“Blackout”, No Volcano — Guest Editor Michael Cornelius

This way: Blackout

Guest editor this week: Michael Cornelius

Phoenix’s No Volcano has had a good run with 5 albums since 2016 but they are calling it quits this November with a final show the day after Thanksgiving. This is my favorite song from them.  

[Spotify] Blackout

“Socrates the Python”, Peter Murphy — Guest Editor Michael Cornelius

This way: Socrates the Python

Guest editor this week: Michael Cornelius

I was describing a new musical project I wanted to do to my friend Michael Pistrui and he sent me this song as an example of what I was talking about.  He was exactly right.  We have been making music together for 2 years so far.

 

Peter Murphy was the vocalist for Bauhaus, one of my favorite and influential bands.  

[Spotify] Socrates the Python

“Tuffy and Pearl”, Living Room Collective — Guest Editor Michael Cornelius

This way: Tuffy and Pearl

Guest editor this week: Michael Cornelius

After playing guitar in a loud post-punk band for 14 years (The Father Figures) I wanted to try something more atmospheric and also play keyboards. I recruited Tom Reardon from the The Father Figures, Michael Pistrui from Fat Gray Cat, Bill Goethe from No Volcano and Ben Sanchez. We recorded this live in my living room. We released this the same month The Father Figures played their last show.", "July", "Rain", and "Arizona". The album received critical acclaim from multiple publications.   

[Spotify] Tuffy and Pearl

“The Sweat Descends”, Les Savy Fav — Guest Editor this week Michael Cornelius

This way: The Sweat Descends

Guest editor this week: Michael Cornelius

Les Savy Fav are an east coast post-punk band that released several albums from 1997 to 2010 then were dormant until reforming in 2024 to release another album and go on tour.  I drove out to LA to see them recently and they totally lived up to my expectation of a bucket list musical experience.   

[Spotify] The Sweat Descends

“Say My Name”, The Belair Lip Bombs

This way: Say My Name

The Belair Lip Bombs are an Australian indie rock band formed in Frankston, Victoria in 2017. The group consists of lead vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist Maisie Everett, guitarist Mike Bradvica, bassist Jimmy Droughton and drummer Daniel Devlin. They have released two extended plays and issued their debut studio album, Lush Life, in August 2023.

The Belair Lip Bombs formed in 2017, with all four members playing music since a young age and meeting in high school. The band is named after a set of skateboard wheels from the 1980s.  They released their self-titled debut extended play (EP) in 2018, and a second, titled Songs to Do Your Laundry To, in May 2019. Lead vocalist Maisie Everett used to play bass guitar in Melbourne punk outfit Clamm before departing at the start of 2023 to focus on the Belair Lip Bombs. 

[Spotify] Say My Name

“Sinner”, Spiral XP

This way: Sinner

A band from western Washington. Seattle's Spiral XP, Max Keyes, Lena Farr-Morrissey, Daniel Byington, Kyle McCollum, Jordan Mang.

[Spotify] Sinner

“Indian War Whoop”, Holy Modal Rounders

This way: Indian War Whoop

This album cover was done back in the 60s by my great friend and mentor Howard Bernstein who died last month. Howard did lots of work for ESP records. He was 81.

The Holy Modal Rounders was an American folk music group, originally the duo of Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber, who formed in 1963 on the Lower East Side of New York City. Although they achieved only limited commercial and critical success in the 1960s and 1970s, they quickly earned a dedicated cult following and have been retrospectively praised for their groundbreaking reworking of early 20th century folk music as well as their pioneering innovation in several genres, including freak folk and psychedelic folk. With a career spanning 40 years, the Holy Modal Rounders proved to be influential both in the New York scene where they began and to generations of underground musicians.

As the Holy Modal Rounders, Stampfel and Weber began playing in and around the Greenwich Village scene, at the heart of the ongoing American folk music revival. Their sense of humor, irreverent attitude, and novel update of old-time music brought support from fellow musicians but was controversial amongst some folk traditionalists who saw it as disrespectful. In 1964, the Rounders made history with their self-titled debut, which included the first use of "psychedelic" in popular music. After their first two studio albums, the duo briefly joined the newly formed underground rock band the Fugs in 1965 and helped record the band's influential debut album.

Following their exit from the Fugs, the duo released two albums that experimented with psychedelic folk before they expanded their lineup to a full rock band by the end of 1968. The Holy Modal Rounders' expanded lineup notably included famed playwright Sam Shepard as a drummer and many short-lived members before it stabilized in 1971, with a band that would later back Jeffrey Frederick as the Clamtones. In 1972, Weber relocated the band to Portland, Oregon, while Stampfel stayed behind in New York.  

[Spotify] Indian War Whoop

“Billion Star Night Light”, Silverbacks

This way: Billion Star Night Light

Band from Ireland. Vocalist/guitarist duo of brothers Daniel and Kilian O’Kelly and drummer Gary Wickham have gathered with members Emma Hanlon (bass/vocals) and Peadar Kearney (guitar).

[Spotify] Billion Star Night Light

“For Stars of the Air”, Basic

This way: For Stars of the Air

BASIC is a mind-meld between Chris Forsyth, his frequent running partner (and formidable 6-string thinker) Nick Millevoi, and Mikel Patrick Avery (Natural Information Society). "This Is BASIC", their debut album, is a complex and entrancing instrumental LP recasting forgotten scraps of guitar history into a moving mosaic of strings, skins and electronics. Taking inspiration (and their name) from the 1984 Robert Quine/Fred Maher album ("Basic"), Forsyth and Millevoi got together for a run of low-key jam sessions using an Alesis drum machine for rhythm tracks and forging a collaborative language from angular polyrhythms, pulsing baritone-guitar lines, and shimmering chorus-pedal washes (another stylistic nod, this time to the glistening post-punk of the Durutti Column and numerous 4AD bands). Avery was soon enlisted on drum kit—a setup that quickly morphed into a single drum, bell, and a bespoke electronics rig of his own creation. The trio quickly flowered into an improvisational swirl of disorienting electronics, hypnotic throb, and dense flanged-guitar harmonics: three unique voices spinning a complex conversation of textures and rhythms.   

[Spotify] For Stars of the Air

“Even the Losers”, Tom Petty

This way: Even the Losers

Damn the Torpedoes is the third studio album by the American rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, released on October 19, 1979. It was the first of three Tom Petty albums originally released by the Backstreet Records label, distributed by MCA Records. It built on the commercial success and critical acclaim of the band's two previous albums and reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart. The album went on to become certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). 

Widely regarded as one of Petty's best albums, Damn the Torpedoes was ranked number 313 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" in 2003. It was moved up to number 231 in the 2020 revised list.

[Spotify] Even the Losers

“Rain Fall”, Willis Earl Beal

This way: Rain Fall

Willis Earl Beal is solid great, Talk about marching to his own beat, he continues to impress and bewilder me. This is from an LP called 'New Golden Hour' released in 2018, but contains material written much earlier. I have it from Bandcamp her as it doenst seem to be availible anywhere else. A solid release at any point.

[Spotify] NO!

“Hound Dog”, Walter Steding

This way: Hound Dog

Guest contributor Eric Burton:

Walter Steding, an American musician and visual artist from Harmony, Pennsylvania, debuted in New York City in the late seventies as a one-man band, opening for acts like Blondie and The Ramones. In the eighties, he assisted Andy Warhol, who became his producer. 

As a violinist with The Electric Symphony, Steding created electronic instruments, including a synthesizer linked to a biofeedback device. He performed at art galleries and clubs like CBGBs and collaborated with artists such as Jim Carroll and David Byrne. Known as "Doc Steding," he led the orchestra on Glenn O’Brien’s T.V. Party and formed his band, Walter Steding and The Dragon People, in 1980, releasing records on Red Star and Animal Records. Featured here is a collaboration with Robert Fripp on a rendition of "Hound Dog" from Steding's 1980 self-titled album. 

Thanks Eric!— BdeV

[Spotify] No!

“Zig Zag Wanderer”, Captain Beefheart

This way: Zig Zag Wanderer

Safe as Milk is the debut studio album by American music group Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, released in June 1967 by Buddah Records. A heavily blues-influenced work, the album features a 20-year-old Ry Cooder, who played guitar and wrote some of the arrangements.

Before recording Safe as Milk, the band had released a few singles through A&M Records, and it was to this company that the group first proposed their début album in 1966. They presented the label with a set of R&B-influenced demos, which the label felt were too unconventional and decided to drop the band. Beefheart later said the label dropped them after hearing the song "Electricity" and declaring it "too negative". A&M's Jerry Moss thought the content too risqué for his daughter's ears. This, plus Leonard Grant's severance as manager, added to the discontent. The band instead turned to Bob Krasnow, who was then working for Kama Sutra Records; he recruited them to record for the company's new subsidiary label, Buddah.

Meanwhile, Beefheart had been secretly planning changes to the Magic Band's line-up—a practice common throughout the group's existence. The group that recorded the two A&M singles had consisted of Doug Moon and Richard Hepner on guitars, Jerry Handley on bass, and Alex St. Clair on drums. Hepner had already left, and Beefheart was keen to replace Moon with Ry Cooder, who was then playing with Gary Marker and Taj Mahal in the Rising Sons. These and other changes resulted in a Magic Band with Handley on bass, St. Clair on guitar, and John French on drums, with Cooder providing additional guitar parts. Cooder's arrival had been swayed by Marker, who had spent time with Beefheart and had been given to believe he would produce the album; in fact, Marker was only engaged in demo recording.  

[Spotify] Zig Zag Wanderer

“DEMOS 1977 - 1978”, Units

This way: Units Demos

One of my all time fav bands. I saw them live a few times, and I'm still not sure why there instrumentation did not take off to be more popular, 2 synths and real drums. Such a perfect combo for rock n roll. Well they killed it to be sure. Here is a new release of the early demos of this great band. 

 

[Spotify] There is Gravity

“Right Time”, The Crowd

This way: Right Time

Huntington Beach's first & foremost punk band. . . . .  

This from 1980. Featuring Jim ‘Trash’ Decker (vocals), Jay Decker (bass), Jim Kaa (guitar, vocals), Tracy Porterfield (vocals) and Barry ‘Cuda’ Miranda (drums), they were almost completely divorced from the prevailing hardcore punk ethos. Dressed in dayglo beachwear, and with their own version of communal dancing (it is often suggested that Decker invented the ‘slam dance’), the Crowd specialized in trashy surf punk, akin to a less skilled Agent Orange. 

[Spotify] Right Time 

“Free Rider”, Joe Pug

This way: Free Rider

Joe Pug is an American singer-songwriter from Greenbelt, Maryland. He has released two EPs, as well as the albums Messenger, The Great Despiser, Windfall, The Flood in Color, and The Diving Sun.   

While working as a carpenter in Chicago after dropping out of the University of North Carolina, Pug wrote and recorded what would eventually become his debut EP, Nation of Heat. Its literate lyrics received widespread acclaim and Pug's unorthodox promotional strategy of distributing free CDs to anyone interested in sharing his music resulted in the EP selling over 20,000 copies. After touring with Steve Earle in 2009, Pug was signed by Nashville indie label Lightning Rod Records and released Messenger in 2010. After moving to Austin, Pug released The Great Despiser in 2012.   

 

[Spotify] Free Rider

Cardinals at the Window

This way: Cardinals at the Window

This LP just dropped on Bandcamp for the benefit of Flood relief in Western North Carolina. All kinds of great artists and songs compiled here. R.E.M., Gillian Welch, Mt Goats, Jason Isbel. There's 136 songs for crying out loud. And they are only asking ten bucks, well worth it for a good cause.

[Spotify] NO

“Gold to Rust”, Get Smart!

This way: Gold to Rust

Here is a great one from my old pals Get Smart!. This track from the stellar LP Swimming with Sharks released in 1986. Naked and wet. Some of the finest songwritin' of their day.

Get Smart! is a three-piece post-punk band formed in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1980 consisting of Marcus Koch, Lisa Wertman Crowe and Frank Loose. The band released 2 studio albums along with some singles and EPs over a 10-year career. The band re-united in 2020. 

The band formed while at University of Kansas in 1980 and, along with bands like the Embarrassment, and the Mortal Micronotz, they were prominent in the alternative music scene in Lawrence. They released their first record in 1981, which was a flexi disc released with "Talk Talk" magazine. This was followed by a self-released 4-track EP called Words Move. They had 5 songs on the four band split cassette, released by Fresh Sounds Records, called Fresh Sounds From Middle America (vol 1) (the four bands being Get Smart!, the Embarrassment, the Yard Apes and the Mortal Micronotz). In 1982 they relocated to Chicago, Illinois. The group were signed by Colin Camerer to his Fever Records label (an independent label in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and released their first album, Action Reaction in 1984. Their second album, Swimming with Sharks, was released in 1986 on Enigma Records' "Restless Records" imprint.

[Spotify] Gold to Rust

Punk is not dead, you are!

This way: Loud Fast Rules!

The Stimulators were an American punk rock band from New York City. Although they have a limited discography, they are notable for being consistently cited as an important transitional band between the late-1970s New York City punk rock scene and New York hardcore, and for being the musical entry point for future Cro-Mags founder Harley Flanagan.

Denise Mercedes grew up in Manhattan and Queens, New York City, raised by a longshoreman father who played flute and piano. Teaching herself to play guitar, she became infatuated with punk rock after having seen the Damned play their first New York City show at CBGB. Denise attended the gig with a friend who worked for Stiff Records and has recalled of the event "literally the second they started to play, my life changed." She elaborated that punk rock made creativity and attitude more important than "being able to play like Jimi Hendrix."

Determining that her local punk rock scene was beginning to age and soften ("there was a pause" in the vitality of NYC's punk landscape, Mercedes remembers), and after a tryout as a guitarist for a side-project of the Damned's Rat Scabies didn't pan out, Mercedes set out to form her own band called the Stimulators, named after a piece of equipment used in acupuncture.

[Spotify] Loud Fast Rules!

“Diamond Shine”, The Clean

This way: Diamond Shine

The Clean was a New Zealand indie rock band formed in Dunedin in 1978. They have been described as the most influential band to come from the Flying Nun label, which recorded many artists associated with the "Dunedin sound", and one of the first bands to be described as "indie rock". Led by brothers Hamish and David Kilgour, the band rotated through a number of musicians before settling on their well-known and longest running line-up with Robert Scott. Their name comes from a character from the movie Free Ride called Mr. Clean.

Hamish and David Kilgour started to write and play music together in Dunedin in 1978, influenced by 1960s pop rock and garage records, punk rock, and psychedelic music. Both brothers were part of a small but growing alternative music scene at the time in Dunedin, which followed the growing American and British punk movements closely through imported magazines and vinyl records. Hamish was friends with Chris Knox through this scene, then-frontperson of early influential New Zealand punk band The Enemy.  

[Spotify] Diamond Shine

“Get Still”, Alan Sparhawk

This way: Get Still

Low was an American indie rock band from Duluth, Minnesota, formed in 1993 by Alan Sparhawk (guitar and vocals) and Mimi Parker (drums and vocals). The band was a trio from 1993 to 2020, having featured four different bassists. Low disbanded following the death of Parker in 2022.

The music of Low was characterized by slow tempos and minimalist arrangements. Early descriptions sometimes referred to the band's style as a rock subgenre called "slowcore", and Low were often compared to the band Bedhead, who played this style during the early 1990s. However, Low's members ultimately disapproved of the term. 

[Spotify] Get Still

“I'll Make you Sorry”, Screaming Females

This way: I'll Make you Sorry

Screaming Females were an American rock band from New Brunswick, New Jersey comprising Marissa Paternoster on vocals and guitar, Jarrett Dougherty on drums, and Mike Abbate on bass. They released their debut album Baby Teeth in 2006. The band were featured on NPR, Last Call with Carson Daly, and MTV. They played with bands such as Garbage, Throwing Muses, Dinosaur Jr., The Dead Weather, Arctic Monkeys, Ted Leo & The Pharmacists and The Breeders. 

Dougherty (left) and Paternoster (center) perform with Ted Leo (right) at SXSW in March 2011. Paternoster and Abbate formed a band in high school under the name Surgery On TV. After several lineup changes they finally became a trio with Dougherty and changed the name of the band to Screaming Females. The band got their start in the basement show scene of New Brunswick, New Jersey. In the basement show scene, concerts are held in the houses of various bands, students, and residents, so people under 21 can attend. Screaming Females self-released the albums Baby Teeth in 2006 and What If Someone Is Watching Their T.V.? in 2007. The band then signed with Don Giovanni Records, which later re-released these two early albums

[Spotify] I'll Make you Sorry

“Plenty for All”, Hot Snakes

This way: Plenty for All

Hot Snakes were an American rock band led by Rick Froberg and John Reis, formed in 1999 in San Diego, California. Reis and Froberg had previously performed together in Pitchfork and Drive Like Jehu, after which Reis found international success with Rocket from the Crypt. Hot Snakes disbanded in 2005, but reunited in 2011. 

Although they shared musical similarities with members' previous outfits, Hot Snakes forged a sound that was much more primal than that of Pitchfork, Drive Like Jehu or Rocket from the Crypt. Reis and Froberg were also heavily influenced by bands such as The Wipers, Suicide, and the Michael Yonkers Band, with these influences giving Hot Snakes a distinctive sound that has been described by PunkNews as "hardcore garage punk." The band's recordings and merchandise were produced using principles of DIY, with Froberg providing all of the artwork and Reis releasing the material via his Swami Records label. 

[Spotify] Plenty for All

“Rumble”, Link Wray

This way: Rumble

Link Wray Jr. (May 2, 1929 – November 5, 2005) was an American guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist who became popular in the late 1950s. His 1958 instrumental single "Rumble", reached the top 20 in the United States; and was one of the earliest songs in rock music to utilize distortion and tremolo. 

Rolling Stone ranked Wray at No. 45 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. He received two nominations for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, prior to being inducted in the Musical Influence category in 2023. Wray was born on May 2, 1929, in Dunn, North Carolina, to Fred Lincoln Wray Sr. and Lillian Mae (née Coats), whom her son identified as being Shawnee.  He recalled living in very harsh conditions during childhood, in mud huts, without electricity or heating, going to school barefoot, barely clothed. He recounted that his family experienced discrimination, including times when they had to hide from the Ku Klux Klan. Wray later said: "The cops, the sheriff, the drugstore owner—they were all Ku Klux Klan. They put the masks on and, if you did something wrong, they'd tie you to a tree and whip you or kill you." His family listed themselves as White on census records. Three songs Wray performed during his career were named for Indigenous peoples: "Shawnee", "Apache", and "Comanche".

Wray lived with his family in Portsmouth, Virginia from 1942 until 1955. He and his brothers Ray and Doug (born July 4, 1933 – died April 29, 1984) drove cabs during the day while working at night clubs in the Portsmouth and Norfolk, Virginia area. Wray's first bands, The Lucky Wray Band and The Palomino Ranch Gang, formed in Portsmouth and included brothers Ray, Doug, and Vernon (born January 7, 1924 – died March 26, 1979) and two other musicians, Dixie Neal and Shorty Horton. Wray served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War (1950–53). He contracted tuberculosis, which hospitalized him for a year. His stay concluded with the removal of a lung, which doctors predicted would mean he would never be able to sing again.  

[Spotify] Rumble

“Long Way Home”, Tom Waits

This way: Long Way Home

Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter and actor. His lyrics often focus on society's underworld and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He began in the folk scene during the 1970s, but his music since the 1980s has reflected the influence of such diverse genres as rock, Delta blues, opera, vaudeville, cabaret, funk, hip hop and experimental techniques verging on industrial music. Per The Wall Street Journal, Waits “has composed a body of work that’s at least comparable to any songwriter’s in pop today. A keen, sensitive and sympathetic chronicler of the adrift and downtrodden, Mr. Waits creates three-dimensional characters who, even in their confusion and despair, are capable of insight and startling points of view. Their stories are accompanied by music that’s unlike any other in pop history.”  

Tom Waits was born and raised in a middle-class family in Pomona, California. Inspired by the work of Bob Dylan and the Beat Generation, he began singing on the San Diego folk circuit. He relocated to Los Angeles in 1972, where he worked as a songwriter before signing a recording contract with Asylum Records. His first albums were the jazzy Closing Time (1973), The Heart of Saturday Night (1974) and Nighthawks at the Diner (1975), which reflected his lyrical interest in poverty, criminality and nightlife. He repeatedly toured the United States, Europe and Japan, and found greater critical and commercial success with Small Change (1976), Blue Valentine (1978) and Heartattack and Vine (1980). During this period, Waits entered the world of film, acting in Paradise Alley (1978), where he met a young story editor named Kathleen Brennan. He composed the soundtrack for Francis Ford Coppola's One from the Heart (1982) and made cameos in several subsequent Coppola films.ons involved a lot of editing, and the band would often record several versions of the same song before deciding on a final take. The vocals were then recorded in New York separately.  

[Spotify] Long Way Home

“Teeth Like God’s Shoeshine”, Modest Mouse

This way: Teeth Like God’s Shoeshine

Modest Mouse is an American rock band formed in 1993 in Issaquah, Washington, and currently based in Portland, Oregon. The founding members were lead singer/guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green and bassist Eric Judy. The Lonesome Crowded West is the second studio album by American rock band Modest Mouse, released on November 18, 1997, by Up Records. The two towers pictured on the album's cover are The Westin Seattle.

The Lonesome Crowded West received positive reviews from critics, and appeared on several lists of the best albums of the 1990s. The album was reissued by Isaac Brock's Glacial Pace label in 2014, along with Modest Mouse's 1996 debut This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About.

 

Blake Butler of AllMusic praised the album's diversity, noting the range of "quiet, brooding acoustics like 'Bankrupt on Selling' and dark and pounding thrashers like 'Cowboy Dan'", and called the album "indie rock at its very best.".

[Spotify] Teeth Like God’s Shoeshine