Thanksgiving Grab Bag - Big Dipper, King Tuff, Peter Buck, Les Sexy, The Disciplines and more

A friend of mine recently suggested that rock was dead. Well, maybe some rock. But on this day, I want to give thanks for those who still rock that I haven't got to sharing.

Crocodiles - Sunday (Psychic Conversation #9). These guys' fuzzy brilliance knocks me down every time.


Redd Kross's triumphant return Researching the Blues, pounding, slap-happy, scowling, excellent distortion control. Nice Gil Morgan, too. Stay Away From Downtown is here as well so you don't think the album is a one-trick pony when it is actually a whole race-track full of trick ponies.

Social Distortion 's Gimme the Sweet & Lowdown. SD have been epitomising rock and roll since you were digging Olivia Newton John or Corey Hart or whatever, diving into your Lik-m-Aid, Twizzlers and Mr. Big bars, and the band hasn't swerved much from their thing. Why should they?

The Disciplines, Emily. Just one of Ken Stringfellow's fine projects, one for which he lets out his inner rocka rolla man.

Big Dipper is back! With a tune named after the prolific Guided by Voices mainman! Yowza!

King Tuff - Screaming Skull: The singer's voice reminds me of Mitch Easter (Let's Active), and the simple guitar and garbage-can drums are a perfect backdrop.

An old classic by Lloyd Cole gets the rock treatment by...Lloyd Cole and special friends.

Midnight Spin can get the blood up with Neuroin.

Chappo - Come Home: Nice wordless chorus!

Gloryhound's TKO Tokyo. Because we all need big dumb rock sometimes.

I know people have picked up on Japandroids, but some of you may have missed this older nugget, Art Czars. Perfect snotty noise.

Les Sexy - a double-shot of francophone punk from Winnipeg, St. Boniface to be more specific. "Fables" and "Chasseur" are simple, raw and have no need for backing tapes or auto-tuning. They remind me of my youth, before punk became pop, over-produced and weighted down with style and fashion. The album versions sound even better, seek them out.


Ruby by Cheap Girls, fine power pop + garage rock = perfect rock and roll.

Deer Tick's Born at Zero reminds me of the Replacements, not so much the sound as the attitude.

Cloud Nothings - Stay Useless. A primal chorus, a great bridge.

No Age - Fever Dreaming and You're a Target. Like Japandroids, I like to go backwards with No Age. Scuzzy gut-bucket ferocity with one, sped-up shoegaze with the other?.

Peter Buck's 10 Million BC might not be what one would expect from the former R.E.M. guitarman, but that's good, innit?

Photo at top of page by Slideshow Bruce.

Feel free to leave a comment below.

Tired Pony? Tired Peter Buck & Scott McCaughey, Probably

I've been missing for a awhile, I know. Been busy with my new child, birthdays, the return of hockey, dealing with near-poverty, unnecessary drama, family get-togethers, pumpkin pie and too much coffee. Life is full, I guess. I can't keep up with everything.

And I wonder about those who seem to accomplish so much. You know who plays in more projects than I can keep track of? R.E.M.'s Peter Buck, that's who. Besides still making records with R.E.M., Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus Three, and The Baseball Project, he's also now involved with Tired Pony, which also features Gary Lightbody (Snow Patrol, The Reindeer Section), Iain Archer, Richard Colburn (Belle & Sebastian), Jacknife Lee, and Scott McCaughey (Minus 3, Young Fresh Fellows, The Baseball Project, Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus Three, R.E.M.). Tired Pony's album, The Place We Ran From, came out July 12 in the UK and September 28 in North America, and it also features Tom Smith (Editors), M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel. It contains some of the smooth pop I associate with Snow Patrol, which I confess I never mooned over, but it also includes touches of alt country, slightly Waterboys-flavoured rootsy pop (I Am a Landslide), and folky melancholia.

I am a Landslide

Tired Pony - I Am A Landslide by k7fm

Dead American Writers



Get on the Road



Point Me at Lost Islands



You can buy Tired Pony in lots of places, here's one.

The Hold Steady's Craig Finn & The Baseball Project - Not Twinkies

photo by Shayne Kaye

I'm not a baseball fan, despite my Dad's fanaticism. I mean, playing it wasn't too bad, but watching it seems like an exercise in waiting for something to happen. And somehow it seems like stats and steroids are too important in the baseball world.

There! I've proclaimed my ignorance of what makes baseball special. The reason I bring up my lack of passion for baseball is to explain my lack of enthusiasm for The Baseball Project. The Baseball Project is a band made up of Steve Wynn, Scott McCaughey, Peter Buck and Linda Pitmon, all musicians I love, but they create songs about baseball, so I've never paid attention. But I'm not enough of an anti-baseball fan to ignore the group anymore, because they've enlisted The Hold Steady's Craig Finn to write the lyrics and sing on the new song, Don't Call Them Twinkies.

I now have to pay more attention to the Baseball Project, but I'm still not gonna watch baseball. I can always ask my Dad who the names are that get dropped in these songs.

The Baseball Project by schleppy

Speaking of The Hold Steady, the band is the latest to get into the Pitchfork POV concert series, which you can check out here. I guess the idea of the viewer changing cameras is fine, but it's not my thing - I think I'd like it to be filmed in an interesting way the first time. Anyway, any excuse to post about The Hold Steady.

The Hold Steady - The Sweet Part Of The City

The Hold Steady - The Sweet Part Of The City by VagrantRecords

The Hold Steady - The Weekenders

The Hold Steady - The Weekenders by VagrantRecords

The Hold Steady - Hurricane J

The Hold Steady - Hurricane J by VagrantRecords

Buy The Baseball Project here.
Buy The Hold Steady here.

Steve Wynn and the Miracle 3 will also be releasing a new disc, Northern Aggression, on Nov. 30th on Yep Roc. I don't think the following track has anything to do with the new album, but it's an interesting cover anyway.

Steve Wynn - The Air That I Breathe

" by roverthsub