Monday, November 09, 2009

Tumescent adolescent

And so the recent blogging renaissance continues and — only because somebody needs to break the chain before it stretches toward infinity — I will not apologise to the previous poster for displacing his extremely worthy and eminently readable submission. But do have a hunt for it below.

This is a music blog. But sometimes, even for those who really love the rock, music sucks. The record collection looks resolutely uninspiring, Row after row of mid 90s indie rock albums stare back at you like an insolent challenge to any remaining pretensions you might have towards some kind of current hipness.

Neighbours come round for a BBQ and you resort to chucking the ipod on and hitting shuffle, then are left to wonder exactly how and when Christina Aguilera's Dirrty got on there.

You look at hipster bibles like pitchfork and everything looks worthy and uninspiring and overhyped and basically like a shittier version of something you already have that was almost certainly better when done in your day.

So a guy I know who goes by the sobriquet “Dante Hicks” recommended this blog to me and it seems like some sort of temporary answer. I am passing on that recommendation to you.

Check out http://soundweave.blogspot.com/ which specialises in stuff that sounds like it would be fantastic, even if it doesn't always SOUND fantastic.

Reading these descriptions I pretty much want to download all of them. Whether it is Loan and their blend of “Stoner/Sludge/Doom Metal” from Bilbao, Spain (which allegedly sounds like a cross between Sabbath and something called Electric Wizard) or the Tel Aviv-based TV Buddhas, whose album, The Golden Period, is listed as “garage, psych, blues, noise-rock. guitar/drums duo.”

There is Italian “folk metal” and Polish “post-rock/psych”. All downloadable at the click of a button. I am waiting for TV Buddhas to finish downloading as we speak. I am also slightly intrigued by France's Chico Magnetic Band, allegedly a blend of Hendrix, Alice Cooper and Funkadelic and described as “SO BAD it lights a fire in my head, creates a fevered dickswell and comes close to bursting my heart every time I spin it.”

Will let you know in due time if I experience the fevered dickswell.

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5 Comments:

Blogger Unrelenting Tedium said...

It is thoughtful of you to pass this on. This globetrotting could be fun. I worry my ability to sit through any music other than squid ink may be diminishing with age. Onanism is a full-time occupation.

9/11/09 22:18  
Blogger silky-D said...

well he does accept submissions from obscure, unsigned bands... the main reason for putting us forward, I think, would be to see the genre descriptors allocated to the Ink sound.

9/11/09 22:31  
Blogger Paddy said...

Some of these albums are crackers. I have been enjoying The Bronzed Chorus and Turing Machine. However I am sorry to report that my fevered dick failed to react appropriately to the alarmingly poor Chico's Magnetic Band. An important tip for the band before the sessions later this month: not quite so much hippy-shit-echo drenched over everything, eh?

What do people think of people doing Hendrix covers? Yes, OK, Stevie Ray's Little Wing was pretty good, and Derek & The Dominoes version wasn't bad, even my own brother's version impressed knowledgable listeners but in general I wouldn't have thought that Hendrix's songwriting was his strong point.

Cross Town Traffic is a genuinely ordinary song. Why would you cover it if you didn't have Hendrix playing lead for you? Madness, really.

11/11/09 16:09  
Blogger Unrelenting Tedium said...

I overlooked pointing out that their is no shame in having Dirrty on your ipod...it is xtina's strongest work with, imho, Come On Over the only competition.

I always quite liked Crosstown Traffic. Yes, there are few good Hendrix covers...I agree with your point that there is too much hendrix in there to remove them. I reckon he wrote some pretty strong songs though.

I think the problem is more that all the songs are far too well known. It is like beatles covers or even AC/DC covers. The songs are already part of your DNA.

11/11/09 18:03  
Blogger Unrelenting Tedium said...

In addition I am not overly conviced it is ever a good idea to actually record a cover. Playing it live is an excellent idea. I am yet to hear a tribute album that I haven't thought was end to end crap.

11/11/09 18:04  

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