Tag: rock

474. La Colonie de Vacances

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

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

448. Quicksilver Messenger Service

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Episode 448 is QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE, one of the bands from the San Francisco scene alongside the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and Moby Grape. They had a couple minor radio hits but offer less than those bands. In fact, as I listen to more of the Greatest Era of Music (1965-69), I’ve soured on the San Francisco Sound. Too much noodling and despite the label it’s not actually psychedelic. 

Favorite album: Quicksilver Messenger Service

Favorite song: Pride of Man

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: avoid, unless you’re interested in who was smoking grass with Airplane

443. The Vines

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(October 2022) Episode 443 is THE VINES.  I see them as the garage band version of the classic rock-stomping Jet, both emerging out of Australia 2002.  The garage hooks were good but too few. They developed a lush, overproduced sound that presaged that of fellow Aussies Pond and Tame Impala.

Favourite album: Highly Evolved

Favourite song: Get Free

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: a few of their songs do slay