Category: Robert’s Blog

Revisiting Old Music Part (hi-in)

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This is becoming the Robert’s CD collection blog these days. Oh well, gives me something to do. I’m considering going a little more typical-bloggy with this site. We shall see.

cds_hi-in

The Hi-Fives – Get Down!
One or two great songs, but the majority of this is by-the-numbers pop punk.

Sol Hoopii – Master of the Hawaiian Guitar Vol. 1
If you only buy one Hawaiian slide guitar album ever, buy this one. If you buy two, consider volume 2.

Sol Hoopii – Master of the Hawaiian Guitar Vol. 2
Along with volume 1, some of the best Hawaiian music ever.

Hotshot Satellite – Canvas
Fellow MoonRocker, John Burgess’s band from a few years ago. Catchy rock songs with Ukulele!

Husker Du – Zen Arcade
A great record, albeit a tad too long and, at times, you can’t tell one song from the next. Some of Husker Du’s best songs are on this disc, although in hindsight, I think New Day Rising is a better album.

Husker Du – New Day Rising
This is Husker Du’s best, in my opinion. Some of the spazztic energy has been toned down, which allows the songiness to come through, but no so much so that you would accuse this of not being a punk rock record.

Husker Du –Eight Mile High
Excellent single from the best period in Husker Du’s career.

Husker Du – Flip Your Wig
Almost as good as New Day Rising. If you prefer the more jangly/poppy Husker Du, this will probably be your favorite record in their catalog.

Husker Du – Candy Apple Grey
Except for the opening track, this is a very toned-down Husker Du record. Shockingly clean production compared to their indy releases (although they still crank the drowning reverb on the drums). There are several good songs here, but, as a whole, doesn’t stand up to their previous efforts.

I, Crime – Get the Knife
A very nice little EP from these Detroit-ers. I prefer the more rocking songs over the almost folksy milder numbers.

Impala – El Rancho Reverbo
This is one of my favorite records of the 90s surf revival. Soulful and sultry.

Impala – Play R & B Favorites
A collection of some of the more raunchy, saxophone-based songs from Impala.

Impala – Kings of the Strip
Another sax-heavy dose of instrumentals.

Impala – Square Jungle
More Impala. For some reason, this one is not a good to me as some of their ealier releases.

The Ink Spots – Greatest Hits
A great compilation of Ink Spots songs.

Interpol – Turn on the Bright Lights
I am surprised by how much I like this. The songs are hard, catchy and have a nice driving groove to them. And you gotta love the baritone vocals. One thing though: I’m not too much of an audiophile, but this has got to be one of most horribly mastered discs I have heard. The drums are squashed beyond recognition and have no punch whatsoever. Another casualty of the “volume wars” I suppose.

Revisiting Old Music Part (Go-Hi)

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CDs Go-Hi

Godflesh – Selfless
This album doesn’t hold my attention as much as Pure. The sound is thin compared to that record, but I still enjoy about 80% of this.

Godspeed You Black Emporer! – Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven!
After about the first fifteen minutes or so of this double CD, it’s pretty clear that Godspeed is a one-trick pony. Essentially, what they do is take four or five chords, repeat them endlessly, and gradually add more instruments until the song crescendos in a wall of sound, then begin removing sounds from the mix until they are back to quiet again. Pick new chords and repeat. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a neat trick and, despite the fact that they come from the renegade U.S. province of Canada, I do recommend this album.

The Go-Nuts – World’s Greatest Super Hero Snak Rock & Gorilla Entertainment Revue
Ok. They are a joke band. But I love shtick rock and how can you not love a band that has a song about Robert Earl Hughes?

The Go-Nuts – Dunk and Cover!
More Snak Rock! With an animated cover and the classic brand-name dropping track, “Bombay (You’re my Hostess Cupcake)”

Lesley Gore – Greatest Hits
Bubbly, infectious 60s pop that is all about being (happily) devoted to guys who treat you like crap.

Grandmaster Flash – Furious Five – Grandmaster Melle Mel – The Greatest Hits
A horribly mastered, budget bin collection of their best songs. With a painfully truncated version of “White Lines”.

Green – White Soul & Bittersweet
Early 90s, Chicago-based jangle pop? This band seemed like it was the next big thing, and then it went nowhere.

Nina Hagen – Nunsexmonkrock + Nina Hagen Band
The first part of this CD is perhaps Nina Hagen’s best record, Nunsexmonkrock. It’s at times atmospheric and at other times rockin’ but always unique and interesting. The Nina Hagen Band EP is pretty straightforward rock, and 2 of the four songs are covers.

Nina Hagen – Love
A greatest hits CD that features the German versions of all the hits we may know here in the U.S. Pretty good choices overall, but the bonus track “World Now” is awful, awful, awful.

Nina Hagen – Nina Hagen
Gone are any traces of her punk roots. This is, for the most part, a late 80s hair metal album. There are a couple of listenable tunes, but a little too cheesy for my tastes.

Bill Haley and the Comets – From The Original Master Tapes
What can you say? It’s Bill Haley and the Comets sounding great as usual.

Neil Hamburger – Inside Neil Hamburger
A decent short dose of Neil Hamburger.

Neil Hamburger – 50 States, 50 Laughs
A tour only CD release that is exactly what the title says. Pretty good.

Neil Hamburger – Laugh Out Lord
Neil Hamburger sorta jumped the shark around the time of this hit-or-miss album. This record still uses a canned audience, but the parody has worn thin and become too self-referential. The musical tracks are a nice change, but not quite enough to make me recommend this release. I think this is around when Neil began to perform live extensively. Turkington seems to be adapting the character for a live performance setting. The result is the gruff-voiced, coughing, audience-baiting Tony Clifton persona he uses today (like Clifton, I have my doubts as to whether Neil is actually being performed by Gregg Turkington anymore… that voice is just sooo different?).

Helmet – Strap It On
Loud, chunky, stop-starty rock from the early nineties. Not bad, but wears thin after a few songs. The horrible free-form guitar solos don’t help either.

Hi-Fives – Welcome to my Mind
A decent punk album. It’s on Lookout so it tends to sound like those bands, but they have hints of the British Invasion in their sound. And a few surf tunes as well.

Election 2008: Thank You For Not Voting

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If you are not a democrat, voting in Chicago can be very disheartening. Usually the ballot consists of the federal races, about 200+ judicial retention choices, and a few dozen uncontested Democrats in local “races.” This year it’s even worse. Polls show that hometown candidate Obama has an insurmountable lead in the state, and any other vote is more-or-less statistically irrelevant.

This is all somewhat besides the point. ActualIy, can’t really stand by any of the other names on the ballot either.

Though I like his personality (McCain seems at least to have a genuine sense of humor unlike Obama’s detached, scripted-feeling delivery) and liked way he’s campaigned for the most part (the McCain Internet ads were aesthetically superior, funny and much more to the point in my opinion), McCain never emerged as anything other than a big-government republican. Sure he highlighted his anti-pork positions, but when the other shoe dropped during the height of the financial crisis, he sided with the majority of pro-bailout welfare statists. Obama just remained the legislative non-entity he has been for the past four years.

Normally in a situation like this, I would turn to the Libertarian Party, but Bob Barr is an opportunist tool—where’s Harry Browne when we need him… dead, as a matter of fact. The rest of the choices were even nuttier than the Libertarians. I’m tired of voting for the lesser of two evils. I had made up my mind a while ago that maybe this is a good year to stay on the sidelines.

Last night, however, I had a better idea. In some ways it was inspired by Penn Jillette’s no-ink temporary tattoo. Penn, rather than wimp out with a paint-on temporary tattoo, got a real tattoo. However, the artist did not use any ink. He went through all the hours of pain in getting a tattoo—which, really, is the macho cool part of tattoos—without the embarrassing permanent stain that he’d have to live with for the rest of his life.

Here’s was my idea: I went to my polling place, waited my turn, signed in, was shown how to use the ballot, went to the booth, and turned in an empty ballot. This way I went through the whole painful process, and yet could say, “none of the above” without being accused of being an apathetic slacker (which, nonetheless, I am. But that’s besides the point). This is about as close to being a performance artist that I am going to get, folks.

Before making my ultimate decision, I stood in the booth, I staring at the ballot and beginning to have second thoughts. The lure of voting just for that satisfaction of “pulling the lever” is very great. In the end, I’m glad I took that deep breath and stuck with my plan. Walking away from the polling place, I felt a sense of relief. I didn’t accomplish anything other than increase the molarity of the vote pool, but at least I didn’t waste my vote. In the words of the aforementioned Penn Jillette, “The only way to waste your vote, is to vote.”

Now, I’ve lied a little bit. I did actually vote in the three voter referendums that were on the ballot. Also, I voted to retain the judge that happened to be presiding when I got myself out of a ticket a few years ago. But, these were votes I could make that were not some sort of compromise or a lesser-of-two-evils choice.

Thank goodness all this crap will be over soon and maybe in 2012 a more individualist, liberty-minded candidate will emerge, but, until then, I am not holding my breath.

Election 2008: A Song for Obama

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And now we my choice of a song for Obama. There aren’t many songs with “Obama” in the lyrics that aren’t sung by a chorus of creepy showbiz wannabe kids. Instead, I have gone with a more opinionated, thematic choice. The song is I Can’t Believe That You Would Fall For All The Crap In This Song by Sparks. If you read an Obama stump speech it soon becomes clear that, between the aspirations of hope and change, is an ever expanding laundry list ridiculous, undeliverable goodies to lure various voting blocks. Now, a couple of days before the election, the Obama campaign is spinning to try to curb the expectations of his minions. Well, I suppose if you think about it, he is promising change.

Election 2008: A Song for McCain

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I have decided to add my own soundtrack to the final days of the Election. We will start with my choice for McCain’s theme song. This is La Ballata Di Hank McCain by Ennio Morricone from the film Gli Intoccabili. I kinda want McCain to win simply so I can get four more years of mileage out of this track. I can’t believe this song wasn’t picked up by some McCain supporter and made into a glowing YouTube video. Oh, well. Enjoy!

Stay tuned, my pick for Obama is coming tomorrow.

Revisiting Old Music Part (Fu-Go)

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Fudge Tunnel – Hate Songs in the Key of E
Grungy metal. Not sure why I own this. All I know is that it isn’t worth putting up for sale on Amazon.

Fugazi – 13 Songs
Stop all that slam dancing you punks. It’s Fugazi! Classic post-punk record(s).

Fugazi – Repeater
Although there are not as many stand alone “hits” as there are on 13 songs, this is perhaps their best record.

Fugazi – Steady Diet of Nothing
There’s something about the attitude of this record that turns me off. Ian Maykaye’s vocals are at his absolute most annoying level on the attrocious track, Long Division. I stopped buying Fugazi albums after this (for a while at least).

Fugazi – In on the Kill Taker
Although the ultra cool opening is quickly squandered by Fugazi sameness, this CD redeemed the band somewhat for me. There are a couple of stinkers, but not bad overall.

The Galaxy Trio – In the Harem
Surf inspired instrumental music, but with a more distorted, 90s edge.

The Galaxy Trio – Saucers Over Vegas
More of the same.

The Giallos Flame – The Giallos Flame
Despite the corny cover, this is a pretty decent CD. The songs are inspired by the music of Gobin, Fabio Frizzi and other Italian Giallo soundtrack motifs. The tone fluctuates between jazzy, funky and synth-rocky (the latter being my favorite).

Girls Against Boys – Cruise Yourself
Groove-centric 90s hard rock. A laid back wall of sound.

Godflesh – Godflesh
Extremely heavy and slow. This is from before they discovered house music.

Godflesh – Streetcleaner
These are slow jamz for the grindcore set. Loud, piercing and slow. The slightly more experimental bonus tracks are better than most of the actual tracks on the LP.

Godflesh –Slavestate
A really great album. The gurgle and grind of the previous albums is honed in with a rhythmic, electronic backdrop. Not dance music, but a far more groovy version of Godflesh indeed.

Godflesh – Pure
This is my favorite Godflesh album. This is almost an industrial music album, but the samples and electronics are only there to color the edges of the mix. Unlike previous feedback heavy Godflesh releases, you can actually hear the instruments and what they are playing–this is a good thing.

Godflesh – Cold World
A nice Pure-era single. These tracks are as good as anything from that CD.

Godflesh – Merciless
How Godflesh lost her groove.

Revisiting Old Music Part (Fa-Fr)

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Okay, I’m a bit backlogged with these micro reviews, so let us continue, shall we…

CDs

Famous Monsters – Around the World in 80 Bikinis!
Surfy, Cramps-like garage songs with a monster-girl shtick. Drums and guitars and no bass, but still pretty powerful and fun. Featuring the bassist from White Zombie on guitar and vocals.Famous Monsters – In the NightThis one may even be better than its predecessor.

The Fall – The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall
The Fall have like 3 dozen or so records. But of all the ones I have heard, this is my favorite. In fact, it might be on my top ten list… maybe, top twenty. But, still, it’s great. Noisy, poppy and arty all at the same time.

Fear – More Beer
Fear’s second LP couldn’t possibly top The Record. This one is hit or miss. I Am A Doctor and Waiting for the Meat make this album worth a listen. The latter features a jungle rhythm/drum circle jam, that is an excuse for a goofy pun.

The Finks – Fill’er Up and Go!
This is one of the definitive records from the (pre-Pulp Fiction) 90s surf revival.

Fireworks – Set the World on Fire
Some raw rock and roll. Really lo-fi and scuzzy… in a good way.

Fishbone – Fishbone
A wild, booty shakin’ classic. Fishbone never topped this. It’s short, sweet and doesn’t drift off into the soul/metal travesty that they evolved into years later.

Fishbone – Bonin’ in the Boneyard
An EP from the Truth and Soul years. A couple of remixes and a throwaways and but still Fishbone in their prime.

Fishbone – Sunless Saturday
A CD single. I really did not like this album from whence this song came. A lot of folks really liked their new direction. I didn’t.

Flour – Fourth and Final
More Illinois-soundin’ Touch and Go stuff. This record get pretty pop at times and sounds almost like the Pixies.

Klaus Flouride – Because I Say So
Dead Kennedy’s bassist noodling around in a studio. Not bad, but not what any young Dead Kennedys fan would really want to hear.

Klaus Flouride – The Light Is Flickering
I think I bought this for like $4. Again, way too mellow and derivative for someone from perhaps the greatest American hardcore band.

Front 242 – Geography
A very light and New-Romantic, almost Kraftwerk-sounding record. I actually like this CD better than their more defined industrial sound. I am a sucker for analog synths.

Front 242 – Official Version
This one is more aggressive and pounding. The blue print for late 80s electronic music.

Front 242 – Front by Front
Even more polished and refined industrial beats. This was back when dance music was played at 120 beats per minute (close to frequency of a heart beat) , and didn’t try to be all glitch’d up and bloopy. If you know what I mean?

Okay I’m just rambling now. Until next time, rock on!