It's been a long time, yes I know...

I was recently asked to name my favorite bands, records and labels of 2007. Never mind that I really hate reading those types of lists, it got me thinking. In this era of information overload and unprecendented access to previously inaccessible music from around the world and from all years of recorded music, narrowing the field to current releases seems really difficult if not absurd. No music today is informed or influenced exclusively by it's own scene or lineage. Everyone, from the 13 year olds playing power pop to the hip hop superstars trying to stay on top of the game, can avoid the broadest spectrum of music information ever available. And they better be aware of it because someone will call them out if they act otherwise. Best leave the "best of" to the people who market music, they are the only ones who have anything to gain by creating these lists.

In order to avoid sounding like a complete curmudgeon though here are some things I'm listening to these days...
*Hair-the Japanese cast recording featuring soon to be members of the Flower Traveling Band, Brainfood, Far East Family Band, among others. Amazing versions of the ultra catchy original songs from the musical and the first explosion of the Japanese psych underground.
*King Khan & BBQ Show- nuff said!
*Trio- S/T the white album with Ja Ja Ja, Sunday You Need Love (later brilliantly covered by the Oblivians) and a bunch of other awesome Deutsche Neue Wave hits.
*Hank Ballard & The Midnighters- Singin and Swingin, pure rockin soul R&B.
*Illes- Illesek Es Pofonok, Human Rights (dedicated to Angela Davis!) A couple of amazing beatle-esque prog psych albums from '69 and '70 respectively by this Hungarian band who along with Omega (Omega's Red Star album is great as well) and the wonderful singer Zalatnay Sarolta were part of the brief flowering of artistic expression behind the iron curtain prior to the 70's cold war tensions and repressions brought the music back under state control.
*Traffic Sounds- Lux, great reissue of this classic Peruvian rock album. All Traffic Sounds records are great, but Lux is a good place to start. Hawkwind meets Santana with Randy California sitting in on guitar.
*Les Breastfeeders- Les Matins Grands Soirs, Ye Ye garage pop from Montreal, pretty fun, I might get tired of it after a while but it sounds pretty great right now.

As I said before though, it is not that interesting to read someone else's list, I listen to tons of music, but it's whatever sounds good at the moment. I couldn't limit myself even if I tried, and I wouldn't want to. There is too much out there and learning about it is too much fun. Take the hint, get out of your rut and listen to more music. Don't scan YouTube video's and consider the job done, give things repeated listens in different environments, home, car, work, etc. Most great music takes more than one listen to appreciate fully, give it a fair chance before making a judgement.

Alright, that's it! Happy Summer!
Martin

Just a note in case anyone reads this...

On April 21st The Funhouse will be the site of one of this springs greatest punk shows.  The Spits and Operation S.  The Spits are one of the greatest punk bands in existence, legendary live shows, and a beatiful dumb sound that flattens all who oppose it.  Operation S is from Paris and their sound hearkens back to the early years of punk.  Think X Ray Spex with spikey keyboards instead of a sax.  It will be great, don't miss it.

I’ve gotta say this blog thing hasn’t really taken hold of my imagination yet… oh well, here goes another missive…

Just read “The One and Only” Peter Perrett from the Only Ones biography.  To quote the Libertines “What a waster!”, Pete Carl and the boys had nothing on this lowlife.  I still love the music, maybe even more now that I know “Out There In The Night” was about his cat.  Really though, you don’t often hear the connection made between music and drug money laundering so clearly.  When you’re importing multi kilo shipments of cocaine from Bolivia and containers of hash from Turkey in the mid 70’s the money has to be spent somehow.  Apparently it funded the nascent career of a band that only half-heartedly participated in the boring side of the music business.  Since they weren’t starving they could afford to take their time waiting for a recording contract but when it did finally arrive their heroin habits were already full blown.  Thus a promising band was stumbling on it’s last legs by the time they finished their sophomore effort “Even Serpents Shine”.  They made one more album “Baby’s Got A Gun”, and their label released a posthumous collection called “Remains” and by 1982 it was all over.  For the creators of one of the all time classic songs “Another Girl, Another Planet” it was nothing short of failure.  Luckily the dearth of catalog means there are no weak points, it is all great stuff, first time listeners should start at the beginning though, the later stuff gets pretty bleak.  

It’s a good read for anyone with an interest in punk.  It’s not a happy book, but like “The End” the book chronicling Nico’s last few tours there is a clear perspective on a fascinating subject.  This is the band that distilled the Keith Richards, Johnny Thunders ethos better than any other, taking that boozy glam blues sound into the post punk era.  If you haven’t heard the band check them out, if you have you need to read the book.

Till next time…

I recently attended the Utrecht Record Fair, reputed to be the worlds largest.  Truly a massive event, I was pretty much overwhelmed by the scale.  The first booth I stopped at  was a run by a dealer from Mexico City, I saw loads of music I had never dreamed I'd get a chance to see in their original format.  Los Yaki, Los Sinners, Javier Batiz, Spiders and more.  I had to show  some restraint and told myself I'd look around some more and return later, bad idea! When I finally tried to find the booth again I ended up walking around for an hour before I could locate it again. 

With an unlimited budget I could have really gone crazy, all the legendary German bands like Ash Ra Tempel, Faust, Amon Duul, the original pressings, were all for sale at around 100 euros.  Too rich for my wallet, but not outrageous.   It was just nice to see all those great albums, maybe another day I'd feel prepared to spend in that range. 

I ended up with some nice pieces, the 4th album by Os Mutantes (currently my fave of their catalog), the 1st lp by Les Lutins, a great band from Quebec circa 1966.  Most of what I did was buy nice things at reasonable prices and tried to keep my spending within a reasonable range.  There were plenty of mid priced quality records to be had, not so many real bargains, but if you were willing to spend 10 or 12 euros you could find lots of great stuff.   One dealer from France was selling 45's all at 3 euros and I went a little crazy picking up all the yeh-yeh and beat group singles he had.  The best prize from that stack though was a Dutch picture sleeve of the Easybeats "Friday on My Mind", a totally cool crowd shot from a live performance complete with fainting girls and security hauling off overzealous fans who jumped on stage. 

The Jaarbuers exhibition hall in Utrecht is enormous, and the record fair only filled half of it, the other half was an antique fair with some dealers who were also selling vinyl.  This is where I found the most satisfying buy of the trip: the two albums by The Pop Group.  Mint condition, including the insert poster that came with the "How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder" lp.  Great!  Good price, 55 euros for both records, I could have held out for cheaper copies, but hey I've been doing that for 20 years without any luck. 

Anyway, great fun had by all, if you're ever in the Netherlands around the time of this twice yearly event take the time to check it out.  Don't forget your cash, and don't try to rush through.  You'll find plenty of prizes to make your trip worthwhile. 

Until next time, happy hunting!

You ever get a record on the recommendation of a friend and when you get it home it starts off like the greatest thing you ever heard but by the 3rd or 4th song the singer says something stupid or the music veers into banal tedium?  That happened last night when I eagerly opened up the last (not the latest) album by Viva L' American Death Ray, by the 4th song the singer uttered a line that sounded like "I dress well, but still can't pay my rent"!!!  The missus was like "can we please listen to something else?  This is just stupid".   Being of the same opinion I was already on my way over to the stereo to put on my other new purchase, the Kid Congo Powers retrospective Solo Chollo.  Now Kid Congo is a great player, with impeccable pedigree, but YES! AGAIN! the 4th song came on and it just wound its way down the drain like a floater on a slow flush.  The disappointment was only alleviated when I finally decided to drink beer in silence for a while.  Now I'm going to give these records another chance, they both really sounded good when they started up but really, musicians need to learn some restraint.  You don't have to make a 60 minute recording, music was fine when albums were 35 minutes long.  Artists are not 25 minutes better than they were 30 years ago, and the public's attention span is certainly shorter.  Take a hint, only show us your best.