Vinyl Collective/Suburban Home UTI Series Volume 9: Two Cow Garage/Jr. Juggernaut

(Click picture for complete series album listing, and sample tracks)

As the last record in an impressive series, Volume 9, featuring garage rock acts Two Cow Garage and Jr. Juggernaut has a lot to live up to. For the most part, they do well, especially considering that each chose to cover classic songs by some of rock's most celebrated writers. After hearing all of the modern rock and punk, and classic folk and country, Juggernaut and Two Cow emulate a classic rock style that fills a nice empty niche in the series, and their sounds are both unique and welcome to the series.

Jr. Juggernaut aims high to start by covering Cat Steven's "Trouble." The first thing to notice is the band's sound- they seem to epitomize the term "garage band." The guitars are beautifully sloppy, the drum's cymbals are over-represented, each part seems to struggle to be the loudest track, and everything sounds like it's bouncing off of a cracked concrete wall. This is in no way an insult. Nowadays, there seems to be a fine line between crappy-sounding garage recordings and over-produced, more radio-friendly styles, and all I want is a nice middle ground where I can hear something clearly, yet create a more intimate sound, like I have the band right next to me. Jr. Juggernaut's "Trouble" is in that comfortable space, sounding like that one good local band playing their hearts out in their friend's garage or local pub. You get the feeling that they'd rather perform and play their guts out for that one night at the local bar than try to get their songs on the radio. They play "Trouble" in a sloppy, beautiful style, from the wailing guitar to the raspy vocals and pounding drum set, and each second is just that pure, soulful old rock sound, like if Cat Stevens had formed a hard-rock jam band.

The second track by Juggernaut, Neil Young's "From Hank to Hendrix" is a bit less impressive. It's done well in the same style as the Cat Stevens tribute, but it's more of a jam piece, and I'm not particularly fond of the style, especially the slower, sleepier rock styles of it. The beginning between the sung parts is great, but that second that the massive solo at the second half of the song begins, there's a noticeable drop in energy. There's not much I can say here, other than that the sung parts are good, but the instrumentals (easily the bulk of the track) are boring and over-long.

Before being put to sleep at the end of "From Hank to Hendrix", I can switch back to Two Cow Garage's cover of "No Surrender" to rock me back awake. Two Cow Garage sounds like what Springsteen feels like it should sound like- dirty and powerful, sung with a blue collar and a red face. The first note is just this outward blast of raspiness and pounded instruments that immediately gets my blood flowing. One of the things I always enjoyed about Springsteen's earlier work was that it felt completely ego-less; his earlier performances of "Born in the USA" didn't have him humping air, closed-eye pounding single notes on his guitar, and sliding on his knees just to get a bunch of cougars to toss their bras onto the stage. He sang with conviction and soul, yelling almost every note and furiously strumming on his acoustic, sounding more like he was just saying everything off the top of his head, rather than just reciting lyrics. Two Cow Garage plays in much the same fashion. It's pure, loud, rural rock with soulful singing and powerful instruments. It's played right, and played well, and serves as a better tribute than any American Idol contestant wailing out "Born to Run" in their tortured, cliche vocal styles.

It's a pretty good testament to the talent of two bands who decided to cover three great artists, and the worst thing I can say about any of the recordings is that at the end, the worst thing is that one of them has too many guitar solos. It's also a pretty good sign that out of 17 artists from a single label covering 19 songs by rock's most celebrated acts, is that at worst there are maybe three or four boring covers. The series has put Suburban Home at the top of my favorite labels these days, and most of their artists are at the top of my current favorite acts by introducing their acts in such a fun and creative way. I enjoyed the series greatly, and it's helped my writing progress from the disjointed mess of my first few entries into a much more cohesive mess now., and the worst thing I can say to either Suburban Home or Vinyl Collective is that I will not be happy until they release that Cobra Skulls album cover as a poster.

Vinyl Collective/Suburban Home UTI Series Volume 8: Austin Lucas/Frank Turner

(Click picture for complete series album listing, and sample tracks)

Ah, the home stretch. With only two more records in the series, looking back, there's been a pretty good selection. We've had punk, rock, folk, alt, and ska. Now it's time to toss some country in there. The eighth entry into the series features Austin Lucas covering Dolly Parton's "To Daddy" and Frank Turner covering the Springsteen classic "Thunder Road." I'll toss out the mystery right away and say that this is a very good record by two surprisingly good artists.

Austin Lucas begins with "To Daddy." I never really liked Dolly Parton, be it her music or legacy. I dislike her glitzy, sugary take on country music, and dislike how it transformed the top Nashville acts to follow suit with mostly soulless, mindless drivel. Still, her earlier, simpler-sounding tracks are at least tolerable to my ears, and "To Daddy" is among the handful of songs of hers that I can get some sort of enjoyment out of. Up until now, though, I've preferred the Emmylou Harris version. It's a little less poppy and glitzy, embracing the simplicity of country music that I enjoy. I guess it only makes sense that a metal singer from Czech now does my favorite rendition of the song.

Austin Lucas does an amazing job with this song. Over the past several years, I've grown very weary of the coffeehouse acoustic acts. If you've seen one hipster torturing Bob Dylan on his Takamine, barely holding onto the key with each passing wail, you've seen most of the scene. With such a simple act, featuring one person playing two parts, it's important to play each to the best of one's ability. Each note, each strum, and every beat needs to be considered if a solo acoustic act wishes to stand out. This not only applies to straight musical theory, but also in presentation. A vocalist/musician needs to invest themselves emotionally into every second of a song. Hearing someone sing each note right versus hearing that person sing the right notes with the best of their emotional conviction is the difference between night and day, or the difference between Neutral Milk Hotel and Andrew Jackson Jihad (sorry, but it's true and a comparison that anyone who's read my blog up until now can get). Unfortunately, most acts I've heard, whether local or radio-played, don't really do it for me. It makes you forget how powerful a talented singer with an acoustic guitar can be.

Lucas has a beautiful voice, doing everything right and beyond to make his version of "To Daddy" to be, in my eyes, the definitive recording of the track. There's no glitz, yet no crust in this cover, just Austin and his guitar. He intertwines the vocals and instrumentals wonderfully, and if you listen just enough, you get the impression that he considers the balance between his voice and his guitar down to the very second, because each swell and each drawing back of either of the dual tracks seems perfectly timed and performed, creating a great synergy between the two that really makes Lucas' version of "To Daddy" to be not just one of my favorite versions of the song, but one of my favorite country songs, period. It's a wonderful, relaxed track that makes me wish that I could just go campfire jam with the man on my banjo.

Lucas' first track set the bar pretty damned high, but Frank Turner seems to jump over it with an impressive ease and grace. Another example of me disliking the original source material pretty much from the get-go, I've never been a large fan of Bruce Springsteen, or his song "Thunder Road" though I certainly like it more. Bruce and E-Street are talented, but I could never get over the corniness of their music, cringing at each obnoxious recording trick like the bells during volume swells or Bruce's self-pleasing, close-eyed, housewife-fainting, air-humped vocal blast, which is a shame because everything else about the band is pretty great. Frank Turner tosses out any complaint I've ever had about Bruce's work and just plays the goddamned song, and Jesus does he play it well.

Featuring nothing but acoustic guitar strums and Frank's impressive, English-inflected vocals, the cover of "Thunder Road" retains Springsteen's soulfulness and rock roots and drops the corny arena rock, and the results are awesome. I kind of get a chill every time Frank Turner busts his voice out and slams on his guitar at the start of each chorus and verse. It's fun to hear a genuinely talented vocalist these days that doesn't try to emulate Whitney Houston or Marvin Gaye (See about 90% of contestants on American Idol), and just sing in their own unique way, unaided by any voice synthesizers or pitch correctors. It helps create an imagery that somebody is creating an art through sound, and makes a much more pleasing experience than hearing another lame modern soul singer try to do the Aretha Franklin pitch bend every few seconds just as a way to impress the average non-musical fan.

This is a great album with two great songs that can appeal to most anyone, including fans of Dolly and Springsteen fans. It's also the most parent-friendly album, helping prove to your folks once and for all that there are artists today that can top out the most cherished acts of their day, while still giving enjoyment to any listener. I really do recommend it to anyone growing weary of acoustic acts these days, because if it doesn't alleviate your boredom of the medium, then there's a problem with you. It also makes me wonder why, between Whiskey & Co., Drag the River, and Austin Lucas, a traditionally punk label can put out better country artists than anything Nashville's smeared all over Wal-Mart discount stands for the past 20 years.

Vinyl Collective/Suburban Home UTI Series Volume 7: Lemuria/Off With Their Heads

(Click picture for complete series album listing, and sample tracks)

Alright, I'm getting a little tired of this series (don't get me wrong, I love listening to it, it's just getting boring to write about it when so much good stuff is coming out), so I'm going to just fire out reviews of the next three records today and tomorrow so I can get on to some more juicy stuff.

With that out of the way, I'd like to go into what's probably my favorite of any album in the series. The album starts out with Lemuria covering "Alec Eiffel", originally by alternative pioneers The Pixies. There's always been a connection between the two in my eyes, with The Pixies having developed a punk-influenced indie sound, and Lemuria having an indie-influenced punk sound. They both have a unique, interesting sound that are both great to listen to in many different situations.

That bit of badly-explained musical opinion aside, Lemuria's cover of "Alec Eiffel" is a great track to listen to. It's hard to find weird, quirky punk nowadays that can take itself seriously enough to not hate the stuff completely, but Lemuria has always been there to provide a fix to keep my shakes from getting too bad. If their previous work is a dose of drug for my addiction, then this song is a year's worth of methadone injected right into my brain, because their cover is a freaking awesome indie/punk cover of a somewhat poppy old song. Every part is played well, from the instruments to the synthed vocals. It's energetic, odd, and catchy as hell, and is definitely a great add to any fun playlist.

The cute pop-punk of Lemuria eventually leads to the dark bubblegum of Off With Their Heads and their cover of The Nobody's "Scarred by Love." This series is starting to make me mad, because between this track and JJ Nobody's involvement in Drag the River, Suburban Home seems dedicated to retroactively not hate The Nobodys as much as I normally do, because the song on this album is so god-damned good that I can't help but applaud anyone involved with writing, recording, or covering it. Off With Their Heads takes a somewhat formulaic suburban pop-punk song, removes the twangy treble and obnoxious nasally vocals, and replaces them with a faster tempo, crustier music, and Ryan Young's deep, raspy vocals to create the darkest bubblegum dance punk you'll ever hope to hear. The song is a great depressive listen due to its subject matter and dark sound, yet still fun to bop along to with its semi-upbeat style and catchiness. Just like Hospitals and From the Bottom, I'll never get tired of the latest offering from Off With Their Heads.

Overall, this record includes itself in a three-way tie with Drag the River and Teenage Bottlerocket/The Ergs' albums for my favorite in the series. It's a must-listen for modern punk enthusiasts, and may even get a listen out of people who aren't really into the type of music or scene of either band. Good stuff.

Come on Mom it's Only a Blog Post

I have (to my count three times) tossed out rips on The Nobodys on this blog, and I believe I owe an explanation for doing so. I can basically sum up my hatred of The Nobodys and similar artists in a single sentence:

I hate PC-baiting.

There are countless musical artists out there who work tirelessly to hone their craft, exploring metaphor and poetry in their lyrics, sound and composition to perfect their music, and learning and creating new recording techniques to perfect their creations. I commend these artists, good or bad, because they achieve their fame through tireless effort. They work. Then there are the PC-baiters in an entirely different boat. These are the kids who never decided that nurturing and developing creativity was worth their time, and just wanted instant fame. They found out that "ironically" playing on the stereotypes and stigmas that hold back oppressed people got a few gasps and knee-jerk angry responses to their great frat-wad crusade against progressing society eventually led to a controversy, ending in people forking over cash just to get in on the riff-raff.

Then there are the general white-trash deviants (never being above a twelve-year-old maturity level) who end up genuinely liking the bigoted lyrics, heralding it as a crusade against "PC fascists." Listen, I'm pretty much annoyed by a lot of modern political correctness. I say "secretary" instead of "administrative assistant", leave a "y" out of "women", and prefer the term "disabled" over "differently abled." However, is it really necessary to use racial slurs, assign stereotypes, and objectify women just for laughs? Could The Nobodys have at least tried to craft an opus for the progress of society in the same time it took them to write "Just Another Cunt"? Would it hurt to push the treadmill forward instead of dragging our knuckles in the ground?

The Nobodys and their fans will tell you that objectification of women is "just a joke" and will insist you "lighten up." But every time some idiot laughs at the constant barrage of misogynist slurs and insults, that's one more person starting on the road to holding back the progress of an oppressed group of people. They'll start laughing at terms like "bitch" and "cunt", then they'll start making their friends laugh at the terms. Then what's to stop him from ruining female self-esteem by using the terms to refer to specific women? Jokes can harm, no matter what the intention. I'm not telling people what to think or say, but just to think about such things before spouting it out. The fact that this type of music gets popular over genuinely inspired and artistic music is just something that bothers me.

Still, bonus points to Drag the River, their music is fucking sweet.

Vinyl Collective/Suburban Home UTI Series Volume 6: Andrew Jackson Jihad/Cobra Skulls

(Click picture for complete series album listing, and sample tracks)

I wasn't looking forward to writing about this particular record. It's mainly because I flat out hated one of the tracks, and I didn't want to turn this site into an overly-negative one. It's a very slippery slope from a flat-out negative review to one of those sites that just picks on everything bad, depending on bad humor (saying "fucking" every other word seems to be the flavor of the month for negative reviewers these days) to entertain. But, I promised to do the series, and I'll try to keep this as classy as is possible.

That said, I completely pretty much hate Andrew Jackson Jihad's cover of "Two-Headed Boy" by Neutral Milk Hotel (the original is definitely a solid runner for mypersonal favorite song of all time). The first few seconds are promising, with the acoustic guitar player changing the indie-folk sound of the original into an up-beat Spanish folk style. It eventually culminates into a very pretty bowed-bass/finger-strummed acoustic piece at the end that sounds quite good. The instrumentals though, are the only real compliment I can pay to the cover.

The song goes completely downhill once the vocals start in, and the annoyance is almost immediate. Sean Bonnette immediately makes me grind my teeth with his goofy-sounding vocals. It seems more like he's mocking the song than paying tribute to it, turning what was once a beautiful, somber folk ballad into something resembling one of Weird Al's famous "polkazations" of famous songs. It's gotten to the point where the second Bonnette first wails out "I am listening to hear where you are," I shut the sung off, just to get away from the grating vocal tracks and regular heavy breaths between notes. What makes it even worse is Bonnette's insistence on using that obnoxious technique to hide bad singing by throwing a tremolo on nearly every held note, to keep from having to hold an off-key/off-pitch note for very long. Jeff Mangum never used this technique, and even he had a terrible time keeping pitch on some notes in the original recording, but the mistake was slight and endearing enough to actually make the song have a very pretty sound. What's even worse is that they decided that one bad vocal track wasn't enough, so they tossed another vocal track in the background, this time instead of being a goofy, off-key wail-fest, it's a mumbling off-key snoozer. So now we have two tracks by the same singer that are so off the intended notes that they sound awful together. What a mess.

I'm not sure if Andrew Jackson Jihad's song lowered my expectations, or it stole any real bile reserved for the whole record completely for itself, because I really like Cobra Skulls' cover of Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues", another personal favorite tune of mine. I was apprehensive going in, I'll admit. How many Bob Dylan covers have been recorded versus how many of them that have actually been of good quality? Usually with Dylan covers, people feel it necessary to croon out the song to make up for Bob's lack of vocal prowess on the original recording, coming off as sort of an insult to try to out-sing the man by so much. Cobra Skulls actually did the complete opposite, opting for a sped-up rockabilly dance version of the classic. It holds up surprisingly well, sounding like they're channeling Bob Dylan vis a vis Mojo Nixon. There's no flair or extra tracks, or anything that makes the song feel like anything but a bunch of kids laying tribute to the man. It's high-energy, fun, and well-played by the vocals and instruments. The only heavy criticism I could find for it is that it could have benefited from a slight tempo decrease. Some of the vocals and instrumentals sound a little rushed and a few extra seconds could have cut out a few gasps for air from the vocalist, and allowed the guitar to hold out a few more of the cool-sounding fills and solos.

Even with The Cobra Skulls nearly redeeming Andrew Jackson Jihad's sloppy track, it's hard to recommend this record. Even though the Skulls pulled out a good show, it's far from a moving tribute, or a great companion to the original "Homesick." AJJ fans might find a listen, but Neutral Milk Hotel fans would probably be offended by the messy cover, while Dylan and Cobra fans might find some slight entertainment. Mitch Clem/Amanda fans have probably already ordered the track, as the cover art for the Skulls is pretty awesome (Again making up for Jihad's pretty dumb-looking cover art). If I could really pull out a solid musical recommendation out of this mess, it would be to give The Cobra Skulls' original work a good listen. They have some great original music to their name, and are a good fit for rockabilly fans looking for some fun.

Vinyl Collective/Suburban Home UTI Series Volume 5: Drag the River

(Click picture for complete series album listing, and sample tracks)

After the pure rock power of Teenage Bottlerocket and The Ergs, I certainly could use a new record to calm me down, and Drag the River's UTI is the perfect fit for this desire, and I really love what they did with their record. I'm really now kicking myself for taking a pass on this band purely for the reason that J.J. Nobody (of one of my most-hated bands, The Nobodys, more on them coming soon) is a member. I guess it's my fault for missing out on the band for such a silly reason, but the possibility of J.J. picking up where The Nobodys left off by forming a misogynist folk rock band was really enough to have kept me away. Well, now I like Drag the River, and my life is better for it.

Drag the River gets their own album instead of a split, and they opted to cover "Havin' a Party" and "I Know", by Sam Cooke and Jeff Black respectively, and let me say that I've heard a million Sam Cooke covers, but none of them have been have as good as Drag's. I'm not very familiar with Jeff Black, but that doesn't keep the cover from being awesome. Instead of falling back on traditional country and folk like many bands today, Drag the River has a unique mid-western style of country, more suited for camping under the stars than crooning in a honkey-tonk or coffee shop. Their cover of "Havin' a Party" is the both the best indicator of their style, and the more accessible of the two tracks. It starts from a soft croon from a deep bass vocalist (I know the vocalists are Chad Price and Jon Snodgrass, it's just not apparent who is which singer), and picks up speed about halfway through, eventually becoming a duet. The vocal tracks are outstanding. Both vocalists have great voices, both giving talented and soulful performances. The two singers have enough difference in pitch to create some beautiful harmonies without having to belt out or yell just to impress anybody. It's a fun and calm track, and I'm putting it on a playlist for my next small, friendly party.

The second track, "I Know" is my favorite of the two. The tremendous vocal work of "Havin' a Party" is almost blown out of the water in this track. While the first track was more of a showcase for the deeper, throatier sounds of the first vocalist, "I Know" features the higher-voiced of the two, and man can this guy sing like hell. You know how people with good voices and a low-key music style like jazz or country love showing off by singing lightly at first, and then just yelling and belting for the rest of the record? It's always come off as a bit annoying and disengenuous to me- it's grating and usually tries to hide a lack of true emotional appeal to the song. This track is different from those types of talented vocalists. The singer here has a great voice both when subdued and in the few instances when he does become emotionally invested enough in the song to belt out. These high-volume moments aren't really expected, and when played on a good sound system, the few seconds where these moments of excellence so happen sometimes make my hair stand up on end.

Musically, it's a bit formulaic. The instrumentals are mainly limited to a primary acoustic, and secondary electric guitar, with a little bit of bass in the first song. You've heard the guitar and bass parts in a million other country songs, but they're all played well enough to forgive it, in the sense that the music is familiar, but of high quality that it really shouldn't be a bother, especially given the fact that country/blues is a style built upon pretty strict musical rules.

Overall, the tracks are both of amazingly high quality. The music and vocals exhibit a soul and power that are head-and-shoulders above the myriad of crappy Sam Cooke covers, and serve as a great tribute to the late blues singer. I could really recommend this album to anyone who even remotely likes country, western, or folk music. It could be your parents, grandparents, friends, teachers, whatever. I love it.

Alright, since today is nice as hell, and I'd rather be walking around listening to awesome music than sitting and listening to slow folk covers, I'm postponing my Drag the River UTI review in lieu of a playlist. To fit the day's mood, I am listing my warm, sunny outdoor playlist. Keep in mind that these are songs I know and love, and are a mostly a good mix of relaxed and energetic. Listen and go have a fun day. In the order that they show up on my playlist:

Bob Crosby- "Way back home"
The Clash- "Rudy Can't Fail"
Common Rider- "Classics of Love", "Walk Down the River"
Jello Biafra/Mojo Nixon- "Love Me, I'm a Liberal"
Operation Ivy- "Sound System", "Bankshot", "Bad Town" (Come to think of it, anything with Tim Armstrong or Jesse Michaels is almost made for Summer listening)
Rancid (see, I told you)- "Time Bomb", "Salvation", "Gunshot"
Screeching Weasel- "Sunshine"
Violent Femmes- "Jesus Walking on the Water"
The Mad Conductor- "Tomb Digging Shovels"
Harry McClintock- "Big Rock Candy Mountain"

Okay, have to go have fun now. Review tomorrow. WOOO REVIEW.

Vinyl Collective/Suburban Home UTI Series Volume 4: Teenage Bottlerocket/The Ergs (or: God, These Titles Are Getting Too Damned Long)

(Click picture for complete series album listing, and sample tracks)

So, as a re-cap, this series has produced one decent indie album, one awesome folk/alt album, and one passable ska album. Not much in the way of simplistic, energetic punk yet- until now. I really had no urge to go into this series until I saw Teenage Bottlerocket and The Ergs mentioned, and even then I didn't plan on going into it until I was assured that Rocket would cover Green Day, and The Ergs would pound out a completely unexpected pop song. Well, considering I'm reviewing the whole damn series, I think you know what we're going into.

Gather ten of your closest friends together, and play any Teenage Bottlerocket song on your radio/CD player/Gramophone for them. Odds are, someone will eventually say something along the lines of "Oh wow, Green Day finally made a good album again." So it comes as no surprise that Teenage Bottlerocket is covering the "Having a Blast" off of the pop-punk bible, Dookie. On paper, this is the perfect match. TBR is such an awesome call-back to the glory days of pop-punk where you had music that could carry a message, while maintaining a sense of humor about itself that didn't resort to misogyny or making fun of disabled people (Fuck you, Nodody's and Down Syndrom, and your PC baiting). For the most part, this is a perfect cover of the original- almost too perfect. Although TBR outplays Green Day's original recording, rocking the hell out and just all-around belting out each second of the song in pure greasy-headed, bubblegum goodness, it still sounds almost exactly like the original. TBR's '90s pop-punk style is so inspired by Green Day, that it still sounds exactly like Green Day. There's no real twist on the recording, but considering how well the cover is played, this complaint will only create a problem for the pickiest of music snobs.

Following such a kick-ass opening would be hard, and the only band I think that could match the intensity and style of Bottlerocket's opening track would be The Ergs. In what is supposed to be their last-released recording, The Ergs go out with a bang, continuing their trend of high-energy pop-punk covers of songs that you wouldn't expect would be so kick-ass (making you wish Weird Al formed a punk band- no, I'm not kidding). In a sweet genre mash-up, The Ergs take on Devo's "Blockhead." Taking the catchy synth-punk song, and tossing it into a modern hard punk style was a wise decision. The song only benefits from a bunch of twenty-somethings speeding it up, blasting distorted guitars, and ripping the synth parts out on their guitars while yelling each five-word line as hard as possible. The song is catchy and rocking to the point where I've caught myself pounding my head and shouting "FLAT TOP! STARES STRAIGHT AHEAD! STOCK PARTS! BLOCKHEAD!" in crowded public areas and not feeling embarrassed at all. This song is pure beauty, and will find its place prominently next to the rest of my Ergs recordings, and makes me glad that they went out on such a high note with their last few releases.

Overall, this is probably my favorite album in the series. It's so rocking and catchy and just so damned good, that the only criticism I can think of is just based on some kind of snobby semantics that I completely forget once I start actually listening to the song. That said, anyone who likes any of the original or covering bands, punk, rock, whatever will find something great in this album, whether it's vinyl or MP3. Oh yeah, and the album art is sweet as hell for both, too.

Vinyl Collective/Suburban Home UTI Series Volume 3: Mustard Plug/Bomb the Music Industry!

I just got back from work and I still reek of grease and lettuce, so this is gonna be a short one.

I like Mustard Plug. I like Fugazi. I like Bomb the Music Industry. I don't like Pavement. I like when bands I like make new recordings. I sort of liked this record.

Okay, a bit short, but honestly, that's maybe the best way I can describe this record. Featuring Mustard Plug's cover of Fugazi's "Waiting Room" (one of my favorite songs of all time) and Bomb the Music Industry's rendition of "Gold Soundz" by Pavement, this album features the confusing odd mix of '90s alternative and modern ska. I honestly don't know how to comment on two famous ska bands covering two famous alternative bands, so I'm going to have to pussyfoot around deep musical ideas and just rate the quality of the covers.

And there's a lot of quality in the first song, that's for sure. Mixing some Reggae beats into hardcore was Fugazi's idea of a cool music project, and along with bands like Operation Ivy, they were able to form the blueprint of modern ska, influencing countless punkers who wanted to play music that they could enjoy and dance to at the same time. Given this, it would only make sense that Mustard Plug, one of today's biggest ska bands would pay tribute to the progenitors of what is considered to be the modern ska style. The influence is readily apparent, as no matter how hard they may try by adding horns and a more danceable beat with less of a hardcore intensity, the song doesn't really sound too much different with the change of performers. This is not a bad thing, though. The cover is a great mash-up of different eras of the same genre. It keeps its hard-rocking hardcore roots, but the horns and lighter atmosphere ask that you use your feet to tap along to the beat instead of try to kick that kid in the mosh pit with your studded steel-tipped boots. It's a fun track and the conviction of Mustard Plug to rock and have a good time will get you head-banging and skanking at the same time. A good listen from beginning to end. Also, I'd definitely like to see more modern ska with a hard-rocking edge these days, though I don't think too many people will realize the genius of my Streetlight Manifesto/Minor Threat mash-up ideas.

The second track is definitely something I'm lukewarm about, unfortunately. Though Bomb the Music Industry! is one of my favorite bands these days, I just can't get into their cover of Pavement's "Gold Soundz." The problem is that save for a few tracks, I haven't really heard any Pavement influence in BTMI's albums. This shows (or more accurately, doesn't show) in the cover, because it sounds almost nothing like the original. They took a boring alternative song, and just changed it into boring, meandering ska song. I've listened to the whole track maybe six or seven times, but I always trance out around the one minute mark and don't notice until the song is over, and the playlist just hits repeat and sends me back into Mustard Plug's track. Maybe I'm wrong and don't appreciate, but the track is just too boring for me to review. There doesn't feel like there's any soul or artistic investment, the ska-influenced musical meandering is tedious, and for once in his life, Jeff Rosenstock even sounds like he's bored out of his mind, trying to croon then snapping awake with an occasional yell. Overall, I just really don't know what to say other than I didn't like it.

This is definitely a mixed bag. I'm a big fan of Mustard Plug and its cover. I could comfortably recommend that track to any followers of ska, punk, Mustard, or Fugazi. I'm also a big fan of Bomb the Music Industry, but I really can't get into their cover, so I don't really know who to recommend it to. I don't like Pavement or their original all that much, so I guess a Pavement fan may find more enjoyment in it than I can. Even then, I couldn't even think of who to recommend BTMI's "Gold Soundz" to.

Click on the pic at the top of the review to see this album and others, and listen to samples of all of the songs.

Vinyl Collective Series Review Part 2: Whiskey & Co./Ninja Gun

I didn't really get to it in the first series review, and I don't want to go too far in depth, but I'd like to point out how sweet the album art for these splits are. Normally, I'd complain about a two-song vinyl costing $10 plus shipping, but the parody album covers by Mitch Clem and Nation of Amanda (Both of whom have done awesome flier/album/comic artwork for years) just look great, and make the purchase worth it, even just as a display in your collection. God help my wallet if they release the art as posters, cause I might just buy them all.

Now that I made the obligatory punk-rock bow to Clem and Amanda, it's time to stop chowing on the golden-brown, batter-fried skin and get into the hot, delicious white breast meat that is the Whiskey and Co./Ninja Gun split. Whiskey starts out with a cover of "Tuesday Morning" by Celtic folk-punk gods The Pogues. This is the first of the tracks in the series that I've truly enjoyed, and it has propelled me to dig in to W&C's original work. The first thing to really hit me was the vocals. Kim Helm has a wonderful voice, soulful and emotional, matching the mood and feeling of the song, never falling behind (and at times surpassing) Spider Stacey's original vocal recordings. The music is top-notch as well. The Celtic folk influence is delicately replaced with an American folk aesthetic that still fits very nicely with the song. The violins of the original recording are sorely missed at first listen, but every instrument, most notably from the bass and banjo fill in the holes very well with each consecutive play of the recording. Overall, the cover is an exceptional re-imagining of a classic song, played with conviction and reverence for the original.

Ninja Gun keeps up the pace of the great first track with their cover of The Kinks' "This is Where I belong." Another great cover a classic song, Ninja Gun does all the right things. Instead of trying to duplicate The Kinks' sound, they play it their way. Messy power chords, deeper drums, and well-harmonized vocals of a grungier era are mixed in with the Kinks' distinctive later sounds for a great time-line-crossing musical stew. The droning, half-tired/half-relaxed sound of the cover is a good take on the original's mood. The switch is done well, and proves what I tried to so say on Friday: a good cover is signified by the ability to find a common sound without having to remove what is unique between the two performers. In this case, though they have their own unique sounds, you can still hear Ninja Gun in The Kinks, and The Kinks in Ninja Gun, which helps keep a respectability to the sound of both recordings of the same song.

Overall, both tracks are both great covers, and stand well on their own shoulder-to-shoulder with the originals. I heartily recommend to this album to anyone of any age. Pogues fans, Kinks fans, Whiskey and Co. fans, Ninja Gun fans, folk/grunge/classic fans- everybody is welocme. It's done exceptionally well, and The Ninja Gun artwork is awesome in ways that was previously hard to fathom. Definitely worth the cash for a purchase.

Vinyl Collective Series Review Part 1: Fake Problems/Look Mexico

As a quick introduction, I plan for a multi-part review of Suburban Home and Vinyl Collective's Under the Influence split series. Meant as a promotion for some of the rising stars of the modern punk and folk scenes, the series features one or two artists per record covering songs by their biggest musical influences. So far, I've enjoyed what I've heard, and have found some good artists that I most likely wouldn't have heard of had I not jumped into the series.

Quick disclaimer: Though I have a good knowledge of the original versions of most of the songs, I had been previously unfamiliar with a lot of the artists featured in the series, forcing me to take a rudimentary crash-course in each of their respective catalogues. This means that I may not grasp said artists' original acts in their entirety or how their mood works. I will make my unfamiliarities with any act known in each review just for the sake of context. Also, because there are only two songs per record, and all of the songs are decades old and have been reviewed to death by people many years my senior, these reviews will be significantly shorter than my other reviews. I really only plan to cover the quality of each recording. Boring parts over, fun parts start now.

I've always had a strange obsession with covers and Under the Influence albums. If done well, covers and UTI recordings are always fun to hear to understand where your for the novelty value of experiencing old classics played in a new and interesting style by someone who appreciates the source material. Such musical endeavors can give a new life to an old song, and serve as an aural history lesson in how music can evolve over times vis-a-vis new developments in sounds, styles, and technology.

On the flip side, covers and UTI's can be a painful experience if done badly. The problem is that there is a large difference to "enjoying" a source material, and "being influenced" by it. You can almost immediately tell the difference between the two, as "liking" a song means the artist covering enjoys it, but that particular song is not an integral part of said artist's musical development. It's like trying to point out the difference between Hendrix tearing up Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" and Britney Spears robotically bopping along to "I Can't Get No Satisfaction." One artist likes the song and can perform it well, the other has taken it as a form of their expression.

That said, there is a pretty good selection of songs in the series that I will be reviewing. Overall I have to say that there's some serious required listening for rock, punk, and folk enthusiasts who are looking for good emerging acts. Thanks to some of the tracks, I have been introduced some bands that are now working to the top of my list of favorite current performers if they weren't already. Unfortunately, there some that completely suck ass as well. This is not one of them

The first split consists of Fake Problems and Look Mexico covering "I'm a Ramblin' Man" and "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)," respectively. I'd never really heard of either of the featured bands, but I'm well-familiarized with the source material, having enjoyed Merle Haggard and Looking Glass since I was a tiny little music snob. For the most part, I feel pretty lukewarm on this record. Both covers are okay, but not anything that will grab my by the neck and drag me to the local record store.

The record starts out with Fake Problems performing "I'm a Ramblin' Man" by Merle Haggard. I didn't really know much about Fake Problems going into this one, beyond name drops on music sites. At first I didn't really like it. The instruments are played well, but the singer sounds overly-enthusiastic and goofy, sounding more like he's mocking the song or trying to distance himself from singing it with too much emotion. I realize the original song wasn't really meant to be taken seriously, but it still just bothered me how he just sang it in such a comical fashion. After inspecting some of their original material, I realize the singer sings like that for most of Fake Problem's songs, but it still bugs me. That said, the band plays the song with enthusiasm and conviction, at least lending to the fact that the band appreciates it, and I can definitely hear a large Merle Haggard influence in their original material. Overall it's a nice track that could have benefited by backing off the weirdness in the vocals a little bit.

On the flip side, Look Mexico's cover of Looking Glass's "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" is done quite well enough to the point where I actually enjoy the cover version more than the original. This is likely contributed to the fact that the song matches Mexico's sound more than Glass's, which is pretty odd. Whereas Looking Glass seemed like they released the song as a radio-friendly single, out of place with the rest of their harder-sounding catalogue, Look Mexico plays with conviction and a comfort not felt in the original. Hell, had I not known about the original song, and heard Look Mexico sing it first without any knowledge of Looking Glass's original, I would have assumed Look Mexico had been the original performer of the song. Unfortunately, though the performance is good, it's still a pretty boring song that could have benefited from a heavier bass beat to keep you going along with it.

This record is obviously meant to appeal to an indie rock taste, and it shows. With the mix of Fake Problem's Nashville hokiness and Look Mexico's ambient lounge style, it's suited more for someone who looks for something to relax around the house to, which is where it succeeds. If you want a rock or dance experience though, there's not much for you here.

Review: Off With Their Heads- "From the Bottom"

Yeah, this album was released a while ago, but I didn't really get into Off With Their Heads until very recently, which I regret. Any time someone told me about them, they would just give me the same two adjectives: Depressing pop-punk band. Though pop-punk is probably my favorite form of music (more on that another time), it's been hard for me to take the "depressing" part with a grain of salt and dive in. Odds are if you're saying something is "depressing" in pop-punk, you're usually thinking of some kid in an unfortunate haircut talking about high-school girlfriends or going suicidal because mom and dad tell you to go to school. After inadvertantly hearing "Theme Song" by Off With Their Heads at a friends' house, though, I knew there was something special about them.

Oddly enough, with all of the talk in OWTH's involving depression, loneliness, drug use, messed-up relationships, etc., the last term I'd use to describe their music would be "depressing." Though the lyrical content is morose, the difference between it and modern "emo" rock problems, is that OWTH's songs are very relatable in their lyrical content. When many bands speak of doom and gloom about trivial, banal trials, it's almost laughable that the performers even consider that they should even be screaming and whining, and makes their outpourings and cries for help almost tragically comic. But when you hear Ryan Young belt out the words to any of the songs, you can tell that the man knows what he wants to say, and loves the form in which he expresses it, making the songs relatable and appealing to the point where you feel a serious appeal to the music to a point where the morosity brings a sort of comfort that's hard to describe.

Enough about the lyrics, though. Everyone has commented on them, and while it is a plus, they have so much going for them to just peg them as a depressing band. Music-wise, they are pure awesomeness. Every member is featured in the sound. If you've ever listened to any other high-powered, chunky pop-punk band like Dillinger Four or Bouncing Souls, you'll automatically feel welcome. Harmonized vocals with multiple singers, full-sounding distorted guitars, and a chunky ol' Rickenbacker bass weaving in and out. Mid-west pop-punk bliss. Again, though, the highlights are Ryan's vocals. The man just belts it out on every song, and you can feel that he means every word, as his emotions match the words and the meanings. He doesn't hold back anywhere, and is to me the defining sound of the band that just makes it all pure awesome.

It's not a perfect formula, though. It's got that bad habit many punk bands have where the guitars don't differ much in sound between tracks. Not an inherently bad thing, but having the same distortion, same sound level, etc. through multiple consecutive tracks doesn't help to distinguish one track other greatly from another, disallowing too many stand-out tracks, which is a shame, because they all had the potential to be very quality, if the recorder could just ask the guitarist to ease off the distortion here, or create a small guitar hook here or there. Hell, "Until the Day I Die" basically sounds like every other track, but they added in a nice guitar melody between verses that keeps it going well, and reminds you that you've transitioned from the previous track.

The other large complaint would definitely be part of the reason that OWTH's work is most appealing: the lyrics. There is talent them, there's no arguing that. I'd just like to see them hold back on the swearing for a while. There are F-bombs in almost every track, which is fine, and at times is a great why to pound out a sentence with enthusiasm, such as in the ending line in "Until the Day I Die" with the line "And I'll never let it go/I'll just let it grow/Until the day I die I fucking swear I'm gonna make your life as miserable as mine." It's great, and throws down the emotional investment in that particular line, but it's unfortunately cheapened by constant usage to the point where it takes the sting out of many of the lines that thrive on the colorful language.

Complaints aside, I heartily recommend From the Bottom to any punk fans, from followers of pop to hardcore. It's just a hard-rockin' album with fun melodies and great sing-a-long lyrics. If you can get over some of the lack of track diversity or some gratingly immature lines, then you'll find a solid, listenable, relatable album.

Recommended Listening: "I am you," "Until the Day I Die," "Self Check-Out,"

4-7-09 Show review: Awesome Color, Illinois, and Dinosaur Jr.

I believe "rock" and "rocking" are two completely different ideas. I regard one as a noun referring to a genre of music, and the latter as a rare act where an exceptional performance mentally and emotionally affects you to the point where you're confused about how great it feels. The latter is definitely rare, but it happens. It's happened to me several times in my life, but never the way that it happened last night. Dinosaur Jr. rocks, and is rock. There's no other way to explain what I saw last night, not because I don't know any better words, but that there are no words to better describe what I saw. But first: Opening bands!

The first band was a group called Awesome Color. They were your typical indie psychadelic rock group, all very talented. I'd say that I would have liked them more if they would let the guitarist do his own thing and grab a different vocalist. The bass and drums were exceptionally talented, and when there were no vocals, I was definitely getting into it. Overall, they were good, yet boring, but I can't really blame them since there wasn't really a crowd or spectators willing to even move there.

The crowd began to move in as Illinois was about to start their set, and I can tell I was either in for a really good or really bad show. There were a lot of people, yet they seemed to be all awkward hispters ready to scold anyone who more than bobbed their head to the music. Illinois, though, was pretty solid. They played a mix of cool rock and some disco/funk-style stuff. The latter was amusing, but very boring due to a lack of beat necessary for the type of music. The former, though, was exceptional. "She's So Blonde" is definitely going to find regular play on my Walkman.

It was asses to elbows by the time Dinosaur Jr. was ready to come in. To be honest, I didn't know what to expect. I enjoy their music. It's pretty good, mellow stuff. Almost all of their songs are well-written, and well-played. I figured I was in for what I heard on the albums: entertaining, yet not very moving indie rock.

God, I love it when I'm wrong. The first minute, the first damned minute just blew my brain out the back of my head. Every song rocked, because these guys just knew what the hell your brain, ears, and feet want from a show. Loud, beat-heavy, mind-blowing rock from opening to encore.
The only complaint I could have for the show was that Mascis looked bored out of his skull most of the time, and some of the guitar solos were a little long, but J. Mascis is such a phenomal fucking guitar player that it doesn't bother me. The problem I have with most guitar players these days it that they either try to Herman Hammitt weedly-weedly-wheee just to impress people, or they stick to the same long-ass boring blues solo we've heard a million times. Mascis sings with his guitar. He can play one note and hold it because it sounds like the guitar is just a person pouring their mind out on the floor, and it's great. I only fear that I enjoy the live show much more than their recorded music. I'd really love to see these guys play a venue with a more fun crowd. I actually moved to another side of the venue near some head-banging, fist-bumping punks because one hispter douchebag actually asked me to stop bobbing my head.

All in all, a very good show worth every penny. Charge was $15 ($16 because I bought it early from a record store). 18 years old and up.