Labyrinthitis

And now the word comes that Shane MacGowan has shuffled off.  And as my friends agreed, the only real surprise here is that he made it as far as he did. Of course, that's been said of many a rock and roll death (Keith Moon, por favor?).  Which doesn't make it any less true.  Or any less of an obvious cliche. But I come to praise and to bury.  Because lost in the inevitable tide of no surprise  will be the fact that MacGowan really was a "mad genius", as Rolling Stone called him, a brilliant writer and a soulful singer, and there was a time when The Pogues were one of the bands I listened to almost every day.  And while its become fashionable to write them off as a simply a drunken goof, a bad parody of Irish culture, blasting out lowest common denominator Irish pub songs at punk rock volume and tempos, anyone who ever actually listened to their albums would know that their musical ambition was broad and rich.  They reached for a lot, and they got it.  Rolling Stone (a

First things first, perennial new faves Yee Loi have a new EP out, Make Some Noise , which interestingly is not available on bandcamp, but can be had on iTunes, something called openstage with which I am not familiar, and listened to on Spotify. In any case, its something of a landmark, being their first pro studio recordings.  By way of confession I'll note that I think the productions a little overdone on the vocals and would have preferred a slightly dirtier sound.  The songs are all good but none of them is a knockout like "31 Flavours".  On the other hand, it shows off their growth and progression, and chops, making this a more than worthwhile release, and one hopes for many more.  My favorite of their most recent releases have been their acoustic take on the Ramones' "Don't Come Close" and a punked-up cover of Olivia Rodrigo's "Bad Idea" - I have no idea if the latter was intended as a joke or they really like the song (which isn'

Somehow I only became aware this morning that the Linda Lindas have unleashed another new single, "Resolution/Revolution", and it sounds great, much tougher than a lot of the tracks off of Growing Up.  They continue to deliver the goods. Meanwhile across the sea, Yee Loi have posted not one but two live versions of "Dad's Money" - one acoustic.  Both sound fine though I'm wondering if the point of this is to prove something. Well, they don't have to prove anything to me.  YL is one of the bands I'm most excited about these days. Now as to my older idols - look I don't expect any of them to live up to my standards.  If I cleared out my collection of every artists who'd said or done anything I don't approve of I wouldn't have a single book, CD or DVD in the house.  Hell if I only cleared out the ones who were out and out scumbags I'd be down about 75% I suspect! Nevertheless, I was disappointed that my first rock and roll idol, Alic

Yee Loi have struck again with a new single, "Dad's Money", which is streaming but doesn't seem to be available for purchase yet.   As their first studio-refined track, there's some surprises here.  The sound is fuller and punchier, but its the vocals that really stand out.  Clearly pushed for max effect, they sound both older and fuller than ever before.  If it hadn't been for the distinct sibling harmony, I wouldn't recognize them.  There's also a distinct stretching of their vocal chops on the chorus ("where do I even begin"), which took me by surprise.  That's good, I like surprises.  And since they actually have vocal chops to stretch, it's reasonable to expect them to do so. I suppose if it was me at the boards I'd probably step it back a bit and get a little more of their usual lo-fi one-take ambience, but its time for them to grow.  And anyway it's not me. The song itself is first-rate, a worthy addition to their grow

School's out, and current faves the Linda Lindas are in action again.  This post of a 22-minute performance and interview for KCRW radio in Santa Monica has given me great joy as they sound tighter and harder than ever ("Talking To Myself" and "Too Many Things" sounded like filler in their recorded versions - here they sound near-essential, with an almost Husker Du-like bridge.  And for any wag who wants to say they probably never heard Husker Du ... I suspect you are wrong).  More importantly, zip forward to 2:40 for one the greatest bits of audience appreciation ever.  I wonder what Beatrice's band will sound like... Meanwhile the world's other great teenage rock and roll band, Yee Loi, have announced the release of their first on-a-label single for August 24.  So stay tuned. More profound thoughts on these and other matters to come...

I'm trying to keep this blahg directed more towards newer artists, over old faves.  But the mind goes where it goes and lately I'm happy to rediscover an old fave I hadn't paid much attention to in recent years, Richard Thompson. Thompson used to be one of my main men, but it tapered off somewhere in the mid 00's and never quite picked up again, though I did keep up with all his releases as they came out.  I was disappointed in Front Parlour Ballads , the last one I actually bought a physical copy of, and since then just picked individual strong tracks as they appeared, eventually compiling them into a couple of collections.  Both of which left me unsatisfied. I do a lot of compilation CD's.  Very draconian selections by artists.  Obviously, they are highly subjective.  And there is a music-geekery part of me that says its unfair.  After all, these guys put their heart and soul into a full-length album, and I go and trash 90% of it?  Who the hell do I think I am? We