Here's the latest stuff I've been digging on YouTube. It's all great, but Wednesday from Asheville, NC is super great hence they get 2 video shares from me. Their latest record Rat Saw God is the best record of the year so far even with "Quarry" copping the verse line cadence of The Kinks "Waterloo Sunset."
It's Tuesday Tunes time. It's a random sampling of what I've been digging lately including a repeat video from my review of The Beths just because Sidney Gish's "Sin Triangle" video is so boss!! Hans Pucket were originally going to play Nashville, but had troubles with their visas, so they had to wait until just this week to arrive to play SXSW. The Lemon Twigs have a new record coming out soon. Collider are a neat band from Denmark who play a kind of proggy shoegaze. Snooper and Tayls are both Nashville groups who are also playing SXSW this year. I've never been a huge Stones fan, but I've lately really been digging their 1967-1968 period.
It's Tuesday again so here's some tunes I've been enjoying lately.
Hans Pucket have brought out their second video for their forthcoming No Drama album. This time we get the title track from these New Zealand wunderkinds. I'm looking forward to getting this on vinyl when it's released on November 4.
No Drama
Maybe, just maybe, if I am super lucky Hans Pucket will tour with The Beths next year here in the USA. That would be cool since I have tickets to see The Beths next year in Nashville at the Brooklyn Bowl. The Beths latest video release is for the tune "Knees Deep" and it is as incredible as everything they have been putting out lately. Their new full length album Expert In A Dying Field will hit the shelves around September 16.
Bungee time!
My 17 year old son was gifted a free Damned and Blondie show at the Grand Ole Opry House a few weeks ago. He said Debbie Harry had lots of energy for a lady in her 70's. Blondie has always been a favorite of mine and the whole family.
The Tide is High as a Darth Vader looking character watches
I don't have a clue if I had just forgotten or only just learned this week that Phantasm director Don Coscarelli directed the great video for Dio's "The Last in Line." It's a song and video that holds up.
Meeno Peluce in one of his best roles
I don't know how I didn't hear the Beach Fossils before stumbling across them on Bandcamp the other day, but I dig what I hear and, of course, if you put skateboarding in a video I will always pay attention.
"Sugar" from the Beach Fossils album Somersault
I'm not a massive fan of artists going back and tweaking their old music, but this Dexy's release might be an exception for me. Kevin Rowland and company are such underrated artists. A triple CD comes out on October 14th. I haven't hit that pre-order button yet, but I'm sure I will soon.
Come On Eileen as it should have sounded
Let's finish off this post with a clip and a tune from one of my childhood favorite films: Trocadero Bleu Citron. I recently saw it again for the first time in decades and although it was all in French with no English subtitles I believe I still got it. It aired on HBO often when we first got cable TV in 1979 and it was a favorite with its skating scenes.
It's another dose of what I've been enjoying music wise. First up is the ever awesome Hans Pucket who've released "My Brain is A Vacant Space" off their upcoming album No Drama which was produced by The Beths's Jonathan Pearce. It won't come out until November which is a long time to wait, but I've already pre-ordered the vinyl.
Hans Pucket - My Brain is A Vacant Space
Fellow New Zealand band The Beths have a new album called Expert In A Dying Field coming out in September. I've pre-ordered that one also. They've released a couple of great tracks from it including the title cut. Beth Stokes just stays on a roll with her brilliant songs. Both Hans Pucket and The Beths are on Carpark Records. There are lots of other great artists on their roster so check out the catalog.
Expert In A Dying Field
YouTube recommended this cat to me the other day. I discovered he was from Philly on Bandcamp. I would guess he knows Kurt Vile. Maybe. This tune is short and chill.
Anthony Green - So It Goes
Do any of my readers have relatives they are compared to? I always hated that. But I love this song.
The Undertones - My Perfect Cousin
Did you know I was once an audience member of a big time rock and roll video? Well, I was. I don't think the song did too well as Ratt had peaked and were on that downhill slide, but it's still pretty cool. I had no intention of going to the concert at Nashville's Municipal Auditorium as I was never a huge fan of them, but Queensrÿchewere opening and my friend JD was a bonafide Queensrÿchefan clubmember. So I went, heck JD may have even bought my ticket. My other friend JR (another J name!) who was a big metalhead came with us. We got to hang out by the Queensrÿche bus before the show. I got Chris DeGarmo's autograph. They were great live and then Ratt came on and let us know they'd be filming a video that night so we would get to hear "Slip of the Lip" twice that night as they got the video coverage they needed. I ended up having a great time that night. Note: the street and hotel scenes were filmed in New Orleans.
Ratt - Slip of the Lip concert shots filmed at Nashville's Municipal Auditorium
The latest Lucy's Record Shop podcast featured Corey Kittrell who was (and still is) a cool dude who had a great zine back in the day called My God Shaves. Just hearing his voice again was a thrill. This awesome Tsunami song "Enter Misguided" was heard in the podcast and that reminded me of those 90's days when I used to correspond with Jenny Toomey.
Tsunami - Enter Misguided
Last, but not least I'm enjoying the latest book from Jarvis Cocker. It's called Good Pop Bad Pop and it features lots of photos of items from his past along with his ever brilliant words explaining why those pieces of pop culture debris made him who he is today. It's very entertaining.
I've been down the rabbit hole of new New Zealand rock thanks to The Beths. Of course, I've been a huge fan of the Flying Nun record label out of New Zealand for decades so I will include some awesome tunes from those groups too. So, here's a treasure trove of incredible music from there.
First up here's some Hans Pucket. Their videos are witty and their music is fantastic. As D.D. Blank told me one evening via text message: "somebody under the age of 50 has listened to skinny tie pop. Maybe, there's hope." I will try and do a full post on this band of phenoms soon.
Comfort
Straight To My Heart
The Chills will live forever in their "Kaleidoscope World." They have stereos and electric guitars...
Kaleidoscope World
Bailter Space's 1995 release Wammo has just been reissued on vinyl. I highly recommend this Flying Nun band with their sweet shoegaze rock.
Splat
Bird Nest Roys were brilliant one album wonders. They were said to be one of the Flying Nun bands that had the Dunedin sound, but were actually from Auckland.
Ain't Mutatin
Speaking of mutating, the Verlaines line-up is an ever-changing carousel, but as long as Graeme Downes is writing the tunes we're good. I do love when Jane Dodd was in the band though.
Doomsday
The Clean! This band's music came to me later than other Flying Nun acts, but it was instant love. Their songs helped me through a rough patch of life and are right at the top of my favorite New Zealand bands.
Anything Could Happen
Platypus
Here are a plethora of classics from The Beths. Liz Stokes writes the tunes. The band arranges them and guitarist Jonathan Pearce produces the records. The albums sound incredible and the songs are magic. I have purchased them in every format from Bandcamp. Now I need to find a G & L Fallout guitar and a Jansen amp.
