So this dude, who apparently is maybe just a little OCD, went through a whole bunch of music blogs, and developed his own Kasey Kasem-style chart of the top 20 discs so far this year, according to the bloggerazzi. It is a pretty interesting list, and not only because nearly all of them are available at JoeRockhead.com!
The amusing and amazing story about how one band became R.E.M., and, well, one band didn’t….
Just a quick post to let you know that we’ve added lots of cool new stuff to the shop over the past week. Here are some of the highlights:
Recent Releases:
- Thom Yorke (of Radiohead) - The Eraser
- Peaches - Impeach My Bush
- Brightblack Morning Light - Brightblack Morning Light
- Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche: Outtakes & Extras from Illinois
- Oneida - Happy New Year
- Mojave 3 - Puzzles Like You
- Scott Walker - The Drift
- Stuart Staples (of Tindersticks) - Leaving Songs / Lucky Dog Recordings
- Centro-Matic - Fort Recovery
- I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness - According To Plan (single), and Fear Is On Our Side (full-length)
- Tom Leach - 7 Song Tape/Thank You for the Coffee
Plus a few noteworthy Atlanta bands:
- The Crafties - Palace Fool
- Blake Guthrie and Getaway Car - Til I Reach The Light
- Tiger! Tiger! - Black Daggers (single) and Collisions (full-length)
- Luigi - Found On The Forest Floor and Vamonos (both full-length)
- Bluejays - A Hundred Songs
And lastly, a few classic restocks that we’d been sold out of for awhile…
- Soft Boys - Underwater Moonlight… And How It Got There
- 13th Floor Elevators - The Very Best of the 13th Floor Elevators: Going Up
- The Delgados - Hate
- Super Furry Animals - Songbook: The Singles 1
- Teenage Fanclub - Howdy!
- Yo La Tengo - May I Sing With Me
And there’s plenty more where that came from…. Stop by www.JoeRockhead.com and check it out!
Get that Christmas shopping done early!
Hey kids! Now you too can be the proud owner of a Mickey Mouse action figure smashing a guitar, a la The Clash’s London Calling.
From The Guardian:
Syd Barrett, the former lead singer of Pink Floyd and one of the key figures of the 60s, has died at the Cambridgeshire home to which he retreated as a recluse more than 30 years ago.
The Guardian has learned that the singer, 60, who suffered from a psychedelic-drug induced breakdown while at the peak of his career, died last Friday from cancer.
His brother Alan confirmed his death, saying only: “He died peacefully at home. There will be a private family funeral in the next few days.”
Born Roger Keith Barrett in Cambridge in 1946, he acquired the nickname Syd aged 15. He left Pink Floyd in 1968, just as the band was about to achieve worldwide recognition, and lived in the basement of his mother Winfred’s semi-detached house, where he boarded up the windows to keep out the eyes of both the press and fans. He recorded two solo albums.
Pink Floyd’s Shine on You Crazy Diamond, from the 1975 album Wish You Were Here, was said by many to be a salute to him. Barrett’s use of drugs, particularly LSD, in the 60s, was well-documented and he was often described as the original acid casualty.
A statement issued on behalf of Pink Floyd said: “The band are naturally very upset and sad to learn of Syd Barrett’s death. Syd was the guiding light of the early band line-up and leaves a legacy which continues to inspire.”
Dave Gilmour, the Pink Floyd guitarist drafted in to the band during a period in which Barrett was behaving erratically, said in an interview earlier this year that he thought that Barrett’s breakdown would have happened anyway.
He said: “It was a deep-rooted thing. But I’ll say the psychedelic experience might well have acted as a catalyst. Still, I just don’t think he could deal with the vision of success and all the things that went with it.”
The Dream Syndicate are planning a reunion of sorts on July 28th at McCabe’s in Los Angeles. The show is billed as “Steve Wynn with Special Guests” — with the guests being Dennis Duck, Mark Walton and Paul Cutler. They’ll be doing a ’semi-acoustic’ set, so it won’t the the ear-splitting rock-a-thon some of us would prefer, but hey — gotta take what you can get. Here’s hoping it leads to bigger and louder things….
Meanwhile, at the Seattle installment of Internatinal Pop Overthrow you can plan to get your jangle on with The Windbreakers, who will reunite for a short set in between appearances by Tim Lee and Don Dixon on August 26th. Later that same night, the original three members of True West (Gavin Blair, Richard McGrath, and Russ Tolman) are also reuniting for a live performance. Need a ticket?
Lastly, if you were hoping for another Monkees reunion in the wake of the upcoming Rhino super-deluxe-mega-fantastic reissues, don’t hold your breath. From the mouth of Davy: “I would not work with those guys again if my life depended on it.”
Oh well.
Looks like CBGB is Vegas bound, baby. Says Mr. Kristal:
“[The Vegas CBGB] won’t be the same size or the same shape, but I am going to have all the things that matter there. I am taking the bars with me, I am taking the stage — I’m taking the urinal that Joey [Ramone] pissed in with me. I’m going to take a lot of things — anything that makes this place CBGB.”
Well, just as long as they don’t actually clean the urinals….
[ Link ]
Holy Crap! Tom Waits is touring in August, and the first date is in Atlanta! Here’s the dates:
DATE CITY/STATE VENUE
Tues, Aug 1 Atlanta, GA Tabernacle
Wed, Aug 2 Asheville, NC Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
Fri, Aug 4 Memphis, TN Orpheum Theatre
Sat, Aug 5 Nashville, TN Ryman Auditorium
Mon, Aug 7 Louisville, KY Palace Theatre
Wed, Aug 9 Chicago, IL Auditorium Theatre
Fri, Aug 11 Detroit, MI Opera House
Sun, Aug 13 Akron, OH Akron Civic
Tickets go on sale July 8th. Here’s a link for more info.
(Thanks to Amanda for the tip!)
Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and indie rock.
What goes better with your July 4th cookout than a rockin’ indie rock soundtrack? Thought I’d take a few minutes to highlight a handful of my favorite new arrivals at JoeRockhead.com. Follow the links to check out sample tracks from each one…
Danielle Howle - Thank You Mark
Our little girl is all growns up! I’ve been a fan of Danielle’s ever since her days with Lay Quiet Awhile, and I’m here to tell you — this is her finest CD yet. A bit more polished, melodic and mature than most of her previous solo albums, while losing not one bit of the quirky charm that makes you like her in the first place. Danielle is on tour right now, opening a series of west coast dates for the Indigo Girls.
[ Link ]
Pugwash - Jollity
Straight outta Dublin comes the most perfect slice of jangle pop I’ve heard since Martin Newell’s “The Greatest Living Englishman.” If you’re a fan of XTC and the like, you need to get hip to Pugwash right this minute. Look closely and you can see the fingerprints of Eric Matthews, Dave Gregory and Andy Partridge all over this one. In addition to the full length Jollity, we also have a 3 song Pugwash EP available.
[ Link ]
Couse & The Impossible - The World Ought To Know
On the same little-known Irish label (1969 Records) as Pugwash, Couse & The Impossible generate a similar sort of jangle pop, but with perhaps a little more rock-n-roll bravado. Let by Dave Couse, formerly of the shoulda-been-famous A House, The World Ought To Know is a great chunk of hooky, sing-a-long guitar rock.
[ Link ]
Venice Is Sinking - Sorry About The Flowers
This is the full-length debut by this new band from Athens, GA, and it is a winner. I’ve always been a sucker for thoughtful pop and bands that feature violin and other non-traditional instrumentation, so its no surprise that this one pushed all the right buttons for me. Yep — Venice Is Sinking had me at hello. Can’t wait to see them live.
[ Link ]
Tim Lee - Concrete Dog
The scruffier half of the Windbreakers just keeps on cranking out the gems, regardless of whether or not anyone is paying attention. And if you haven’t been paying attention, well, what’s wrong with you? Concrete Dog is one of Tim’s strongest CDs ever — a ragged and righteous collection of roadhouse rock-n-roll.
[ Link ]
OK, that’s it for now. Have a great holiday weekend everybody!