Today we explore connections of the new Australian psychedelic rock scene with Todd Rundgren. Tame Impala is a new band from over there that a lot of people were excited about last year. Their album Lonerism ended up on many year end lists right at the top positions. They even collaborated with Todd Rungren on one track and they covered the opening tune on his 70s masterpiece A Wizard A True Star. Another band, King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard also showed up recently covering Todd’s song Open My Eyes, which he put out with his band Nazz on the famous Nuggets compilation. Also from Australia, we have a long time Evan Dando’s collaborator Tom Morgan with the new LP. London band The Barracudas, who had a minor surf hit in 1980 are back with a cool new 45. Also, we introduce Cleveland band Wolly Bullies in our Live in CLE segment.
Ian Hunter – Saint;
Spencer P. Jones and the Nothing Butts – Conditions Apply;
Tom Morgan – Taste for Blood;
Smudge – Divan;
Tame Impala – Apocalypse Dreams;
Tame Impala – International Feel;
Todd Rundgren – Tic Tic Tic You Need Your Head Rock’n’roll Pussy;
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard – High Hopes Low;
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Open My Eyes;
Nazz – Open My Eyes;
Paul Revere and The Raiders – Hungry;
Wooly Bullies – Out Of My Head (Live in CLE);
Natural Child – Rock Bottom;
The Barracudas – Summer fun;
The Barracudas – God Bless the 45;
Jonathan Richman – Government Center;
Paul Kelly – To Her Door;
Paul Kelly – Cold As Canada;
The Windbreakers – I Thought You Knew.
Crowdfunding is a cool new way to help musicians make their albums ahead of time, get some special releases in return and maybe even influence the content in some ways. I mean, without your help, the stuff wouldn’t even be out. Today we introduce two artist that took the road of crowdfunding. Clara Engel is from Toronto and she’s a singer songwriter. She previously published in UK and Italy, but not in North America. She started a website on 
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.
In our first show in 2013, we remember some of the great rock’n’roll heros who left us in the past year. During our year end reviews, we got sad news on passing of Dave Brubeck, a jazz pianist who influenced rock’n’roll greatly. Also, Ray Collins, who was a founding member of Zappa’s Mothers of Invention. And finally, Mark Reynolds who played drums in Carnival Season and on the last tour of the Windbreakres also died. In the reminder of the show, we remember all those that passed away last year and that we recognize here at the Little Lighthouse as the great rock’n’roll characters. Bill Doss from Olivia Tremor Control, Robin Gibb from the Bee Gee’s, Scott McKenzie, Nick Curran, Hal David, Michael Davis from MC5, Joe South, Jon Lord from Deep Purple, Perry Baggs from Jason and The Scorchers, Jennifer Miro from The Nuns, Tusta from KUD Idijoti, MCA from The Beastie Boys, Donald Duck Dunn from Booker T. And The MG’s, Etta James, Bob Babbitt of the Motown Funk Brothers, Doug Dillard, Levon Helm from The Band, Chris Ethridge from The Flying Burrito Brothers, Davy Monkee Jones, Tim Mooney from the American Music Club, Bob Welch and Johnny Perez from Sir Douglas Quintet. We lost too many of them… And in the end, I would also like to dedicate this show to brothers Foley, Steven and Kevin who died in 2008 and 2011, and played in Bash and Pop with Tommy Stinson. Steven also replaced Chris Mars shortly in Replacements towards the end of their career. I only heard about this recently.
Last week we introduced the list of 20 best LPs that we liked to listen to here at The Little Lighthouse. This week, we move on to the list of five best reissues and archival recordings that came out in or around 2012. The title goes to Tav Falco and a gorgeous reissue of Beyond the Magnolia Curtain with also included Blow Your Top EP and four pages of early history of the band. The whole list looks like this:
It’s the end of the 2012 and it’s time to sum things up. As usual, at this time of the year we reflect on the past months and put together a list of our favorite records. Today we will review the year by listing the best albums this year, or at least those that I think were the most exciting and that we featured in detail here at the Little Lighthouse. Those that followed our playlists and reviews will probably not be surprised with the top five. I will follow up with reviews for most of these albums in the days to come, and you can tell us what you think. This year, the title of the greatest album goes to the young Canadian singer songwriter Eamon McGrath who put together a deep, personal and fun album about his life in the wonderful land of Canada and his generation of young people living over there. The list is closely followed by Dan Stuart’s return The Deliverance of Marlowe Billings. Here’s the rest of the list.
We start off today with the new single for Sweet Apple. It’s a cover of Alice Cooper’s Elected. Then we check out the new band from Los Angeles, Blackfeet Braves. Los Straitjackets follow with their instrumental version of Nirvana’s Teen Spirit. Then we introduce new band from Australia, The Laurels. Shivering Timbers from Akron are in our Live in Cleveland segment. We also check out the new record for legendary Graham Parker. Some new reissues/archives are out as well. Jacke Deshannon’s final installment of her 60’s singles and Dan Penn’s soulful demos.
Today’s show is concentrated on Australia. On the 40th anniversary of the greatest rock compilation ever, the original Nuggets, a bunch of Australian bands gathered to make a tribute these days. The tribute is entitled Nuggets Antipodean Interpolations of the First Psychedelic Era and it brings to us 27 bands from the new Australian garage rock scene. This time we bring two new names from that record: Tiny Migrants and Palms. Outside the compilation, but still from Australia, we have duet Digger and The Pussycats and the new supergroup consisted of two members from The Beasts of Bourbon and two members from The Drones. The band is called Spencer P. Jones and the Nothing Butts. From Europe, we have My Buddy Moose, Americana band from Rijeka, Croatia, with their new single and the new name from San Francisco scene Kelley Stoltz. But the biggest news this week is definitely Eric Burdon who joined forces with Greenhornes for the new, exciting EP!
Today is the time for the fifth edition of our occasional special called Vinyl Junkyard in which I represent one record that I’ve found laying lonesome in some dusty bargain bin for a ridiculously small amount of money, but that brings a lot of wonderful listening pleasure. Today’s record is put together back in 1978 by Beserkley Records, and indie label that employed at the time diverse bands such as The Modern Lovers, Earth Quake, Greg Kihn, Tyla Gang and The Rubinoos. One of the most precious releases by the Beserkley Records was a compilation record entitled Spitballs where all of the Beserkley roster joined forces and in ad hoc line ups recorded some of their favorite songs from the rock’n’roll past. The results are fun to listen and in this show, we will compare the covers with the original tunes.