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Obituaries, Playlist

Flashlite #259

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CaseworkerToday 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.

Blues Alphabet, Obituaries, Playlist

Flashlite #258

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Sweet AppleWelcome 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.

The Beach Boys – California Girls;
Games – Little Elsie;
Busy Signals – Got It All Wrong;
Ex Humans – Emergency;
Apache – Faster Louder;
Apache – Civil Disobedience;
First Base – Don’t Let Me Down (This Summer);
Ipanema – White Cat In A Snowstorm;
Varsity Drag – White Cat in a Snowstorm;
Rainy Day Saints – You Can’t Escape (Live in CLE);
Sweet Apple – Hold Me I’m Dying;
Sweet Apple – Another Desert Skyway;
Dreamsalon – In The Air;
Suicide – Suicide – Ghost Rider;
Chris Eckman – Ghostrider;
Chris Eckman – Many Moons;
Pink Anderson – The Titanic;
The Standells – Dirty Water;
The Everly Brothers – Amanda Ruth.

Playlist, The Best of 2013

Flashlite #257 – The Best Short Forms in 2013

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short formsThis is the third instalment of our “best of 2013″ lists. Today we cover the best short forms, and here we count the best 7” singles, eps, mini LPs and so on. Our list is in no particular order today, we just spin some cool short forms.

Tav Falco’s Panther Burns – Money Talks;
Turf War – Pay My Dues;
The Cry – T.C.P.;
The Connection – Crawling from the Wreckage of a Saturday Night ;
Varsity Drag – Let’s Electrify;
Eamon McGrath – Uninvited Guest;
Grant Hart – Is The Sky The Limit;
The dB’s – pH Factor;
The Replacements – Busted Up;
Sweet Apple (feat. Mark Lanegan) – Wish You Could Stay;
Dead Milkmen – Mary Ann Cotton (The Poisoner’s Song);
Motel Mirrors – Your Tender Loving Care;
Shannon McNally – String of Hearts;
English Singles – Bitter End;
Iris and the Deadly Flowers – Have love will travel;
Bassholes – 21st Century Hobo Blues;
Natural Child – CRS Blues.

Playlist, The Best of 2013

Flashlite #256 – The Best Ressiues and Compilations in 2013

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ShoesToday we review my favorite reissues and various artists compilation records in the past season. This year was particularly interesting because more and more reissues also come out on vinyl, often with extra material. Compilations are also cool, tributes are always interesting, new and old materials equally. I always value carefully crafted compilations from which you can learn new things.

Here’s the list of my favorite various artists compilations last year:
Garage Swim Compilation
The Records: Tribute Starry Eyed
New Centre of the Universe Vol 2
Skrang! Sounds Like Bobby Sutliff
Feeling High: The Psychedelic Sound of Memphis
Under The Covers Vol 2 – A Tribute To The Nerves
Mojo Presents Heavy Nuggets vol 2

And here’s the list of my favorite reissues:
Shoes ‎- One In Versailles
Shoes – Bazooka
Tav Falco – Lore And Testament Vol 2
Roky Erickson ‎- Don’t Slander Me
Roky Erickson ‎- The Evil One
Lemonheads – Hate Your Friends
Lemonheads – Creator
Lemonheads – Lick
R. Stevie Moore – Delicate Tension
Rainer and Das Combo – Barefoot Rocking;

I forgot to include Tav Falco in the playlist today, but I’ll make it up next week.

DOWNLOAD: 1 2

Roky Erickson – Haunt;
Roky Erickson – Two Headed Dog;
Lemonheads – So I Fucked Up;
Lemonheads – Mod Lang;
R. Stevie Moore – Oh Pat;
Shoes – Kristine;
Shoes – Love Took A Turn;
Rainer and Das Combo – Away;
Jerusalem – Frustration ;
The Changin’ Tymes – Blue Music Box;
Donovan’s Brain – Hearts in Her Eyes;
Russ Tolman – The Devil And The Sea;
Hunx and His Punx – When U Find Out;
The Stevens – Elpho Beach;
Mikal Cronin – Better Man;
OBN Ills – A Good Lover.

Reviews

Games (Hozac)

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GamesOne friend of mine classifies albums that he likes into big and small records. Not according to the dimensions, but according to impact and depth of a concept laid out on the record. According to that classification, Games is a small record. Simple three minute love songs, no impact or concept whatsoever. Still, simple can sometimes be really great. In this case, Games reached a near perfection in my mind. Every song is super catchy and fun. Simplicity of the overall delivery here is disarming.

This is a bubble-gum, a candy. In my ears it sounds so dandy, lemonade and cotton candy. These lyrics lay the ground for this record. But it’s real sugar cane, no artificial sweeteners, no corn syrup. From the beginning, the record strikes you as something really fun, but things really take off with songs number 3 and 4 Different Times and Baby Put Down That Gun. This is when you realize that this record is really special. Urgency and whirl of Different Times take it to that different level. Baby Put Down That Gun keeps the level high with a great chorus, perfect harmonies and a bridge lifted straight from The Ballad of John and Yoko.

The highlight on the B side is When The Time, the only slow number with wonderful 70s retro keyboards and harmonies which are just right. Those harmonies are just slightly out of tune and weary, after all, this music is made by humans. It’s also the moment of the record where the lyrics become more ambitious then the rest of the bubble gum oriented song-smithery. In recent past, this record has the same retro feel and atmosphere as the debut album for Gentleman Jesse and His Men, which is not that crazy of a comparison having in mind that, just like Jesse, the boss of Games, Jeremy Thompson, was once in The Carbonas. Also, Dave Rahn produced and played drums on both records. Going further in the past, this record could easily stand head to head comparison to any of the Stiff, Rak or Buddah releases and maybe even win.

My pet peeve with record reviews in general is that whenever the writers hear some harmonies or power-pop attitude, they start comparisons to Big Star. I love that band, but this needs to end. Neither Games or Mikal Cronin have anything to do with power-pop or Big Star. In case of Games, this is your good old unadulterated, pure sugar-cane bubble gum and be ready for the rush.

The vinyl copy of this record is absolutely one of the nicest pieces of plastic out there. The sound of the record is absolutely flawless and it’s a great example on how vinyl should be done in this day and age. All major flaws are skillfully avoided – the sound is full, no inner groove distortion whatsoever, no sibilance problems, perfect groove centering. Just great. Credit for such a great job goes equally to all engineers involved in the pre-mastering process and Dave Eck from Lucky Lacquers in Midleton WI, who cut the lathe. United Press from Nashville did duplication. The record finishes with a sound of a soda bottle opening and a special treat on the B side is a neat locked groove which takes the carbonation all the way to the infinity. Locked groove is pulled away from the center, so it will lock even for the turntables with automatic tonearms.

Reviews

The Bevis Frond – White Numbers (Woronzow)

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The Bevis Frond - White NumbersOne of the most exciting and definitely the most monumental come-backs this year is The Bevis Frond latest album White Numbers. This once very productive band lead by Nick Saloman published three records in ’87, and then an average of two per year until the new millennium. They returned in 2011 after seven years of silence with The Leaving of London, just to remind us that Saloman still has a lot to say. But this year’s White Numbers is a masterpiece.

Nick Saloman was known as a guy who could combine the loud guitars of punk, post-punk and underground rock with psychedelic sentiment of The Byrds and songwriting skills of the British pub rock era. In fact, it’s one of the best kept secrets that Saloman’s vocal is the best Roger McGuinn imitation since Tony Poole of the Starry Eyed And Laughing. I’m a huge fan of all those people and I making these comparisons it in the most heartfelt way. Saloman was great at this all the time, but on White Numbers, muse has struck him really well. Songs are wonderful love songs full of ambiguity and contrast that draws you in. It’s the excrement floating on the sea, makes it beautiful to me. The best known Bevis Frond song is by far Lights Are Changing which was also compiled on Children of Nuggets. On White Numbers, song This One is probably the most similar to Lights Are Changing.

Now I need to explain why this record is so monumental. First of all, the quality is strong and my attention was kept for the entire of 85 minutes of the regular run of this record. No editing needed, no losers. You read it right, it’s 85 minutes of rock’n’roll, but only for the part of the record with convential songs, all the verses, choruses and guitar shredding. Then, when you think it’s all over, there’s 45 minutes more of something that the band calls Homemade Traditional Electric Jam. Now, most bands would cut it out, and let’s be frank, most bands can’t pull a 45 minute jam without shooting themselves in the feet. Not the Bevis Frond! The Jam is full with interesting passages and it wraps up this really big record in a most perfect way. I can only think of one record that managed to do that so effectively. We had it last year on our year end list, Rich Hopkins album Buried Treasures.

How do you put 130 minutes of music on a vinyl LP? You need three records. So, the vinyl version spreads out that much, putting the long jam on the third LP and also splitting it in two down the middle. This is actually a helpful thing for that demanding jam since you can take a break and flip the record down half way through. It’s a British import here in the US, so the triple record is a bit pricey. It also suffers a bit from a mid frequency distortion and sibilance throughout the entire length, especially the first LP. This seems to be common on most modern pressings. So get a CD or files for this one if you care about the sound. If you like the big cover, photography on the front and behind is very interesting to study, so get an LP if you care about the cover art. It also comes equipped with a lyrics sheet, which is always a plus in my book.

Playlist

Meat Puppets – Rat Farm (Megaforce) and The Sadies – Internal Sounds (Yep Roc)

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Meat Puppets and The SadiesThis article is a dual review of two similar, but equally excellent records that came out in 2013. The band Meat Puppets is one of the progenitors of what was known in the 80s as the “new american rock’n’roll”. This is not a place to recall their brilliant career through the 80s, their rub with mainstream in the 90s and problems that they were going through after that. Let’s just say, it would make one hell of a bio pic. Six years ago Kirkwood brothers Curt and Cris reunited, first with Ted Marcus and then with Shandon Sahm on drums. Three albums that they recorded in those years were good, but somewhat pale when compared to the classical records that they used to make. Last year, the fourth album since the reunion came out and it’s called Rat Farm. With Rat Farm, Meat Puppets are finally fully in shape. The new album can stand head to head with their diverse 90s mainstream records and poetically reminds of their abstract psychedelic work Up On The Sun. Puppets also sound fantastic live, and those who saw them “back in the day” claim that they are as good as ever. And this is all wonderful news.

Also, in past two years, their old SST catalog got a nice set of reissues on vinyl, all those records are wonderfully mastered and totally worth getting if you don’t have the old ones already. The records were specially pre-mastered for vinyl by Greenhouse Audio, lathes were done by Clinton J. Holey and duplication was done at Cleveland’s Gotta Groove. I also have Rat Farm on vinyl and it’s lavender colored. Vinyl master was done by the Canadian company Vinyl Record Guru and unfortunately, my copy has a slight distortion problems in mid frequencies. But a huge plus is a nice gatefold cover with big Curt’s art on the front and lyrics printed inside.

One thing that’s characteristic for Meat Puppets are Curt’s crispy guitars and great vocal match between the brothers Curt and Cris. Canadian band The Sadies is also lead by two brothers, Dallas and Travis Good. They also have a great guitar style and duet vocals that have a brotherly matching quality. Sadies are known as handling multiple musical styles. They are equally competent in country rock, especially their 2004 album Favourite Colours or in surf rock, as they were on their 2006 release Tales of the Ratfink. They are also hired session musicians for many diverse artists, from Neko Case to Andre Williams. This year they released Internal Sounds. The lyrics have that same nursery rhyme abstractness as the Puppets record Rat Farm and this is not where the comparison with the Puppets ends. The entire record sounds like a really cool lost Puppets record from the 90s to me, all with vocal mannerisms from the Good brothers, guitar solos, psychedelic country mood. Another comparison that makes sense is the Yardbirds, especially their ragas and nursery rhyme psychedelic craziness such as Tinker Taylor Soldier Sailor. The Sadies must be very proud on both of those influences.

Talking about ragas, the Sadies record finishes with one. It’s a song that puts the spotlight on the legendary sixties folk singer Buffy Sainte-Marie. She guest stars on vocals, mouth bow and chips in as a lyricist.

In any case, both Rat Farm and Internal Sound bring back the exciting Meat Puppets sound of their prime, which made me listen to those two records in succession multiple times, which was also why I had to write about these two albums in one single article.

Vinyl copy of Internal Sounds comes in a pretty, shiny gatefold cover with embossed white lettering. The vinyl mastering and duplication is done by the Cleveland team Gotta Groove, but sadly, something went terribly wrong on this one. This is strange since this company had a flawless record so far in my book (I just said some really great things about their work with the Meat Puppets reissues!). Grooves are distorted pretty much throughout the entire record. Starting from the third song on each side, sibilance on high ends becomes pretty obvious. Mid frequencies start falling apart as early as the second song. Perhaps pre-master had some compression that simply wasn’t vinyl friendly in this case? The good thing was that the record came equipped with the download card, which was a must in this case for me.

Reviews

Low Cut Connie – Call Me Sylvia (Side One Dummy)

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Low Cut Connie - Cal Me SylviaIf you haven’t seen Low Cut Connie live show yet, you should. There is not too many bands out there that put such a fun, carefree show. They would surely prefer to have a full house, but even if there’s an audience of five, they’ll knock the house down. Adam Weiner carries upright piano to every show and it’s gotta be a hell to tune it while on tour, but that piano is a key instrument in the band and some synthesizer just won’t do. Weiner shares song writing and vocal duties with an Englishman Dan Finnemore. Dan sings in a flawless american accent though. The band will sometimes rotate not just vocals, but also instruments at their live show and in short, it’s the hardest working band out there on the tour.

Excellent sense of humor will keep a smile on your face and upbeat tunes will keep you on your feet. Their record Call Me Sylvia is in that sense an excellent representative of their live shows. Wild, unbridled atmosphere did not get lost in the studio. Chatter of the background singers was not taken out of the mix and sometimes you will feel that the band members also called in their friends to help with the hand-clapping. It’s never generous to represent some band as “this” meets “that”, but I cannot resist to say that Low Cut Connie sounds like Replacements would, had they decided to make an LP with Willie DeVille. And their live music enthusiasm can only be compared to the shenanigans one can see at The Fleshtones gigs. And of course, Weiner’s piano acrobatics and his ruffled bangs rightfully often draw comparisons to Jerry Lee Lewis.

Clevelanders should get a kick out of the song Cleveland, which is a hilarious story of a suicidal male stripper returning to his hometown after a failed career, perhaps in some bigger town, like New York City, which is where Low Cut Connie are based in. Call it black humor, but as a Clevelander, I am proud. That’s a Weiner’s song, whose writing is generally humorous, ironic and cabaret, while Finnemore’s tunes are generally more melodious, no-frills rock’n’roll tunes about cars and girls.

Although the record was originally published as a CD in 2012, the vinyl release saw the light of day in 2013. That and the fact that I got a hold of the record only in December last year, qualifies it for consideration for one of the best albums in 2013. The outer groove of the record indicates that the vinyl master was done by Joe Lambert at JLM and the vinyl sound overall is pretty good. It is wide and spacious, although slightly heavy on high frequencies, but that’s just my taste. I fixed it with an easy adjustment on my equalizer. I am not sure what pressing plant was used, but that factory could pay more attention to the quality control – B side of my copy has a slight eccentricity and some wobble due to it.

Playlist, The Best of 2013

Flashlite #255 – The Best Albums in 2013

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GamesAs usual, at the end of the year, we bring you the list of the best albums played here at The Little Lighthouse in the past season. I think this was an interesting year. Debutant band Games tops the list with a catchy selection of hits. The ghost of Jim Dickinson rules the list this year with several bands paying tributes to him. Memphis is the most frequent city on the list, remaining the capital of rock’n’roll still after all these years.

01 Games (Hozac)
02 The Trashed Romeos – Where Dreamers Never Go (Trashy Creatures/Burger)
03 King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard – Eyes Like The Sky (Flightless)
04 The Oblivians – Desperation (In The Red)
05 Chris Cacavas – Love’s Been Re-Discontinued (Cactus Head)
06 The Fuzz (Munster)
07 The Bevis Frond – White Numbers (Woronzow)
08 Michael Tarbox – Works And Days (self)
09 The Sadies – Internal Sounds (Yep Roc)
09 Meat Puppets – Rat Farm (Megaforce)
10 Mikal Cronin – II (Merge)
11 Low Cut Connie – Call Me Sylvia (Side One Dummy)
12 The Dirtbombs – Ooey Gooey Chewy Ka-blooey! (In the Red)
13 North Mississippi All-Stars – World Boogie Is Coming (Songs of the South)
14 Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog – Your Turn (Northern Spy)
15 Bad Sports – Bras (Dirtnap)
16 Howe Gelb – The Coincidentalist (New West)
17 Jim Keays – Dirty, Dirty (Shock Entertainment)
18 Willie Nile – American Ride (Loud & Proud)
19 Jimbo Mathus And the Tri-State Coalition – White Buffalo (Fat Possum)
20 Left Lane Cruiser – Rock Them Back to Hell (Alive)
21 Barrence Whitfield – Dig Thy Savage Soul
22 Stan McMahon – La Di Da
23 Fuzz (Ty Segall)
24 The Len Price 3 – Nobody Knows
25 Miss Chain And The Broken Heels – The Dawn

Miss Chain And The Broken Heels – It’s Gone;
The Len Price 3 – My Grandad Jim;
Fuzz – Raise;
Stan McMahon – Let It Go;
Barrence Whitfield And The Savages – Hey Hey Little Girl;
Left Lane Cruiser – Juice to Get Loose;
Jimbo Mathus And The Tri-State Coalition – Fake Hex;
Willie Nile – Say Hey;
Jim Keays – Come See Me ( I’m Your Man );
Howe Gelb – Unforgivable;
Bad Sports – Eddie Bender;
Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog – Special Snowflake;
North Mississippi Allstars – Rollin ‘n Tumblin;
The Dirtbombs – Sugar On Top;
Low Cut Connie – Don’t Cry Baby Blue;
Mikal Cronin – I’m Done Running From You;
Meat Puppets – River Rose;
The Sadies – Leave This World Behind;
Michael Tarbox – Capricorn;
The Bevis Frond – For Pat (On the Chaise Longue Dreaming);
The Fuzz – Air;
Chis Cacavas – On the Floor;
Oblivians – Pinball King;
King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard – Eyes Like The Sky;
Trashed Romeos – The Grass Is Never Greener;
Games – It’s Just Impossible;
Games – When The Time.

Reviews

The Fuzz (Munster)

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The Trashed Romeos - Where Dreamers Never GoThings are very complicated this year. There are two excellent bands with the name of (The) Fuzz. Both are special projects from previously well established musicians. There is Fuzz (without “the”) from San Francisco lead by Ty Segall, a band that has captured attention of music fans all over the world. The other Fuzz is The Fuzz, they are from Memphis and they are lead by Harlan T. Bobo. You won’t hear that much about this band in fancy web portals though, except in this one.

Harlan T. Bobo is probably one of the strongest songwriters active today. His three solo albums recorded and published between 2003 to 2010 are masterpieces of rock writing with topics ranging from rejection, to love and settling down. In 2010 Harlan on his record Sucker, Harlan proclaimed Live is sweet and we left him happy in a family setting. But this year he’s back hilariously drunk and boyishly angry and he needed another alter ego and a band to pull it off.

In the press material and in on the record cover, we learn that The Fuzz is a brainchild of Harlan’s brother Hector Bobo, but songwriting credits and vocal delivery is unmistakably Harlan. What we find on this record is a great example of Memphis rock’n’roll in its most uncurbed state. It’s loud and distorted and fun. It’s music of a drunken circus band staggering down a road, which how once someone described Jim Dickinson’s music. With masks and confused identities.

Besides Harlan T. Bobo, the record brings several other well known Memphis musicians, Steve Selvidge on bass and Doug Easley behind the studio knobs.

The record is sandwiched in between Air which irresistibly reminds me on Replacements’ Takin’ A Ride and When I Die which borrows a chant from Norwegian Wood. You will also hear a great tribute to Marc Bolan in Teen Rex. The musical ferocity is what will occupy your senses first, because it’s delivered overwhelmingly loud, but after you hear the record a couple of times, wise words of Harlan T. Bobo will make you rediscover this record again.

Few technical notes on the release. The record came out in Spain for Munster Records, so it is only available as an import in USA. The label on the cover says the the record is Made in Germany, but markings on the vinyl are more similar to the vinyls mastered and pressed in Russia. It’s a quality pressing considering that the record is so loud. I have a feeling that the vinyl is mastered from a digital mix, and it would probably sound better if it was mastered from an analog mix, if there is one around.