The Doughboys

Image from Shawn Scallen

The Doughboys had a couple of really good albums, Home Again being my favorite, in the late 80's but then Brock Pytel split and they lost me for good in the first 30 seconds of "The Apprenticeship of Lenny Kravitz" on their third full-length, Happy Accidents. Great pop-punk-pop from Montreal, shared some bills with Hüsker Dü, but the dreads looked pretty silly by the time that whole Space Needle thing took off.

The Doughboys - "Numbered Days"

Related: Punk History Canada
NOT related: The Doughboys - Rock Music from Morgantown, WV

TOP Music #5: Porcelain Boys - If You Were Real 7"

Larger versions: Cover, Back, Lyrics, Credits

THD Records did a nice job of navigating the Minneapolis minefields of the late 80's/early 90's pop-punk explosion and the Porcelain Boys were probably the best representatives from the Twin Cities area. They are very much a blueprint of Descendents/All (I think the singer actually swallowed Milo Aukerman right before busting-deep on the last song) but so was everyone else trying to copy the frantic bass twiddling of Tony Lombardo or Karl Alvarez and singing whiny songs about white girls. The PB's put out at least one other 7" and had a track on Lookout!'s Can of Pork compilation but this record is definitely their best stuff. I tend to think Side 2 skims a little better across lake-superior than Side 1 but maybe that's just because it has 3 songs instead of 2.

Porcelain Boys - If You Were Real
Side 1: If You Were Real, Bedtime
Side 2: Someday, Problem #1, Fortune Favors The Bold

The Dils

The Dils - "I Hate The Rich"

Real Fucky Fucky

You can lie to me as long as we're having a good time.

Soul Side - "Clifton Wall"

Furious George

Furious George - "Betty Crocker, Punk Rocker"

In the same vein: George Tabb (former writer for MRR/NYP), Playing Right Field: A Jew Grows in Greenwich (buy)

One Man Running

I was planning to digitize all the songs from One Man Running's "Stress" EP but whadaya know, I just found out they were tacked on the end of a Fifteen re-issue CD so I'll limit my crude conversion to the first two songs. Great early 90's pop-punk from the Bay Area's northern cousins in Arcata, CA.

One Man Running - "Here, By The Shore" and "Algebra"

Related: The Garden Weasel Diaries and Humboldt Music forums

5.6.7.8's

The Japanese girl group 5.6.7.8's were named to reflect their influences from the 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's but the real emphasis is on the first two.

5.6.7.8's - "Three Cool Chicks"

Apple-core

Jordan b/w Apples (Upstate NY, 9/18/05)
The Apples in stereo - "That's Something I Do"

Baby Dayliner

My roommate is friends with Ethan Marunas, the one man force behind "80's retroist" Baby Dayliner, and she has boasted about his stuff forever. Since she has populated my iTunes with his songs I've unintentionally got into them (playing right after the B-52's, hers too) and I now regret the times I turned down offers to see him play at Mercury Lounge. Others describe this much better than I would so read his press or bio at Brassland:

Brooklyn's Baby Dayliner is upbeat, joyous, earnest, and romantic, all at once. He combines Leonard Cohen's songcraft, the electronic pulse of New Order, and the jiggy performance style of Al Green. He's also been compared to Serge Gainsbourg, David Bowie, James Brown, Tom Jones, The Smiths, Daft Punk, and Stephin Merritt's Magnetic Fields -- influences which he gratefully cites alongside the classical and jazz of his formal musical training, and the street sounds he absorbed while growing up in New York City.

These two songs represent more of his Euro/electro influences.

Baby Dayliner - "Oh Oh" and "Raid!"

Coast Toasting

Lisa Marr composed one of the best heart-breakers about Los Angeles called "In California" in early 2000 but it was Neko Case's near-majestic cover version a year later that took complete ownership of the song and made it a modern classic. Neko's vocal ability is a little leap and a baby bound over Marr's and even the instrumentation on the covered version sounds significantly more soulful. (Sorry, I can't believe I just used "soulful" to describe a song but at least I went with "sounds" instead of "feels.") This is not to diminish the talents of Marr. Her first band Cub practically defined "cuddle-core" (nitpickingly described as a mix of punk-pop and twee pop if I must take this to a ridiculous level and apparently I do) and her indie rockin' alt-country solo stuff easily clears the fence and keeps on running without missing a beat or stepping in cow shit. I'm a big fan of everything either of these women have been a part of, especially the New Pornographers in (prepare rimshot) Neko's case. Here's one from each with a bonus sub-plot of LA vs NYC for some MTV-heightened drama.

Neko Case - "In California"
Cub - "New York City"

East Bay Friday: The Gr'ups

Ex-Blatz (Jesse Luscious and Anna Joy) and Operation Ivy (Matt Freeman) formed the Gr'ups in '91/'92 and released a couple of 7"s with the idea of "modernizing" old fairy tales as a rockabilly/punk combo-punch in the vein of X with a dirtier, more raw, and less sharp needle. These two songs are from their first 7".

Gr'ups - "Almond Tree" and "Red Riding Hood"

Previously: Blatz (and again), OPIV
Of interest: Kerplunk - The rise and fall of the Lookout Records empire. [East Bay Express] Thanks, Max

Kid Casanova and The Makers

I missed Kid Casanova play Tuesday night at The Delancey. One of my oldest friends from home (Mark, far left in pic) plays bass and I planned to go but then forgot all about it. Shit. The Makers even headlined and I had no idea those fuckers were still together and playing out. My loss (2x).

The Makers - "(Are You on the Inside or the Outside of Your) PANTS"
Kid Casanova - "Radio"

The Father Of Country Music

Lots of song references about New Orleans have been going around naturally but I haven't seen one from the Jimmie Rodgers collection yet. First, a bit of background from his bio:

"Jimmie's affinity for entertaining came at an early age, and the lure of the road was irresistible to him. By age 13, he had twice organized and begun traveling shows, only to be brought home by his father. Both of these incidents shed light on his drive to perform. The first time he was caught, he had stolen some of his sister-in-law's bedsheets and joined them to make a crude tent. Upon his return to Meridian, he paid for the sheets, having made enough money with his show! For the second trip with his troupe, he had charged to his father (without his knowing) an expensive sidewall canvas tent. It's not known whether or not Jimmie paid for the tent, but not long after that, Mr. Rodgers found Jimmie his first job working on the railroad, as waterboy on his father's gang. A few years later, he became brakeman on the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad, a position secured by his oldest brother, Walter, a conductor on the line running between Meridian and New Orleans."

Jimmie Rodgers - "My Little Old Home Down In New Orleans"

Buy: Recordings 1927-1933
Donate: Habitat For Humanity

Honk If You're Lonely

Previously, thoughts on David Berman. Currently, can't stop listening to this Silver Jews song.

Silver Jews - "Honk If You're Lonely"

Related: Ask David Berman on Fittedsweats and Pitchfork's 9.9 rating review of American Water

Sandy, The Aurora Is Risin' Behind Us

Except for ventnoring as far as Atlantic City's boardwalk, I somehow managed to avoid the Jersey Shore my entire life until now. Just enjoyed the first post Labor Day weekend in Harvey Cedars on Long Beach Island with some friends and alcohol that was never out of arm's reach. I posted some songs with NJ references before but the only MP3 links still active are the Promise Ring (titled "Jersey Shore" no less) and Chisel tracks. Worth checking out if you haven't heard before.

The Fall Of Richmond

Rob Sterling launched R804.com, a blog about Richmond, VA and not only does he make the unsubstantiated claim that "there’s more going on in Richmond than on the Lower East Side" but he also fails to thank me for the expert input I offered in the preceding weeks. I don't know what to say other than that's Richmond for ya...

(Young) Pioneers - "Great White Hope"

Shirts Off

Don't get much fan mail around here so when it trickles in I don't waste the opportunity to make it fodder for a post. For example:

Since then, I've been impressed by your posting of great old East Bay punk bands and assorted rarities. But I wasn't inspired to write until today. I didn't think anyone else, let alone an NYC-based weblog, even remembered the Brentwoods. I hadn't thought about them in years, and your post was a great, random memory jog from my teenage years of scouring the garage-rock record racks. Thanks so much.

Here's hoping I can turn that jog into a full-on sprint with Billy Childish and Armitage Shanks. This is the best lo-fi rock-n-brawl song anyone will ever have the pleasure of hearing.

The Wild Billy Childish with Armitage Shanks - "Shirts Off"

Previous picks from the Damaged Goods label: Helen Love, Honeyrider

The Brentwoods

Kick-ass (or alternately, ass-kickin') garage rock released on Hoboken's Telstar Records in '95 with radio intro live from Mario's Pizza.

The Brentwoods - "Do The Bug With Me" b/w "Buri Buri U.S.A."

Thor Is Like Immortal

The guitar nerd's Serpentor: some genetically constructed hybrid of acne and greasy hair, jazz-rock pedantry, Dungeons & Dragons maximum charisma points, suped-up automotive skills, a Metal Up Your Ass t-shirt, the lyrics to every Frank Zappa album, and a sticker on the outside of the '82 Ford Club Wagon that reads IF THE VAN'S A-ROCKIN' DON'T COME A-KNOCKIN'. It's a sad picture, but not quite as sad as the picture when you walk in and this guy is fucking your wife. That's the Fucking Champs.
- Brent S. Sirota, Pitchfork review of Fucking Champs "IV"

Fucking Champs - "Thor Is Like Immortal"

Christmas Without Stockings

Scott Milller (Game Theory) - "Beach State Rocking" (live)