copy of ‘Murmur’…”
We’ve got a copy of Craig’s new 7″ single “Are We” to award of one of you as to be similarly mesmerized, ala Craig’s “Murmur” memory.
Craig Wedren | Are We
How do you win it, you’re asking? Spill a similar story to Craig’s in the comments to this post and the most interesting of the bunch with find the new single in his or her mailbox. We’ll give you a full week to conjure your magical, musical tale and choose a winner on 4/6.
And, if you haven’t seen it yet, you truly owe yourself a visit to Craig’s official site to check out the stunning 360-degree video that accompanies “Are We…”
NYC natives Holy Ghost! have been keeping busy with remixing basically any band you’ve danced to lately (Cut Copy, Friendly Fires, Mark Ronson), DJ-ing across the globe, and now have their self-titled debut album come April 12th. Sticking to the DFA label’s brand of analog and electro-tinged disco-funk, Alex Frankel and Nick Millhiser are supporting their debut with a full band tour opening for Cut Copy, which brings them to sold-out shows at Terminal 5 this Friday (4/1) and Saturday (4/2), as well as a headlining show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on April 29th. Their new track “Wait & See” premiered earlier this week.
Nick Millhiser chats with TVD ContributorBQ Nguyen about their start, influences, and why his boss’ band, LCD Soundsystem, is the best.
Holy Ghost! | Wait & See
TVD: So you guys have 20 dates opening for Cut Copy between Europe and their North American tour; I assume you’ve been friends since they recorded In Ghost Colours at DFA with Tim Goldsworthy a few years ago.
NM: Yeah, they came to New York to do their last record with Tim, and I met them, I believe, on their first day in New York because they needed to borrow a drum set to use on their record. So I loaned Tim and them one of my kits. After that, with the Juan MacLean we did a pretty long tour in Australia opening for them and so we’ve gotten to know them pretty well over the years.
TVD: But your first live gig as a 4-piece band was just last May at Under 100 in NYC?
NM: Yep. Since then we were basically on tour up until early December and had a little break until recently. Although the past month has been pretty busy gearing up for the release of the record, and we spent a fair amount of time re-tinkering the live set.
“We are very proud to be releasing our debut EP ‘Robots’ on vinyl as part of RSD2011. The four-track EP was recorded especially with the side A/ side B vinyl format in mind. The record explores themes of solitude, mind control and living in a dystopian world.
Because of the vinyl format we decided to record four songs we felt would work together as conceptual piece of work. Robots and Dark Clouds of London make up side A and describes an external view of a manipulative and totalitarian world… where Side B includes the songs House of Make Believe and Sharks and this focus’ on a more internal, human perspective on emotions in respect to this. —Mozzy Green
Anna | I remember the record player in the sitting room when I was growing up, we had our dad’s vinyl collection at our disposal so my brother and I would spend afternoons sat crossed legged in front of it leafing through the records and giggling as we negotiated putting the stylus on the record. The favourites were the Beatles ‘Abbey Road’ album and Alice Cooper’s ‘Love it to Death’. I loved learning exactly where your favourite bit of a song was and knowing which groove to go for. I love looking at the sleeve artwork as well, especially those covers that, each time you look you see something you hadn’t noticed before.
For all the technological advances since then, digital simply doesn’t compare to the sound of a well loved and well played record. When I went round to a friend’s to listen to the ‘Robots’ EP white label when it came through, it was a thoroughly different experience – it’s our first release on vinyl and there was something so physical and kind of romantic about it, not to mention the sound quality – it was a little emotional! Needless to say, I’m scouting around for a record player now.
Ryan | Vinyl to me conjures up fairy stories, epic adventures, tales and music. I was always around it but I never owned any, so when my parents sold their collection a part of my childhood went with it. I discovered music for the first time through this medium, watched the stylus jump across the record, listened to bedtime stories and played with the rpm making chipmunks of it all… to my great satisfaction! At one point I dismantled the whole thing in a bid to find out just how it worked! I find it a tangible, satisfying, beautiful. I am proud to be involved.
Ben | Vinyl to me has always been that holy grail of a music format. When I was growing up it was a choice of tape or radio for walks/drives to school but when I got home it would be the record player that went straight on. My parents were both into The Beatles/David Bowie/Pink Floyd/ Mott The Hoople etc and luckily I’ve inherited a lot of these collections.
The biggest thing is the sound. For me you just can’t compare any other platform to vinyl. The crackles and pops and the warmth – the modern day digital formats that dominate todays market bear no comparison with glorious vinyl. The art work too. It’s heartbreaking that album artwork has been reduced to a tiny square thumbnail viewed on a computer screen.
We worked with a very good friend of ours, Leaf Vigurs on our record sleeve. For me it’s as important as the music and to see it displayed on a 12″ vinyl is a good thing! In this age of digital music where people can carry around their whole record collection in their pocket and where the art of a physical recording is dying a death, it feels good to realise a dream we have grown up with.
Before Centro-Matic hit the road this summer in support of their upcoming tenth album, Candidate Waltz, Will Johnson will be playing a series of solo living room shows in May. If you are interested in playing host and have room for 30 to 40 guests, check out the Centro-Matic website for more details.
Here is the list of “pickup truck rock” tour dates:
Photos: 
