Monthly Archives: February 2020

MILWAUKEE, WI | Coming back from an indefinite hiatus, Motion City Soundtrack burst back with contagious fervor for a two-month tour across the United States, aptly and appropriately named the “Don’t Call It A Comeback” tour. The break in the three-year hiatus definitely took me by pleasant surprise, as I had thought I had lost my opportunity to ever get the chance to photograph them after seeing them at Riot Fest in Chicago in 2016, one of their last shows before the hiatus; their last being at Metro Chicago. The Minnesota-based band subsequently kicked off this tour on New Years’ Eve in Chicago right where they left off in full confetti and balloon fashion, counting down the new year and continuing the heartfelt evening with “Together We’ll Ring in the New Year.”

Fast forward to Valentine’s Day 2020: as Justin Pierre, lead vocals and rhythm guitar, noted, Motion City Soundtrack was playing their 17th show at The Rave in Milwaukee that night. Opener and local natives Live Tetherball Tonight got more than a head-nod from Justin as he complimented their music and said he would be listening to their music right after he gets off stage. Recent Jimmy Kimmel Live performers White Reaper preceded Motion City Soundtrack.

The energy and camaraderie of everyone in the room was full of warmth and joyful singing. It was akin to any boisterous sing-along movie bar scene. Justin’s on-point vocals, richly enhanced by a combination of the 16+ years of experience the band spent touring, coupled with the refreshed excitement of the band coming back together again, surged forth alongside members Jesse Johnson on keys and synth, Joshua Cain on lead guitar and backing vocals, Matthew Taylor on bass, and Tony Thaxton on drums.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | The Prince Estate and Legacy Recordings, a division of Sony Music Entertainment, are pleased to announce the first round of physical titles to be issued in 2020 in the ongoing definitive Prince catalog reissue project. These titles come from the incredibly intriguing and fertile period of 2001 and 2002 and will be available on Friday, April 17. Pre-order titles here. 

The new batch includes two very different studio albums released just six months apart—2001’s The Rainbow Children and 2002’s One Nite Alone… – plus Prince’s first official live albums from the tour that occurred in between those two releases. One Nite Alone…, the 4 LP set One Nite Alone…Live! and the double LP One Nite Alone: The Aftershow…It Ain’t Over! will each get their first-ever vinyl release in limited-edition purple, while sought-after title The Rainbow Children will be available on CD for the first time in decades and on a crystal-clear double LP with limited-edition custom rainbow slipmat.

In addition, the five disc collection Up All Nite with Prince: The One Nite Alone Collection will make the CDs for these sought-after releases widely available for the first time. Combined in a beautiful slipcase with a 48-page bound book, One Nite Alone… and the two live albums are packaged with the long-out-of-print bonus DVD Prince Live at The Aladdin Las Vegas for an amazing document of the musical breadth of early 21st century Prince.

Prince’s 24th studio album, The Rainbow Children was initially sold on Prince’s trailblazing website the NPG Music Club, and was commercially released on November 20, 2001 on NPG Records. It was the first album (outside of the works he distributed through his NPG Music Club) to be released under the name Prince since he had changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol in 1993, and it was his first fully independent release to be issued without any major label backing.

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Low Cut Connie wants you to know they’re not Elton John. They’re on their knees pleading, up in your face screaming “Who are you going to believe–us or your own ears?” But you know what? I don’t give a flying feather boa. I like Elton John. No, nix that–I adore Elton John. I adore his voice, I adore his Glam Apocalypse fashion sense, and I most definitely adore the five grand pianos he’s been know to lug around on tour and probably plays with one hand at the same time. There’s nothing Captain Fantastic–who’s breaking hearts (mine included) on his Farewell Tour as I write this–can’t do.

So who cares if Low Cut Connie’s songs are second-hand pastiches of Elton’s songs, right down to the one about herpes, a subject His Wonderfulness got to first on “Social Disease”? Nobody! And who cares if on certain songs songwriter/vocalist/pianist Adam Weiner sounds eerily like the King of Chub himself? Certainly not me, or Sir Elton for that matter-he’s stated for the record Low Cut Connie’s one of his favorite bands.

On 2017’s Dirty Pictures (Part 1), Philadelphia’s best ever EJ tribute band go about making a record the same way their role model does–by slapping a disparate buncha songs on it, whether they make for a coherent whole or not (see Goodbye Yellow Brick Road).

You get some ballads (“Forever,” a transparent rip of Elton’s “Roy Rogers,” and “Montreal”), a razor-blade guitar rocker a la “The Bitch Is Back” (“Love Life”), a pair of piano rockers (“Revolution Rock n Roll” and “Dirty Water”), a first-generation rock ‘n’ roll pastiche along the lines of “Crocodile Rock” (“Death and Destruction”), and a cool Rolling Stones’ knock-off (“Angela,” on which the band doubles down on its love for “Crocodile Rock” by tossing in its trademark la la la la la).

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | It’s been 20 years since Kaleidoscope, the groundbreaking, game-changing debut album by Kelis.

She recorded the album aged 17, naive to its everlasting resonance, and from the moment it was released, it was a bolt of lightning, ahead of its time, pioneering on all sides, from the bold Neptunes production to its sci-fi aesthetic. With features from Pusha-T, Markita and Justin Vince, Kaleidoscope is an album that’s boundary-pushing – Afro-futurism feels as fresh and relevant today as it did on release and not only influenced, but defined music, culture and style for generations to follow.

Six studio albums and 39 singles later, Kelis is going back to where it all began, marking the milestone anniversary of the record with an extended digital release on February 21, featuring six brand new reworks that have never previously been available digitally. Alongside this, a limited translucent orange 2LP deluxe (180 gram) vinyl will be released on March 6, featuring four never before heard on vinyl alternative versions of “Caught Out There (Neptunes Extended Mix)” and “Get Along With You (Pharrell Edit, Soul Inside Radio Mix, Mix Show).”

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Today we remember Kurt Cobain on what would have been his 53rd birthday. —Ed.

In 1991 a Pacific-Northwest three-piece changed the direction of the record industry, securing a spot in music history as the spearhead of Grunge. In 2002 a self-titled album attempted to sum up their essence; rather than electing to represent the trio’s actual range, Nirvana is dominated by chart entries, a handful of non-surprises, and a (then) previously unreleased track. 

To obtain a full grasp of how well Nirvana succeeds in offering a tidy retrospective of an important, oft volatile, and enduringly polarizing act required getting reacquainted with their discography from ’88 to ’94. With time spent the verdict is in: first hitting racks roughly 8½ years after Kurt Cobain’s suicide and a little over a decade removed from the band’s unexpected runaway success, Nirvana ultimately falls short of top-tier.

This assessment comes not by any fault of the group but through unimaginative assemblage and a problematic title. Leaving the occasional sarcastic usage aside, the words Greatest Hits summarize an objective truth, and the use of Best Of, while potentially arguable, is a nomenclature making its intentions plain. The eponymous treatment employed here is merely ambiguous.

If the purpose behind Nirvana was to encapsulate its subject’s breadth and heights on one record the results don’t meet the goal. Far too safe to accurately embody the Best, it essentially flirts with Greatest Hits; perhaps the term was just considered tacky when applied to retail achievements stemming partially from a perceived lack of calculation and even borderline disinterest.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Gentle Giant is happy to announce the release of the first 4 albums on vinyl April 3rd.

After the positive response to the box set Unburied Treasure many fans asked whether the vinyl albums would ever be available. The band has responded and decided to make these albums officially available for the first time in decades. The band’s first album Gentle Giant was first released in October 1970. Produced by Tony Visconti it marks the 50th Anniversary of the recording and live appearances of the band. Tony Visconti produced the follow-up album Acquiring The Taste in 1971. The band oversaw the production of the third album Three Friends in 1972 and was the first official release in North America. Strangely the N.A. version featured the artwork from the U.K. Gentle Giant album.

This album was followed up with their milestone album Octopus in 1972. Once again the North American artwork was different to the Roger Dean U.K. version and featured a dye cut Octopus in a jar. Released on the Alucard label, the albums will be manufactured in 180 gram vinyl with the original gatefold artwork from the U.K.

The band hopes that their friends, followers and fans will enjoy these albums in their original form 50 years later!

VIA PRESS RELEASE | The fascinating documentary from the makers of Last Shop Standing exploring the renaissance in all things vinyl arrives on DVD on April 10th via Wienerworld (UK). Doc includes interviews from Nick Mason (Pink Floyd), Philip Selway (Radiohead), Ade Utley (Portishead), Joel Gion (The Brian Jonestown Massacre), The Orielles, CASSIA and many more.

From the makers of the acclaimed Last Shop Standing, this new film, The Vinyl Revival, charts the amazing revival of vinyl over the past several years. The film explores the whys and hows with industry pundits, artists, record shop owners, vinyl fans and many more. Directed and produced by Pip Piper, we hear from passionate new record shop owners as well the established die-hards still going and thriving. The film discusses the importance of the record shop and vinyl as a whole. We answer the whys of vinyl’s revival, the human need for belonging, the love of history, and the stories of how the humble record shop has shaped so many lives.

Record collecting has lost its image as a hobby for middle-aged men and become instead a pursuit of the most fashion-conscious consumer. Will it last? What is the future for record shops when vinyl becomes less fashionable? Why are we in danger of another record shop decline? Why must we support these bastions of culture? Features an 8 page booklet chronicling the making of the film, with contributions from director Pip Piper (Last Shop Standing) and author Graham Jones.

“The vinyl record is the equivalent of whether you have the tea bag or the Japanese tea ceremony; the tea ceremony is the right way to approach music.” —Nick Mason, Pink Floyd

When the ancient Greeks coined the word bathos, I’m pretty sure they had Rod McKuen in mind. America’s most popular–and worst–poet of the 1960s, McKuen produced books of poetry the way Virginia opossums make babies, each and every one of them catering to the tastes of a reading public deeply suspicious of the filthy beatnik likes of Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg.

But on 1959’s Beatsville Mckuen does a remarkable thing–he goes from schmaltz to shtick. While he serves up plenty of his trademark mawk along the way, McKuen–who’s obviously using Kerouac’s spontaneous bop prosody as a model-comes on like Maynard G. Krebs on a Benzedrine inhaler high, and I’ll be damned if his tongue-in-cheek observations on subterranean pads and co-existence bagel shops aren’t hilarious.

McKuen’s point varies–sometimes he’s your standard real gone Daddy-O who considers business suits and underarm deodorants a total drag; at others he’s the wistful black beret wannabe who moans, “I try to be a good beatnik but it’s hard/I don’t dig turtle neck sweaters/I can’t grow a beard/And I catch cold in sandals.”

Backed by some tastefully tasteless musical accompaniment–including a metronome and some really hep finger snaps–McKuen had me at “Every time I got torn up on sneaky Pete or high on Thunderbird wine/I wind up hitching rides to Sausalito.”

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“When I think about the importance of records in my life, I see black vinyl signposts at some of the most important crossroads.”

“The first being my uncle Steve’s bedroom in my grandparents’ house is Morrilton, Arkansas. My mom and I lived next door to my grandparents. She was a single working mom so I spent a lot of time next door with Mamaw and Papaw. Boredom figured heavily into my routine. My Uncle Steve was a young uncle and played organ in a local band.

When he wasn’t around I would sneak into his room and flick the long switch on his massive Pioneer stereo. The light glowed bluish-green and a miniature party would begin. One of the records that stands out in my mind is the Cheech & Chong record Los Cochinos. I would put that record on and start working my way through my Uncles’s Playboys he had hidden in his closet.

This was pre-masturbation so I would just flit through, curious about the female form while the sound of Cheech & Chong inhaling deeply on cartoon sized joints played in the background. No one had really explained sex and drugs to me but from what I could tell from the die cut cover that revealed pot hidden in the door when you opened it and the way Steve’s Playboys were buried in the closet, sex and drugs were suppose to be naughty fun—I was all in.

The first record I bought was with lawn-mowing money around the age of nine. It was a K-Tel record called Believe In Music, 22 original hits by the original artists. The album opens up with “Brandy” by Looking Glass. The other songs that still rank high in the songs-that-age-well category are “Maggie May,” “Hold Your Head High” and “Backstabbers.” I did suffer, however, from not one but two Donny Osmond songs.

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In May of 2016, Emotional Response Records issued the first installment in their Typical Girls compilation series, an endeavor dedicated to “current female fronted punk and indie bands from around the globe.” Here we are in 2020 and the label is dishing out a fifth volume, which includes 16 acts in styles ranging from the expected shades of post-punk to the somewhat less common but totally welcome pop-rocking guitar hookiness to pummeling hardcore. It’s out February 21 on vinyl and digital.

This series of comps is named after a song by The Slits, with the intention to pay tribute to that band’s groundbreaking ways, in terms of kicking over gender barriers to be sure, but also stylistically, as Ari Up and company reside at the head of the UK post-punk class. By extension, tipping the hat to “Typical Girls” is a potentially quick clue-in as to what to expect when needle hits vinyl.

With their opening cut “Mooncake,” Melbourne, Australia’s Empat Lima land in that zone with authority. Self-described as a “beat-garage trio,” they tickle my fancy with a little late ’70s-early ’80s Rough Trade angularity but with an undercurrent of humor in the execution. The song reasserts the modus operandi of the Typical Girls series quite nicely, but just as quickly Color TV of Los Angeles deepen matters with a cut that hits closer to Bomp! Records-style gal-fronted power-pop.

It’s Tipper Newton singing and playing guitar, and she holds down the spot with enthusiasm and panache. Like all top-notch power-pop, “Anybody’s Girl” thrives through repeated play; it sounds fine on this comp, but it calls out for a pressing on 45 RPM vinyl (it has been issued as a cassette single, but it’s sold out).

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