The Cars will be performing on Jimmy Fallon Tuesday, May 24, pushin' the new album Move Like This. Is the album a triumphant return to the 80's top of the pop heap? Well, it doesn't sound a million miles away from Heartbeat City to me, but then it's the first three albums that I love. Nevertheless, Sad Song, Free, Too Late, and Hits Me sound cool enough to call the reunion a success to me. What do you think? The whole thing is streaming here or here.
Record Store Day, the day we give thanks that there are still places to buy music, learn about music, talk about music - all with real live people. This year, there is an amazing amount of special releases you can try to find tomorrow - I say try because different stores will have different items, and some will go lickety-split. You can check out the full list here, something for just about everyone. 9 stores in Winnipeg are participating. Yes, I am nostalgic about record stores, not so nostalgic about working in one. The Winnipeg Folk Fest Music Store will have bands like The Wind-Ups, Telepathic Butterflies, and Rambling Dan Frechette, while Into the Music will have Scott Nolan. Four stupendous local acts, you can catch 'em all if you're smart.
Crowded House, Green Day/Husker Du, Television, R.E.M., Ryan Adams, Steve Earle, The Cars, The dBs (brand new!), The Decemberists, Urge Overkill, a Guided by Voices tribute, Nada Surf - there's a lot of tunes I'd like to snag. Below are some pics of the items on sale, the tunes may not be the exact ones you'll find as part of the special sale, but I gotta give ya something to listen to, don't I?
No time for weighty, introspective posts these days, but we can spew out some gems that snagged our eye, with no theme, rhyme or reason.
Big Audio Dynamite and Mick Jones were never revered like Joe Strummer, but I see no reason he shouldn't get his due. I loved Strummer's records since he made his "comeback", but B.A.D. has probably got more play over the decades, especially while Strummer was moving through his wilderness years. In retrospect, Big Audio Dynamite's first album was ahead of its time, don't you think? Big Audio Dynamite are the latest to get back together, playing shows and recording a new album, according to slicing up eyeballs.
Another reunion/reformation? The Darkness! Insert your own catsuit/falsetto joke here. I loved A thing Called Love, especially the way it sounds like Justin Hawkins sounds like he says "Fing Called Love".
Sat on this one for awhile, 'cause I'm pretty sure everyone was Radioheaded out. But Robotanists covered all of King of Limbs within 24 hours of its release (thanks to At Constant Speed). It's a free download, but you may want to check it out and grab it quick - I notice someone has removed all but one of the King of Limb tracks I posted from Soundcloud, so this might disappear soon as well.
Never heard of Foster the People, and I certainly don't like the name, but SXSW always brings out something interesting. Somebody wrote that they were a synth band and name-dropped Duran duran, but I think they sometimes sound like a cross between MGMT and World Party.
The best hardcore band of all time, Bad Brains, are now working on a new album for a late summer 2011 release. "Stand by for the 'realist' we have ever written," says Darryl Jenifer. Duff McKagan (!) has written a brief article on the band's greatness for ESPN, I'm not sure why, but check it out here.
The Cars recently released a full length video for Blue Tip, a song from their album Move Like This (out May 11). It's not a very inspired video clip (and if that is the album cover above, it seems the visual element of the band has not returned), but I still like the song. It doesn't blow me away, but I am definitely intrigued about the album. On this tune, Elliot Easton isn't really unleashed, but I have a feeling he will get opportunities to unpack some tasty guitar. Another track the band has teased us with brief clips, Free, seems to offer some spooky, edgy keyboards and elctronic drums as wel as harder six-string sounds (to hear the previous teaser clips, go here).
The Cars have released another teaser, Free, on their Facebook page, with the added note, "Spring 2011" at the end of the video clip. Maybe the album will also be called Free? Wish I had time to break into The Cars so I could post the song or video, but it's my b-day, I'm busy. Do you think The Raveonettes ever listened to The Cars, maybe tried to stick some new wave pop genius into the chorus of Breaking Into Cars?
The Cars have delivered another song preview for Sad Song via their Facebook page (a clip of another new one, Blue Tip was offered on Facebook with no explanation a while back). Still no further info, no comment on the song clip, and the official website is under construction. I'm hoping there's a new album coming in the new year, but no one seems to be spilling the beans so far. Sad Song sounds like a classic Cars song to me. Many have copied that chunky guitar, keyboard wash and even the cool vocal delivery, but nobody does it better.
Just found out via the 80's- and 90's-obsessed Slicing Up Eyeballs that The Cars seem to have unobtrusively confirmed that new music is actually being created by the reconstituted band. The group's FaceBook page will let you play a snippet of new tune Blue Tip, which sounds like...classic Cars, maybe from Panorama or Candy-O. It could have been worse, it could have been a dancey electronic thing like the remix by The Transients below.
As for making Blue Tip only available on their FaceBook page, it seems like a bit of an odd move to me, but with MySpace becoming the place where tweets go to be repeated ad nauseum, I can see it making sense for some people.
Pop Dose recently threw up their list of the top 50 guitar players of all time. I was surprised by some of the omissions and decided to create a post or two to respond, then I noticed that Pop Dose's list was actually created in response to the LA Times magazine's top 50. Okay, so a number of the players missing on one list can be found somewhere on the other. One list skips the Edge, Robert Fripp, Angus Young and Randy Rhoads, but then we see Eddie Hazel, John Mayer, Charlie Hunter, Neal Schon and John Frusciante. Huh? Of course, there are always complaints about lists like these, who got snubbed, who is wrongly placed at the top or bottom, and so on. Sometimes I think the choices are coloured by how much a guitarist sticks out, especially to other musicians or guitar god wannabes (Yngwie Malmsteen, anyone?)So, since I'm a non-guitarist (no musical ability whatsoever, actually) I've compiled a short list of stringbenders I like without any thought to how technically proficient they are, how difficult their music may be to play, or how wizardly they wield their axes. They might not be flashy, might just be rhythm players, but they've made some noises I like and they're not always included on favourite guitar player lists.
Wherever possible, I've tried to include live videos so you can see guitar grandeur without studio trickery.
Jamie West-Oram has made his career with The Fixx, a band some might mistakenly characterize as a synth band because they were lumped in with new wave bands of the 80's. But I always loved his quirky contributions, and he never overplayed or tried to be a rock god, just propelled or served the song.
Saved by Zero
Tom Verlaine has never reached mainstream acceptance and never really attempted to do so. He's been acclaimed by indie rock guitar geeks and critics, mostly for his work with Television. But the TV-love, to me, is part and parcel of his guitar tandem work with Richard Lloyd, with guitar lines intertwining, separating, snaking together again, clashing, and endlessly building ascending and spiralling soundscapes. Verlaine's solo work is not always so dense, but it does contain a similar unique glory.
A Town Called Walker
Elliot Easton's work with The Cars always included tasty licks and and sturdy rhythm to complement Ric Ocasek's more straightforward lines.
Candy-O
Robyn Hitchcock could make my list on his own, and if you've seen him play a solo show, you know what I mean. However, when Hitchcock plays with a foil, such as he does nowadays with Peter Buck in the Venus 3, he seems to be spurred on to different levels. Kimberly Rew in The Soft Boys is another fellow who lifts Hitchcock up to such great heights.
Queen of Eyes
Bob Mould, especially with Husker Du and Sugar, created blisteringly beautiful walls of sound, waves of melodic distortion, and curtains of metallic noisy pop.
Makes No Sense At all/ Love is All Around (Mary Tyler Moore Theme)
mp3s will be posted for a limited time and are for promotional purposes only. If you like it, buy the albums, go to the shows, buy the t-shirts - support the artist so they can keep on keepin' on. Artists - if you would like an mp3 or video removed, please contact me directly at chrisyakchart@hotmail.com.
If you've got something Scruffy should hear, same email. Snail mail is cool too.
Scruffy the Yak 34 Allenby Cres Winnipeg Mb R2C 3J4
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