Today we start off with the new song from a brand new album of the band that we really love here, Faux Killas. We also introduce Hidden Rifles, the new project lead by Matthew Wascovich and also features Norman Westberg (of Swans) and Mike Watt. Chinese Herbal Medicine is also back with the new album Alienation. The most pleasant surprise in today’s show is the new album from Broadway Lafayette, a Cajun music project that features Mick Collins, Mama Rosin and Matt Verta-Ray from Speedball Baby. The second half of the show is filled with interesting stuff from the Balkans. We feature releases from the Canadian label Ill In The Head Records which specializes in Yugoslavian music. They have currently two releases on vinyl, Bernays Propaganda remix record and The Marshmallow Notebooks debut. From Croatia, we have the new stuff from San Mikulec and his Snooze In Motion and a very special collaboration between Branimir Živković of Overflow and Zvonka Obajdin of Svemir. Finally, we play some new and rare old tunes from the legendary PeÄ‘a VraneÅ¡ević of Laboratorija Zvuka.
Demon’s Claws – Trip To The Clinic;
Faux Killas – Be With My Baby;
Broadway Lafayette – Ou est-tu;
Mama Rosin – Le Two-Step De L’Haricot;
The Dirtbombs – Earthquake Heart;
Tin Foil – Can’t Stay Here (Live in CLE);
The Stooges – No Fun;
Chinese Herbal Medicine – No Fun;
Hidden Rifles – Cranial Escrow;
Bernays Propaganda – Leb i igri;
The Marshmallow Notebooks – The Last Tourist In Town;
Snooze In Motion – Preko Vode;
Mydolls – Its Too Hot for Revolution;
Digger & The Pussycats – Oh Yeah;
PeÄ‘a VraneÅ¡ević – Ciganjska Pesma;
PeÄ‘a VraneÅ¡ević – Still I’m Sad feat. The Yardbirds;
Branimir Živković and Zvonka Obajdin – I’ll Be Your Mirror.
Today we spend some time listening to the records that came out earlier this year, only we somehow did not represent yet. There’s a new band from LA called Criminal Hygiene with the self titled effort and we check it out now, even though it has been sitting on the shelf for some time. English rocker Hipbone Slim and Mama Rosin collaborator also has a record from a few months ago called Go Hog Wild. We also have some brand new stuff – the new EP for Kevn Kinney’s Drivin’ N’ Cryin’ and a new track from Rain Parade’s Matt Piucci. In the end, we pay a tribute to the legendary singer from Memphis, Bobby Blue Bland. One the most interesting characters from the Yugoslav rock scene Enco Lesić also passed away, so we pay a tribute to him as well.
Today we begin with two obituaries. Arturo Vega, art director and logo designer of The Ramones passed away on June 8 this year. Alan Myers drummer of Devo passed away on June 24. After we pay respect to the two of them, we continue with some new music. King Louie’s Missing Monuments have a new single, Calexico covers Replacements on the new EP and Mama Rosin joins forces with Mick Collins and Matt Verta-Ray for a Marvelette’s tune Please Mr Postman. Mark Ribot’s Ceramic Dog has an exceptional new album and Lisa Mychols is back with the new album too. Finally, we have a reissue of the Shoes first LP One In Versailles which is finally widely available.
This is the first show this year filled with new music. We open up with Palmyra Delran who’s latest single You’re My Brian Jones is a big hit on satellite radio. Then we have the legendary Shoes. They reissued one of their ultra rare albums from the 70s, Bazooka and also recently released a brand new album Ignition. Stan McMahon is a new name, he comes from Portland, OR and has a cassette tape on Burger records. Low Cut Connie caused quite a stir last year when they appeared on the Rolling Stone magazine list of best songs. They also played in Cleveland, so we feature them in our Live from Cleveland segment. Steve Wynn has a album of home demos that he made in his apartment in NYC. Dead Horse One are a new band from France and they perform a very competent version of shoegaze rock. They sing in English, but we also have some Americans that sing in French today. It’s The Revelers from Louisiana, a band that plays cajun rock and who were formed by the members of Red Stick Ramblers and Pine Leaf Boys. Another one of our favorite cajun bands, Mama Rosin has a holiday single, so we check that out as well. Finally, at the end of the show we land in Balkans and we check out an Americana band from Belgrade called On Tour and punk-rock-kazachok band called Cherkezi United, lead by an Ukranian living in Zagreb.
Today we review some parts of the blooming and booming new San Francisco rock’n’roll scene, lead by Ty Segall who has a new album out there called Twins. We also check out the wonderful cajuns from Switzerland, Mama Rosin, who made a new album in New York City with Jon Spencer and also have another ad-hoc project called Les Frères Souchet. Talking about the Francophone stuff, we have a new single for Perpignan’s Jack of Heart and including their potent cover of Gun Club’s For The Love of Ivy recorded live in Cleveland. We close the show with Amy Lavere and Shannon McNally with their new tour rehearsal tapes and with Lucy Kaplansky’s cover of The Beatles tune I’m Looking Through You.
A few new records premier in today’s show. R. Stevie Moore has a new album called Advanced and it’s as fresh and as exciting as we got used from Stevie. Hipbone Slim who collaborated with Mama Rosin earlier this year, also has an album on his own with his Kneetremblers. Cody Chesnutt who you may remember as a guest on Phrenology by the Roots, is back this year with a new EP called Black Skin No Value, somewhat more ambitious project than his first album Headphone Masterpiece. Calexico are back with a compilation record that contains the best tracks from their tour only discs. The only new name today is the New Orleans street band Washboard Chaz Blues Trio.
More bad news this week… Steve Popovich, rock maverick from Cleveland who indebted the world with many great records died last week in Tennessee at the age of 68. Steve was a musical promoter and record label owner in the golden age of ’70s when he helped manage careers of Bruce Springsteen, Cheap Trick, Boz Scaggs, Joe Grushecky, Southside Johnny, Ronnie Spector, Meat Loaf, Johnny Cash – just to name a few. He was a rare breed, a promoter who truly cared for the music he was promoting, someone who believed in what he liked, even if there was no conventional logic for pushing what he pushed. In that way, he is a true inspiration. We also say goodbye to Benny Spellman, a New Orleans singer who also died last week in his hometown at the age of 79. He left behind exciting early rock songs such as Fortune Teller and Lipstick Traces On A Cigarette, both written by Allen Toussaint. We also throw in a few new records. We introduce Dead Rock West from LA, a band clearly influenced by X. Also, we have new albums for Kate Maki and John Paul Keith. Mama Rosin, zydeco band from Switzerland is also back with a collaboration with Hipbone Slim.
Today’s highlight is definitely the new very special tribute to Jim Dickinson, created by his sons, friends and sons of his friends entitled Luther Dickinson & The Sons of Mudboy. Listeners of The Little Lighthouse are very well familiar with Jim Dickinson’s ad-hoc supergroup called Mudboy and the Neutrons – one of the best bands that ever came out of Memphis, well known for their chaotic covers of standards and traditionals. Now, using the same idea but with a layer of sorrow surrounding the passing of Jim, Luther Dickinson and the Sons of Mudboy put out an excellent album called Onward and Upward. This record is a magnificent farewell to the imposing figure that Jim Dickinson used to be on the Memphis rock’n’roll scene. We also check out the newest album for the Swiss zydeco band Mama Rosin (Black Robert) and the new album for the singersongwriter Freedy Johnston (Rain On The City). Also, please check out our new bonus podcast below that we will receive weekly from Igor Mitic in Pancevo. Look for the panther logo and title Sympathy for Rock’n’roll!
When I lived in Louisiana, I saw a wonderful German movie Schultze Gets the Blues about an old German guy who moves to Louisiana to play zydeco. This bizarre trans-global story is a wonderful dedication to the beauty of Louisiana music. In 2009, the most exciting zydeco album in ages came from the same “neck of the woods”… Switzerland! Trio of Swiss guys who calls themselves Mama Rosin, collected 13 furious zydeco tunes on their second album Brule Lentement. Some of the songs are classics (Opelousas Sostan!) and some are their own pastiches written in zydeco and Cajun style. The sound on the record is incredibly authentic. It sounds like those old documentary recordings of zydeco tunes and nothing like the watered down sound you can hear these days in tourist shops of New Orleans. Mama Rosin somehow found the original soul of Mamou, Louisiana on the banks of Lake Geneva.
Today we bring you two European bands with appreciation for the American sound. Mama Rosin come from Switzerland and play Cajun music. Waistcoats are from Netherlands and they put out one of the strongest garage rock eps this year. Stateside, Neil Young is back with new album Fork In The Road. Steve Earle has a Townes Van Zandt cover album and Mission of Burma has a live ep distributed online.