Today we have have nice balance between very young and older bands. From the old guard, we have The Fleshtones with their new album Leave of Talent. Koja and Disciplin A Kitchme are back with a brand new single and a new line up that includes a harmonica. Legendary punk band from San Pedro The Last are also back with their new full length album Danger which has been announced several times in the past seven years and now it’s finally out. It contains some of the older tunes that were planned for their unreleased album Look Again in 1980. In our last show we had John Petkovic with Sweet Apple and Dave Swanson with a live recording with his Rainy Day Saints. Both of them used to be in Death of Samantha. That band (without Swanson, but with the original bass player David James), reunited for several shows in the past two years and now they put out a double lp with entitled If Memory Serves Us Well which is a recording of their band practice before hitting the concert halls. New bands today are Cretin Stompers from Memphis (via Brooklyn) and Caseworker, lead by a nice couple Eimer and Conor Devlin, kind of a mellow California band like Mellow Drunk or American Music Club. Speaking of them, we have two news: Mark Eitzel recorded an album in Ray Davies’ Konk Studios in North London and their original producer, drummer and guitar player Tom Mallon passed away. We pay a special tribute to him today. And finally, we have two very young bands from the Cincinnati/Covington/Newport area – The Yugos and The Debauchees. Dan Stuart from Green on Red gave them some really generous compliments – so we check them out.
American Music Club – Bad Liquor;
Cretin Stompers – Eye Of The Storm;
The Fleshtones – Roofarama;
The Split Squad – Tinker Tailor (Live in CLE);
Terry Reid – Tinker Tailor;
Bobby Blue Bland – I’ll Take Care Of You;
Mellow Drunk – A Different Color On My Door;
Caseworker – Notes From The Summer…;
Death of Samantha – Conviction;
The Last – Difference;
The Yugos – Dream Away;
The Debauchees – I’ve Got Energy;
The Slummers – Bowery Boy;
Mark Eitzel – Oh Mercy;
Thin White Rope – They’re Hanging Me Tonight;
American Music Club – Electric Light;
Disciplin A Kitchme – Samo disciplina.
Welcome to our first regular show in 2014. After several shows in which we had a year-end review, new records piled up so today’s show is filled with new stuff. We start off with the brand new tune for Games, who we just pronounced as the band with the best record in 2013. We also use this opportunity to learn about some previous bands for Jeremy and Dave in Games. Then we check out the new Apache tune. They have a new single. First Base come from Toronto and they just released a fun debut record on Hozac. We check them out as well. Then we have a relatively new tribute that Ben Deily and his Varsity Drag performed in honor of Wiz (ex Mega City Four and Ipanema). We continue with an exclusive new track from Sweet Apple which is scheduled to appear on their upcoming album Golden Age of Glitter. It sounds a bit like Suicide, so we check out another song that also sounds like Suicide, by a new band Dreamsalon from Seattle. Chris Eckman also has a new record called Harney County. We also check out Rainy Day Saints live in Cleveland. I read in Sanjin Strbac book Token For The Favorite Wurlitzer a quote from Zikica Simic that there’s not enough appreciation for blues these days. So I decided to feature one blues musician that I admire in each new show in alphabetical order. So, in our new regular segment Blues Alphabet, we hear Pink Anderson. Finally, we pay a special tribute to Dick Dodd (ex Standells) and Phil Everly, of The Everly Brothers. Both of them died recently.
We got some sad news this Sunday. Lou Reed passed away. When it comes to rock’n’roll, there are not many musicians that are greater than Lou. He managed to take the Bo Diddley rhythms and put them in the context of urban New York underground art movement. He was a street poet and he consciously enhanced the lyrical potentials of rock’n’roll music. We will dedicate our entire show today to him. We begin with two tunes that are direct dedications of other artists to his musical direction. Then we hear some other bands trying out their abilities by performing Lou Reed tunes. Two of those bands are from Yugoslavia (my former country), where Lou Reed was extraordinarily influential. Then we hear one live recording of Velvet Underground which was recorded in 1968 in Cleveland, where I live now. Again, it turns out, Cleveland was one of the rare places where VU was welcome back then. And then we close things off with an ambitious medley of songs by Lou Reed about death. He was obsessed by that topic and wrote a lot of songs about it, especially in the past 20 years. And now, he’s gone too. Lou, Lou, Lou… it’s the end of a great adventure.
Today we start off with some recent collaborations of Robert Plant with younger bands. Then we move on to the new Resentments album who regrouped after their founder Stephen Burton passed away four years ago. Garage soul singer Barrence Whitfield reunited with his Savages and put out the new record called Dig Thy Savage Soul. Canadian rockers The Sadies also have a new album, and it sounds a lot like Meat Puppets, which we fully support. Tommy Keene has an album of covers and Eamon McGrath threw out another new mp3 to public. Finally, we have a great pleasure to introduce Livids – the new band for Eric Davidson from New Bomb Turks.
Today’s show is dedicated to Sid Selvidge. He was a part of the Mud Boy and The Neutrons, a group of highly influential Memphis musicians. Lee Baker on guitar and Jim Dickinson on piano both passed away relatively recently, and Sid, who was the lead singer, just died in May this year. He was an incredible talent and a great singer who did not put out a lot of records, but nevertheless, influenced many. We also have Bassholes with their new record called Boogieman Stew and King Khan also with his new record called Idle No More. We also introduce a new super-group, consisting of Eddie Munoz from Plimsouls, Clem Burke from Blondie and Keith Streng from Fleshtones. It’s called The Split Squad. Our Australian favorites, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizzard are back with a new Internet single, a cover of T. Rex song Lean Woman Blues.
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. J.J. Cale died on July 26 from a heart attack. A day after that Mick Farren, British writer and leader of proto punk band The Deviants passed away after collapsing on stage. Then we hear some new stuff. From Hozac label we check out Games who had a great album last year which somehow fell through the cracks. Also on Hozac, Heavy Times from Chicago are back with the new record called Fix It Alone. R.Stevie Moore has a new compilation record entitled Personal Appeal. City of Cool from Australia are back in great shape and we check out the new tune. Mallard from San Francisco and Eat Lights Become Lights are influenced heavily by the kraut rock, so we finish things off today in that style.
Sad news today. The news comes to us that Faye Hunter, bass player and a founding member of the legendary college rock band Let’s Active passed away this year on July 20th. Those that know her personally felt very deeply for her. Others, like myself, who know her through her music and work with Let’s Active remember her songs as highlights on those records. We also check out the new band for Josh Martin from Carbonas called Shocked Minds who have a new record on Hozac. Two Boston veterans are featured today as well. Bill Janovitz from Buffalo Tom has a new solo record and Ben Deily of the Lemonheads has a new 7″ with his most recent band Varisty Drag. Finally, Delbert McClinton and Glen Clark reunite after 40 years for another duet record, and we check that out at the end of the show.
We start off with the new band in the show today. Their name is Mouthbreathers and they come from Lawrence, KY. Another new band for us is The Fish, which don’t play together anymore. Their leader Chuck is now in Nude Beach, which is also a guest at our Live in CLE segment. We also have one new lady in the show today. She is Ariane Mahryke Lemire and she comes from Edmonton, Canada. Eamon McGrath joins her on a song that we check out today. We know Valerie June from her last year’s collaboration The Wandering with Luther Dickinson, Shannon McNally and Amy LaVere. She now has a solo album out, produced by Dan Auerbach. We also have one new tune for King Khan. Finally, we say goodbye to Dejan Kostic, a musician from Belgrade who played in two very interesting new wave bands, Grupa i and Du Du A. Sadly, he passed away last week.
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.