Rock Music

Earlier this week we spilled quite a bit of pixel dust in praise of Blank Realm’s LP Go Easy, out now via Fire Records. As such, we thought we’d conjure up the opportunity for one of you to get your hands on the release, on glorious pink vinyl. “Blank Realm has been knocking around Brisbane, Australia for over half a decade, spurting out small-press underground rumblings on all sorts of formats. But with the release of Go Easy they are swaggering confidently into a bigger spotlight. The record actually came out last year and kicked up a fair amount of positive dust, but in the end that response just wasn’t satisfactory, for the UK label Fire Records has recently given it another well-deserving and higher-profile press, this time on pink vinyl. Listeners favorable to a meeting of Royal Trux’s more rocking moments and the raggedy thrust of the current garage scene should find it a keeper.” “The group is composed of two brothers and a sister, Daniel (vocals/drums), Luke (bass), and Sarah (synths/vocals) Spencer, with Luke Walsh (guitar/engineering) completing the lineup. Based on a casual first impression, the foursome seems to be tapping into a definite ‘90s indie vibe, a circumstance that’s only deepened by the comparisons between the band and the early/mid-‘90’s recordings issued by Royal Trux… Very frequently when listening to a record, a song will arise and immediately reveal its destiny as the consensus “hit” of the platter. That’s not the case here. Understandably, lots of folks are currently celebrating the odd pop of “Cleaning up My Mess,” but from where I’m listening, Go Easy has four more cuts out of a grand total of eight that are just as strong. And that’s a downright impressive feat. Due to the surface familiarity of their sound, Blank Realm is likely to be underrated a bit, but with this LP they’ve charted a fresh entry in the annals of Australia’s rocking history, and that’s a circumstance deserving of generous praise.” Enter to win our pink vinyl copy of Blank Realm’s Go Easy by sharing with us in the comments below the coolest record you own on any color vinyl. (There’s actually a Best of 70′s Porn Music LP here at TVD HQ and uh, yea…pink vinyl too. No joke.) We’ll choose one winner on 6/3! The band’s on tour too—would it kill you to check ‘em out live? Didn’t think so. Blank Realm Tour Dates: May 24 – Chicago, IL – Burlington May 25 – Cincinatti – Chameleon May 26 – Columbus, OH – The Summit May 27 – Washington – DC – Black Cat May 28 – Brooklyn, NY – Death By Audio May 29 – Philadelphia, PA – Ortlieb’s Lounge May 30 – Chaos in Tejas Red 7 – Austin ,TX June 1 – San Francisco, CA Hemlock Tavern June 2 – Permanent Records in store, Los Angeles June 3 – San Diego , CA – Che Cafe June 5 – Portland, Rotture June 7 – Seattle, Cairo Advertise here with BSA

Review by Dark Nazgul — The noise of a jack that connects a guitar to the amplifier. It's the first thing you hear, and it is indicative of the style of the album. An album deliberately rough and crude (in some ways minimalist) and unfortunately, in my opinion, not very successful."The Great Leap" is the first album of a trilogy dedicated to the crisis of the ecosystem. In terms of musical style, is a continuation of what has already been heard in the previous album "313". Although the tracks are closely related, this album has a few characteristics of progressive rock. The songs are short and direct, with no frills or unnecessary pomp, with a prevalence of distorted guitar riffs and aggressive tones: it seems a strange mixture of punk and melodic pop. The voice of Valerie Gracious remains in the background, all the tracks see Phideaux as lead vocalist, and his tones are aggressive and not very reassuring.Unfortunately, only a few songs are effective. Almost always prevails monotony, and the melodies do not intrigue. The opening track Wake Up , for example, is a crude and obvious song with a hard rock guitar riff and nothing more. In other tracks, such as Tannisroot , One Star and I Was Thinking melodies have little appealing; they are boring even from the first or second listening. They Hunt You Down is in my opinion the least successful song of the album. It has a slow and exhausting pace and miss the mark completely. In the middle of this song there is a disturbing contrast in styles, and it's really hard to overcome the temptation to skip the track.Things go better with Rainboy , despite a questionable choral introduction and a poor first singed part. The second half of the song is one of the best moments of the album. Not bad even the catchy Long And Lonely Way and The Waiting , where finally the melodies are enjoyable, and the final track, the melancholic Last .Of excellent quality, however, the aggressive and dark Abducted , characterized by the slow rhythm of the bass, the distorted guitar and a nice change of pace in the instrumental part. Even excellent, for rhythmic variations and atmosphere, the melodic You And Me Against A World Of Pain , the best track on the album.Despite some good track, I recommend it only to hardcore fans of Phideaux, and only to complete the "trilogy". The most amazing thing is the contrast (for the style of the work, and also, in my opinion, for the quality of the music) with the second chapter "Doomsday Afternoon", which is a masterpiece of contemporary progressive rock.****star songs: You And Me Against A World Of Pain, Abducted***star songs: Long And Lonely Way, The Waiting, Rainboy, Last**star songs: Wake Up, Tannisroot, One Star, I Was Thinking*star songs: They Hunt You DownMy final rating is 4/10. Best song: You And Me Against A World Of Pain

Flying Dog Brewery is known for its rare and experimental beers, so it is fitting that of Montreal will be taking the stage this Saturday for the first of their 2013 Summer Concert Series. Enjoy a Raging Bitch Belgian IPA with mango and habanero while taking in the Georgia band’s musical theatrics. Not sure you could have a better Saturday afternoon, so trek it to Maryland for a colorful start to your long weekend at this 21 and up event. Polyvinyl Records artist of Montreal released their latest album Paralytic Stalks last year, which brought a toned-down live version of the usual theatrics. Don’t put down your freak flag quite yet! Whether the outfits are nude-colored spandex suits or most recently shirts and ties, you can always count on being surprised by some form of risqué on stage. You never know what you will get, so get your spot on the lawn, as it’s not every day of Montreal brings their own stage and production for your entertainment. Get there early to buy Kevin Barnes a beer and enjoy an afternoon of music, rare beer, and food trucks from 5:30-9pm. Baltimore’s US and US Only, not to be confused with the sixth album by The Charlatans, will open the event. They released their latest album Dark Cloud Past last year and have plans to release a 7” titled Light Poured/The Horse’s Mouth this year. The Beer Line-up (sold a la carte): Bloodline Blood Orange IPA Single Hop Imperial IPA with Citra Single Hop Imperial IPA with El Dorado Pumpernickel IPA Easy IPA Snake Dog IPA Doggie Style Pale Ale Big Black Wit Woody Creek Belgian Wit Underdog Atlantic Lager Two Experimental Casks: Raging Bitch Belgian IPA with mango and habenero Pearl Necklace Oyster Stout on oak, primed with maple syrup Food Truck Options: Kooper’s Chowhound Wheyich Artisanal Sandwiches Smoking Swine Flying Dog Brewery is located at 4607 Wedgewood Blvd in Frederick, Maryland 21703. Buy your tickets before they sell out. Advertise here with BSA

“I remember a very specific time as an adolescent when records, tapes and CDs all had their own sections of my local music store. Deciding between the three musical mediums was extremely confusing, and often limited to genre specifications (as if puberty wasn’t already hard enough). I was attracted to the physical size of records, but new releases were often pricey. And I never thought that CDs would truly catch on. Tapes became my preferred aural delivery method; cheap and they’d play in my General Electric boom box.” “Spending a lot of time in the basement, I slowly started to creep my father’s record collection. It was a standard “dad” collection, featuring plenty of Doors, Moody Blues, Jim Croce, and Simon & Garfunkel…all things that were not very exciting to a 6th grader who just saw Nirvana play on TV. Then, I found a copy of Molly Hatchet’s Flirtin’ With Disaster. Never actually hearing the band before, I remember thinking that my dad was a secret hesher, based off of the album cover alone. I had to hear this! After a couple of seconds into side A, I was convinced that the record in the jacket was not the correct match. I kept looking at the cover while listening, getting frustrated that there was no mention of warlocks, death angels, and danger. So, I did what any normal kid would do–buy another Molly Hatchet album to see if their earlier records sounded anymore like their album covers. Fooled a second time, I decided to return to the record store and attempt to make an exchange…and then Iron Maiden’s “Number of the Beast” caught my eye and my lifelong love affair with heavy metal records began. With age comes musical discovery, and my growing record collection continues to benefit from such. These days, vinyl records are the really the only medium that I spend money on, much less even consider spending money on. I try to DJ a couple of times a month which feeds my record shopping addiction by forcing me to have new stuff to play out. Just a week ago, I found myself up at 4 in the morning bidding on a Jay-Z acapella 12″ single, due to the badass rare artwork. Some things never change.” —Justin Krol, Hugh Bob & The Hustle Hugh Bob & The Hustle’s self titled debut LP is in stores now. Hugh Bob & The Hustle Official | Facebook | Twitter Advertise here with BSA

In appreciation of Ray Manzarek 1939-2013 On their first three albums, The Doors credited all their songs to The Doors. Intense collaboration was the ideal. But we know a lot now about who was responsible for what: Morrison for most of the words, of course, Robby Krieger for most of “Light My Fire” (except Ray Manzarek for the Baroque intro head), etc. The beautiful “Crystal Ship” on the first album seems to be Manzarek’s music for Morrison’s lyrics. Manzarek’s great idea for this tune, the key to its dark glamor, is to use both the major seventh and minor seventh forms of the IV chord, B-flat in the key of F, at the same time. It’s the third chord of the verse progression, after an F (“sink into un- ”) and a C (“consciousness – I’d”). The keyboard plays the major seventh note A, to unexpected and classy effect, while the melody hits the minor seventh A-flat (“like to have a-”). This Morrison-Manzarek collaboration reaches a great momentary peak in the last pass through the verse, starting out on higher notes (“The crys – tal ship”). The hidden potential of the second chord in that progression, the C, to be treated in the same overdetermined way, with a major and minor seventh note, is realized by Morrison on “be – ing filled,” specifically on “-ing.” This happens at 2:03. Somehow Morrison manages to hit both of those notes at once, gliding downward. Manzarek could not have achieved this in his keyboard part (try it yourself, or listen to his solo performances on youtube): neither a B nor a B-flat nor a B and B-flat jammed together sound right. But Morrison’s unique note on the V chord this time is exactly right as a passionate extra outbreak of the double-determination that has been haunting the whole song due to the major-and-minor-seventh treatment of the IV chord. If I’m Ray Manzarek listening to this note, this brilliant meeting of the singer’s art with the composer’s, I feel like it’s the moment where Stanley is actually gripping the hand of Livingstone.

Having caught the instrumental bug with Tuesday’s post about Paul Mauriat’s “Love is Blue,” I’ve continued in the past few days to dig into A Century of Pop Music, Joel Whitburn’s cataloging of the top records for each of the hundred years from 1900 through 1999. I wondered which instrumentals had ranked highest in the year-end listings in each of the decades of those hundred years. So I did some digging in the book and at YouTube to satisfy my curiosity, and I thought I’d share the results here. We’ll look at the years from 1900 to 1949 today, and early next week, we’ll pick up the much more familiar years of 1950 through 1999. There won’t be any in-depth commentary here today, because I really wouldn’t know what to say about, for example, Paul Whiteman, whose name shows up a couple of times in the 1920s. I know a very little about Artie Shaw, who shows up in the 1930s, and I know a bit more than that about Glenn Miller, who had (utterly unsurprisingly) the highest ranking instrumental of the 1940s, but I thought it better to leave this as simply a listing. I will note that, again unsurprisingly, the music generally becomes more interesting to my ears the closer we get to mid-century. The one exception to that might be “Dardanella,” from 1920, which is a charming piece of music (and I found the photos used in the “Dardanella” video embedded below to be fascinating). Here, then, are Billboard’s highest ranking instrumental from each decade’s year-by-year listings. Each record is also, I believe, the most popular instrumental of its decade, but I’m not entirely sure; I’ve cross-checked the lists in Whitburn’s book, but I could have missed something. I’ve added in parentheses each record’s ranking for the decade if it showed up in Whitburn’s listing of that decade’s Top 25. 1900-1909 “The Stars and Stripes Forever” by [John Philip] Sousa’s Band, No. 7 in 1901*. 1910-1919 “Poor Butterfly” by the Victor Military Band, No. 3 in 1917 (No. 32). 1920-1929 “Dardanella” by Selvin’s Novelty Orchestra, No. 1 for 1920 (No. 2). “Wang Wang Blues” by Paul Whiteman, No. 1 for 1921 (No. 24). “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers” by Paul Whiteman, No. 1 for 1923 (No. 18). 1930-1939 “Begin the Beguine” by Artie Shaw, No. 3 for 1938** (No. 20). 1940-1949 “In the Mood” by Glenn Miller, No. 1 for 1940 (No. 3). I believe the videos all offer the original recordings, though I cannot be certain as there could be multiple versions. For example, Miller and his band seem to have recorded “In the Mood” several times, and Miller’s band also recorded the song after Miller’s death in 1944. I’ve dug through my library and compared versions, and I think that the version of “In the Mood” linked here is the original version, recorded in August 1939. I would not swear in court the same for the other tunes. *I could not find a video at YouTube that offers the 1901 version of “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” There are versions of the march from a recording session in 1911 and from a few other years available there. One thing I learned about the 1901 version – at several websites and forums – is that the recording is credited to “Sousa’s Band” and not to “John Philip Sousa” because Sousa disliked recording and was rarely present to conduct when his band and his works were being recorded. **“Good-night, Sweetheart” by Wayne King, the No. 2 record for 1931, is listed by Whitburn as an instrumental, but the listings also credit Ernie Birchill for a vocal. I gave it a listen, and the record does close with a vocal, so that’s a rare error by Whitburn.

Page 2 doesn’t sell papers, and disasters are only “good” news for a while. When Hurricane Sandy devastated the East Coast last October, there were benefits and telethons and outpourings of support. For a while. When the public’s eyes turned, and winter settled in, there wasn’t much else to do but try to rebuild through a frigid Northeast winter. Despite months of hard work and working around red tape, towns along the New Jersey coast are still in ruins, and Shark River Hills—home of singer/songwriter Nicole Atkins—is one of those towns. When you grow up close to the ocean, it’s always part of who you are. For someone like Nicole Atkins, whose music has been so deeply inspired by her upbringing near the water, the devastation hit particularly hard. What once was is now gone. Friends and family were displaced; homes were destroyed, flooded, or burned down. You can get used to the unpredictable temperament of the weather by the ocean, and you understand what a big storm might mean. But you never expect something like Sandy. “People say, ‘It’s a once in a lifetime storm!’” Nicole tells us. “But it makes me really worry when people say that because it would be such strain for us to go through this big rebuilding, only to have to do it again in a year. Or even five years. Or ten years.” Shark River Hills is a secluded little middle class village in Neptune Township, NJ that’s a mishmash of blue-collar fishing town and musicians’ hideaway—the kind of place Bruce Springsteen might write songs about if he had a mind to. If you look on a map, you’ll see that Shark River Hills is a minuscule peninsula that juts out into the Shark River (which is really more of a bay), which itself empties into the Atlantic Ocean. From stem to stern, it’s a little under three miles from the westernmost border of Shark River Hills to the sea. Many areas of the Jersey Shore are broken up like that, with estuaries and tiny peninsulas and thin strips of beach. It’s a fragile-looking lattice of shoreline, and it’s one of the reasons why Shark River remains one of the most devastated areas in New Jersey nearly seven months after Sandy’s landfall. “Shark River is such a small town that everybody forgets about us,” Nicole says. “We got hit so bad because we’re just surrounded by rivers. There’s one way into town and one way out. Most of my friends and neighbors… if their houses didn’t burn down, their houses have to be knocked down. “It’s just a shame. We have one bar in town, and that got leveled. All the boats… it used to be this really idyllic little fisherman’s town, and now it’s just so wrecked. “We’ve been through so much… a house caught fire on my street yesterday. And I’m like, dude… we cannot catch a break!” Nicole played the “On The Beach” Superstorm Sandy benefit concert in Asbury Park in January with My Morning Jacket, and was out on tour with The Eels through March. When she returned, it was to a hometown still in complete disarray. ”I don’t think anybody has any idea just how bad it was. And still is.” Shark River musicians decided to do something about it, and the idea for “River Concert 2013: Shark River Hills—A New Beginning” came to be. ”It could always be a lot worse, but I’m glad that the town is full of musicians so we can at least throw a party to raise money. And the town needs a party.” “River Concert 2013″ on Saturday, June 1 promises to be a great party. In addition to food, beer, and wine from local vendors, the concert will feature music from Nicole (in a trio with guitarist Irina Yalkowsky and Chris Donofrio), Steve Forbert and Mike Doughty; the Shark River Hillbillies—with Pete Schulle, Marc Muller, Ricky DeSarno, Harry Filkin, Ronnie Mailloux, Amy Broza, Frank D‘Agostino, Joel Krauss and PK Lavengood; beloved locals Joe Riccardello, The Lone Ramblers, Lemon Juice, and local

Too Disney, too Las Vegas: Kiss in full Dynasty regalia Kiss released their Dynasty album on May 23, 1979 – exactly 34 years ago today. Here are 10 facts you may not know about the album: 1. The decision to use Vini Poncia as producer came about from the band wanting to smooth over the declining situation with Peter Criss. Vini had produced Peter’s solo album and he [Peter] had demanded that Vini produce the next Kiss record (another considered choice was apparently the disco guru Giorgio Moroder). This tactic would backfire when Vini decided that Peter’s drumming was not good enough for the album. [Anton Fig drums on all tracks except for Dirty Livin'.] 2. Notable acts Vini produced, prior to Kiss, included Melissa Manchester and Leo Sayer. 3. The disco-fied I Was Made For Lovin’ You was inspired by Paul Stanley’s visits to New York’s legendary Studio 54 nightclub. Kiss’ record label, Casablanca, gave the piece the full disco treatment and released it in the popular extended 12-inch single format. This resulted in the track growing in length to 7 minutes, 54 seconds. 4. Gene Simmons wasn’t crazy about I Was Made For Lovin’ You but he still wanted Kiss to record it. He said: “He [Paul] came in one day and said, ‘Look, I’ve got this disco song, and it goes like this.’ And he started singing like the Four Seasons. I thought, ‘That doesn’t sound like Kiss, but that’s precisely why we should record it.’” 5. Ace Frehley plays bass on 2,000 Man, Hard Times and Save Your Love. Paul Stanley plays bass on Sure Know Something and Magic Touch. With his eyes fixed on a career in Hollywood, Gene plays bass on just three tracks: Charisma (a reworking of Wicked Lester’s Simple Type), I Was Made For Lovin’ You and X-Ray Eyes. 6. 2,000 Man had been brought to the sessions as a demo by Ace and was recorded by the band nearly identical to the original arrangement Ace created. In some ways it was a very appropriate tribute to the Rolling Stones, who had recorded the original version on Their Satanic Majesties Request album. The inclusion of 2,000 Man would make Dynasty the second studio album in a row to contain a cover. The preceding Love Gun record contained a cover of Then She Kissed Me. This song was originally recorded by The Crystals as Then He Kissed Me. 7. Still riding high on the success of Beth, Peter wanted more of his own material on Dynasty, something the rest of the band resisted. Peter brought several songs including Dirty Livin’, Rumble, Out Of Control and There’s Nothing Better but only the first track was used. Both Out Of Control and There’s Nothing Better would be used on Peter’s first post-Kiss solo album. 8. For the Dynasty tour the band developed new costumes, which have been remembered as being too Disney or Las Vegas in style. In fact, they were completely garish, with Gene’s aluminium foil-esque Godzilla boots and cape, Peter’s green fluffy football armour (complete with tail) and Ace’s whatever-that-was-supposed-to-be mirror effect V-neck from Hell (Jendel). Only Paul stayed pretty much the same. 9. The Dynasty tour was not a success, in part due to the declining health of Peter because of substance abuse and his erratic behaviour. There was the suggestion that someone else put on the Kitty Kat costume and Peter’s makeup and fill in for him as his drumming became more and more erratic. Other stories recount that Peter would deliberately (and not) drag the tempo of the live show down to a near halt and blow the performance of his beloved Beth. 10. In October 1979 the band appeared on the infamous Tom Snyder Halloween show with a visibly drunk Ace, who stole the show with his hysterical uncontrollable laughter. * Thanks to The Kiss Album Focus Vol. 1 for the 10 facts.

Review by Dr?mmarenAdrian — Let's say this first: What's makes this album a masterpiece is almost just one song, a marvelous composition named Histoires sans paroles but that song really knocks the listener down on her knees or makes her fly in the heaven of tunes. Si On Avait Besoin D'Une Cinqui?me Saison is Harmonium's second record of three and was released in 1975. It has a magnificent cover that whispers about what is going to come. There are five men on this record: Pierre Daigneault, Serge Fiori, Serge Locat, Michel Normandeau and Louis Valois. These five gentlemen plays five tracks and on those track they master many instruments like mellotron, harp, flute, clarinet, saxophone, guitar, drums, piano, synthesizer, accordion, bass, electric guitar and vocals. I especielly like the clarinet that gives the music live in a new way. The first side welcomes us with a playful feeling and much happiness in "Vert" which also has great vocal harmonies and in "Dixie" which has a totally different style, a very poppy symphonic folk song and "Depuis l'otomne" is also very different whit a lot of drama and the sound och sweaping wings and a strong ending. The second side's first song "En pleine face" has an acoustic feeling with a playful vocal section and very french accordion. Finaly we have "Histoires sans paroles", one of the best instrumental pieces in rock music history which is bult up so clever with a wonderful melody that starts softly (driven by flutes) and in the end of the song breaks out in music euphoria. What happens in the middle is fantastic. It goes from a folky to a mystic spacy atmosphere but something is slowly meant to come. The listener beacomes curious and the lasting minutes make it even more exciting. This track makes the record. Without it, with weaker b-track it would have ended up with three stars or perhaps four. But this monster of seventeen minutes also helps the other songs to recognition. Those have what "Histoires sans paroles" lacks, great vocals and other styles. A fascinating lp from this french canadian band. On more five star ranking.

Sneak peek + behind the scenes of the new Rolling Stones exhibit: #rockhallsatisfaction