Tag: rock

480. Gong Gong Gong 工工工

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(MArh 2023) Episode 480 is GONG GONG GONG 工工工. This is a Beijing-based duo (one from Hong Kong, one from Canada) who turn amplified busking into a surprisingly mesmerizing distorted groove.  Inversely, the guitar keeps the rhythm while the bass does the melodic work, with occasional vocals that give a regional flavor, done in Chinese (I can’t tell if it’s Mandarin or Cantonese) in the pentatonic style. It’s primitive but it captures you  – that’s the essence of rock n’ roll, right?

Favorite album: Phantom Rhythm 幽靈節奏

Favorite song: Notes Underground

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: try it. It’s great motivational music for household chores and other activities

475. Japandroids

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(February 2023) Episode 475 is JAPANDROIDS, an indie guitar/drum duo from Vancouver. My feeling about them is this: the teens who thought they were punk because they listened to Blink 182 grew up to be the Millennials who assumed they were still edgy/cool by liking Japandroids a decade later. I wanted to like this band, and I appreciate the energy, but it comes off as annoying hipster-fuel. So, Millennial.

Favorite album: Post-Nothing

Favorite song: Crazy/Forever

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: take a pass

474. La Colonie de Vacances

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Episode 474 is LA COLONIE DE VACANCES, a collective of four French bands PNEU, MARVIN, ELECTRIC ELECTRIC and PAPIER TIGRE. I didn’t know what to label this music until I came upon the term “math rock,” essentially the intersection of prog rock and indie rock, featuring irregular rhythms, guitars that eschew chords, hyperactive drumming and avoidance of melody. King Crimson would be the godfather of math rock. Among the groups, Pneu is a raw power trio, Papier Tigre features vocals, Electric Electric is techno-focused and Marvin is aggressive and techno-rhythmic. When they get together live as La Colonie de Vacancies the four bands arrange themselves in a quad and play at each other in controlled chaos. Sounds cool.

Favorite album: ECHT (by La Colonie de Vacances)

Favorite band album: Marvin (by Marvin)

Favorite song: L’amour universel (by La Colonie de Vacances)

Favorite song by a band: Roquedur (by Marvin)

Favorite song by another band: Catadioptre amidextre (by Pneu)

Ranking of bands: 1. Marvin, 2. Pneu, 3. Electric Electric, 4. Papier Tigre

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: Try ECHT, which fuses the bands’ sounds together

473. The Damned

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(February 2023) Episode 473 is THE DAMNED. Known in the punk pantheon for being the first UK punks to issue a record and to tour the United States. Their first album is superlative, drawing relatively more from the garage rock antecedents of punk. Can’t praise it enough. But it goes off the rails quickly: a couple ok post-punk albums and then eight blah rock records – it’s soooo boooring.

Favourite album: Damned Damned Damned

Favourite song: Neat Neat Neat

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: just the excellent first album

471. James Gang

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(February 2023) Episode 471 of the “opus project” is JAMES GANG. You know them as Joe Walsh’s first band and for their eternal classic rock radio hits “Funk #49” and “Walk Away.” The first three albums (1969-71) are a good helping of enjoyable funk rock. But then Walsh left and the rest is mostly forgettable boogie and soft rock.

Favorite album: James Gang Rides Again

Favorite song: Funk #49

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: a greatest hits package will do

461. The Shins

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(December 2022) Episode 461 is THE SHINS. They are a textbook representation of the duality of 2000s indie rock: songs melodic enough to be enjoyable, yet delivered in a twee manner that makes them not so enjoyable. By the 2010s, their music becomes burdened by the application of lush over-production typical of the era.

Favorite album: Oh, Inverted World

Favorite song: New Slang

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: only the first album has any semblance of charm

460. Buffalo

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(December 2022) Episode 460 is BUFFALO, a heavy rock outfit from Australia from the mid-1970s. The emphasis here is on the heavy – primal, sludgy, ponderous grooves – with a special mention to Dave Tice’s vocals which sound uncannily like Chris Cornell two decades later.  Good stuff.

Favourite album: Volcanic Rock

Favourite song: Freedom

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: the first three albums are rather good

456. Jorma Kaukonen and Hot Tuna

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(December 2022) Episode 456 is JORMA KAUKONEN and HOT TUNA. Jorma has been my favorite member of Jefferson Airplane for his finger-picking guitar style (on JA songs “Embryonic Journey” and “Third Week on the Chelsea” and his solo album “Quah”) and his amiable singing voice. Most of his albums are in the folk/blues/Americana vein and enjoyable, while the pop ones, not so much. Hot Tuna started out as a blues-rock JA side gig with bassist Jack Casady and has endured through five decades of touring, also generally enjoyable.

Favorite solo album: Quah

Favorite solo song: Genesis

Favorite Hot Tuna album: America’s Choice

Favorite Hot Tuna song: Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: if you like finger-style guitar as I do, you’ll like Jorma

451. The Saints

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(November 2022) Episode 451 is THE SAINTS. What the Sex Pistols were to the UK and the Ramones to the US, the Saints were to Australia. In fact, they beat all the UK punk bands to vinyl.  Their debut album ((I’m) Stranded) absolutely slays, prime punk with propulsive tempo and snarling vocals. But they tempered their sound on the second album with a horn section, and the remainder of their long recording career was variations of pop/rock. They attained legend status in Australia, but only that first disc grabbed me.

Favourite album: (I’m) Stranded

Favourite song: (I’m) Stranded

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: just the first album

450. Spacemen 3

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(November 2022) Episode 450 is SPACEMEN 3. They’re labeled neo-psychedelic (perhaps for their ample drug use) but I hear them as noise rock — a transformative band, molding elements of MC5, the Stooges and Lou Reed and creating sounds you hear later in shoegazers (My Bloody Valentine) and sonic adventurers (Yo La Tengo). Few if anyone else was doing this in the 1980s, and I regret not knowing them then. But beyond the noise, Spacemen 3 offered surprisingly infectious low-structure songs, the kind of stuff you’ll hear with Spiritualized (not surprising, since Jason Pierce led both), Brian Jonestown Massacre and Beta Band.

Favourite album: Playing with Fire

Favourite song: Suicide

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: strongly recommend. Beautiful noise: Suicide, Revolution, Rollercoaster.  Low-structure songs: Come Down Easy, How Does it Feel?, Hypnotized, I Love You