ProtoMartyr - Take Away Show

At first I didn't get that this 7 minute and some odd second video is exactly what it says it is: a take away show. It looked like a video where the band was outdoors, sans electricity and pretending to play their instruments to pre-recorded music. Watch the entire thing though and you see mini amps on the bass and guitar players, you'll notice the drummer working - beautifully I might add - with one drum, and you'll see singer Joe Casey carrying his inflections through onto a very unique performance that just further assures me that, only about two weeks after first discovering Protomartyr they are one of the bands I am most excited about right now.

You Wouldn't Like Thom Yorke When He's Angry...

Holy cow, new music avalanche (more likely I've just had a moment to actually pay attention): Thom Yorke put a track from his new record on Bandcamp. and it's a "name your price" for download folks.

New Erase Errata!

Holy cow, new Erase Errata! It's been quite some time...

I love when a band I really like disappears and kinda fades from my radar - well, I don't love it at first - and then resurfaces unexpectedly with a track this great. It's like finding a sonic $10 in your pocket! New album out in January, though I couldn't find any exact release date or label.

Richard Starkings's Elephantmen...

... is the topic of discussion in this week's edition of Thee Comic Column, over on Joup!

The Pogues - Fairytale of New York live 1988

Best Christmas song ever.

PO'Boy Special - Barely Gettin' By e.p.

Full disclosure: the guitar player/chief songwriter of Po'Boy Special is one of my oldest, dearest friends. But you know, I go so far back with Anthony Barraco that in a way, in the passage of daily life and how it congeals unexpectedly into block of years, decades and then finally, a life, without ever really granting any quarter, well, the Anthony that recorded this record only really overlaps with the Anthony I know a little bit. When we do manage to see each other - once a year at best - we're in catch up, so it wasn't until this past October that I was ever able to relax my trip home a bit and actually see this band - a relatively new band for Anthony - in an intimate practice setting. Not a performance, but a practice, foibles and all. It was amazing, and now that I hear the recorded version of the band I'm really just left speechless. Anthony's not only quite an amazing songwriter but he engineered this at his home on the south side.

Awesome.

The Barely Gettin' By e.p. is available for FREE download on Po'Boy's bandcamp HERE.

You should hear these guys live if you get a chance - they play Double Door, HOB and Hard Rock Cafe on a somewhat consistent basis that seems to only be ramping up. Their cover of Roy Hawkins's The Thrill Is Gone - probably best known performed by, for now, BB King - is just unbelievable.

RIP Joe Cocker

Much respect to Joe Cocker and his passing, even though I will admit, I've never really considered myself a fan. This song though... this song has a special place in my heart. In my single days, when I was a bartender on the South Side of Chicago, I worked with a waitress that will one day be a character in a novel I have half-finished somewhere on my hard drive. She used to like to go out and party after work, and whenever this song came on, well... certain things would follow.

Thanks Joe. Have a blast on the other side.

Protomartyr

Holy cow, this band is fantastic!

Avengers: Age of Ultron Sneak Peak

Via Bloody Disgusting. I am very much looking forward to the second movie in the Avengers franchise. I watched the initial teaser Marvel released in October and was floored - it was everything I wanted it to be and so much more. However subsequently I have sworn off any trailers that follow. I mean, the teaser was almost three minutes long, for fook's sake; I detest the amount of exposure the current trend of five minute trailers gives. My favorite thing is to go into a movie - especially one as anticipated as this - as blind as possible. So what got me to watch this?

Elizabeth Olsen.

Ms. Olsen has been one of my favorite actresses since Martha Marcy May Marlene. She has spectacular talent.

But that's enough! No more until May 1st.

John Constantine Short Film "Soul Play" - NBC learn from this!

This wonderful short film by Waking Dream Studio's is the topic of discussion in this week's edition of Thee Comic Column, over yonder on Joup!

Wytches

... the new series by Scott Snyder and Jock. In the words of my co-host on Drinking with Comics, Mike Wellman, "It's creepy as all hell," and it's the topic on tap in this week's Thee Comic Column over on Joup.

The Babadook

This is playing at Cinefamily this weekend. Gonna try to make it, but my folks are in and I'm thinking this is not something they are going to want to see. Me on the other hand... bring on the Babadook! Looks wicked.

The Neighbourhood - #icanteven

New music from The Neighbourhood! Now where's that second album guys???

Oh yeah, Speaking of FNM...

Right before I left work in West LA today I checked twitter. I'd seen this cryptic Gimp message the other day on FNM's feed and wondered. Well, I almost ran from work and drove straight up to Amoeba Music because they announced a 5-song in store performance today at 6:00 PM. Then I happened to read a little further and realized it was the SF Amoeba location, a mere 8-hour drive north for me and one that I would NEVER hope to make. So if you're a FNM fan and you're in SF, you might wanna head on down. And if you go, Please Please Please hit me back with a comment and let me know what 5 songs they played.

Only about six months until the album...

Faith No More - Motherfucker

I'm admittedly waaaay late on this - I listened to it about a week ago. I've heard a lot of naysayers but honestly, A) I'm not about to judge one of my all-time favorite band's come back on one song and B) I happen to really like the track. It doesn't sound like any other FNM to me and despite how others feel about it, I really dig RB doing the vox on the verses. Ever since seeing them at the Palladium back in 2010, when Roddy's presence on backing vocals and inter-song dialogue was a lot more present than previous I've been interested in hearing more from him. Not that I want to take any vocal duties away from Patton, because he is the man of course, but you know, I think there's room to expand the dynamic even further. I want a FNM album unlike anything I've heard before and this my fellow FNM-friends, is a good start in my book!

Southern Bastards...

...and how it blew my mind this week is the topic of conversation this week in Thee Comic Column.

Zorcom!

While reading the 1983 Storm and Illyana: Magik series this morning I came across a ton of great, nostalgia-inducing ads, as one always does when reading comics from the 80s. This particular one really grabbed my imagination. I don't remember it, don't remember anyone that ever had a Zorcom spaceship, wanted one of even talked about it. But still, this was a thing! To the point that if you look at the copyright at the bottom of the page there (which will most likely be impossible to see even if you can stretch this image) its copyrighted to Zorcom Industries.

There was a place, maybe in an office building, renting a suite, named Zorcom Enterprises, Inc.! Only in the 80s!*

Anyway, there's also an ad for sending away to receive the Zorcom Adventure tapes. After a little snooping around online I found that someone indeed had uploaded this to soundcloud. Truly EVERYTHING is online somewhere, thus furthering my theory that the internet is now actually the physical manifestation of the human collective unconscious.

Enjoy the Zorcom audio series! And if you finish part one and have to know how it all turns out, go to capeofdracula's page on soundcloud, give 'em a follow and dig in for more laser-studded adventures!

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*Okay, probably not - most likely this was run out of someone's garage, but still!

TV On the Radio - Happy Idiot

Wow. Can't wait for the new TVOTR rekkid!

Starry Eyes Trailer

I'd seen the name of this film recently somewhere but it was completely in passing. Then, a few moments ago my wife asked me to check and see if PLaNETS had announced any upcoming shows (she really wants me to see them) and when I went to their FB page I saw a blurb about Starry Eyes and how part of it was apparently filmed in the PLaNETS band house. As soon as I saw the trailer I was in. CREEE-PEEEY!!!

Worm is Green

I discovered this band five or so years ago and then they promptly fell off my radar before I ever had a chance to hear more than just the two songs I found online at the time. I'm remedying that now.

Red Fang - Crows in Swine

I know nothing about Red Fang other than my friend Josh digs them so they must be great. This video completely backs up that assertion.

PLaNETS - Scared Coyote

The day after I left for Chicago my wife went to Silver Lake's The Satellite (formerly Spaceland, where we saw one of the best shows ever in A Place to Bury Strangers) to see a band from LA that we love named Battle Tapes. As she tells it, she arrived before the first band went on, took a table on the floor and ordered a GlenLivet on the rocks and proceeded to be blown away by each band (Chastity Belt & Megafauna also played). PLaNETS however, stole the show, and again, based on how much I love the album and what she's told me about the performance, I can't wait to see this group live.

Psychic Teens Score Dementia AKA The Daughter of Horror

I don't really know much about Psychic Teens, but a friend pointed this out to me the other day and Although I've thus far only seen a small part of it, it looks and sounds amazing.

The Afghan Whigs - Lost in the Woods

I'm sure everyone that would click on this has already seen it; I'm behind. Very behind. I spent two and a half weeks running around the Midwest, played a show in Dayton with a total douche and then returned to LALAland just in time to hit eleven days straight at work AND manage my wife's business during my home hours. Simply put, there's but little to no time to consume any content other than what I could fit on an iPod or in a CD wallet. That said, I found some marvelous stuff that I will get to throwing down here shortly. First though, there's a handful of things that filtered in during the trip via various outlets and I wanted to add them here, not for any real informative reasons since, again, this is essentially old news at this point, but because I actually keep this blog more for myself than anyone else - so yes, I'm essentially at least 51% writing to myself at this moment.

"Can I play with madness...?"

The Forest Children - A Demon at My Door

New video for the first single off one of my band's new records, Angels Weep While the Devil Sings.

Formerly known as Darkness Brings the Cold.

Woman In Black 2 Trailer

The Woman In Black 2: Angel of Death (2014) U.S. Trailer - Click here for another funny movie.

The first Woman In Black was a film that passed right by my radar for a few years until a very picky, old-school horror fan I work with lent it to me with 'highest possible recommendations'.

He wasn't wrong.

I haven't even had a chance to watch this trailer for the sequel yet, but just based on the strength of that first movie I'm looking forward to this one.

Avengers - Age of Ultron Teaser

Second time through this today, still have chills.

Tuneyards Live Performance on KEXP

Last night my cousin Charles treated me to seeing Tuneyards live at Chicago's wonderful Vic Theatre.

A) Amazing. At one point Merrill apologized for her use of the loop pedal that helps create the textures in the band's music. No need to apologize - half the beauty of seeing this band live is watching Merrill create these intricate vocal and percussive loops and then have everyone throw down on top of them.

The band for this tour is: Merrill Garbus - vocals, ukelele, drums, loops, percussion, synths; Nate Brenner - bass (and he is a marvelous bass player), synths, vocals; Abigail Nessen-Bengson - percussion, vocals; Jo Lampert - percussion, vocals; Dani Markham - drums, percussion, vocals. What these people do onstage is amazingly layered, intricate and beautiful.

B) I had not been to the Vic since maybe Tomahawk in the early aughts. LOVE that venue. Great sound.

Also: I'd be remiss if I didn't promote the charity that Tuneyards talked about last night: carrefourcollaborative.org. I donated a dollar, as it was Merrill's humble suggestion. Read about it and then it'd be cool if you did too.

New Primus!

From the forthcoming record Primus and the Chocolate Factory with Fungi Ensemble which I would not even know about if not for Mr. Brown, out 10/21.

Cloud Nothings - Full Set @ Pitchfork

Special thanks to my good friend Jacob for turning me onto these guys a couple years ago. Still haven't picked up their most recent record, but if it's half as good as that last one - which the little bit I've watched of this live set seems to suggest it is - then it's classic.

Video via Pitchfork.

Rimbaud Eyes - Dum Dum Girls

Currently in love with this record. Better late than never. Dum Dum Girls have hit their mark and from here on out I think we're in for some amazing music.

Drinking with Comics #14

Special guest Daniel Pickett, the Action Figure Insider and co-host of Geek Shall Inherit!

The Return of Rick Remender & Matteo Scalera's Black Science...

... is the topic of discussion this week in Thee Comic Column, over there on Joup!

Independence?

To my brothers and sisters in Scotland, all the wonderful people I've met there - no matter what you choose I wish you nothing but the best and stand with you in spirit, if not in person (for almost ten bloody years now!)

I'm having a flashback right at the moment, as about six months ago I read Sean-Paul Thomas' Cafe Independence, which takes place on the night of the historic vote.

Thrice Great

The Smug Brothers

Speaking of the Smug Brothers...

Trailer: The Houses October Built

The Houses October Built (2014) Trailer #1 - Celebrity bloopers here

I watched this the other day and wasn't quite sure how to take it. Watched it again tonight and was way more interested. I know very little about this flick, and that's usually the way I like to go into these things. There's enough in this trailer to make me think it's worth checking out. Cuz yeah, it's almost October, the most wonderful time of the year!!!

Gang of Four - I Love a Man in Uniform (Re-recorded)

Speaking of Post-Punk...

I'll admit, I had some trouble getting into Gang of Four initially. That's Entertainment sprawls a bit, and as much as I loved their sound upon hearing it I never really liked the way that sound was represented by their recordings. Slowly though I got used to it, mostly through the incredibly original musicianship going on with all instruments involved (the guitar on Tourist! Oh my...) but the rift with the recording kind of prevented me from digging any deeper.

At some point a man I respect very much, Dayton, Ohio's Larry Evans - of The Smug Brothers - told me in a beer-fueled conversation that I was doing myself a great disservice not digging deeper into Gang of Four's catalog. Almost at the same time Mr. Brown sent me a copy of the retrospective A Brief History of the 20th Century, which featured the original version of the above song, I Love a Man in Uniform. I gravitated back to this particular track again and again and it made me curious...

Sometime later I wanted to return the favor to Mr. Brown so on one of the occasions that he visited us we hit up a local record store and I picked up a copy of Return the Gift for him. At the time I had no idea it was an album of re-recordings of classic GOF songs. We popped that disc into the stereo and lo and behold here it was! The Gang of Four record I had been waiting for. All those classic records are fine - there's still several I need to explore, but the recording on these new versions are just fantastic; crisp, clear and very much what these guys deserve to sound like. Hard to imagine a band doing this and having it make such a stronger impression - maybe this is mostly because I don't have the history with these guys that other do, but here's the original version of the song - you tell me if the new one doesn't trump it by about 1000%.

Liars - Brats Official Video

How did I miss the video to my favorite track off 2012's WIXIW? These guys have always treated the video component to their music super experimentally and it's made them unlike any other band I know. Go back and watch their video for 2010's Scissors off the Sisterworld album, or this years Mess on a Mission. If this intrigues you and you've never seen it, the album that got me into Liars was Drum's Not Dead; not only is it a fantastic record that is 100% peerless, but there are three video versions of the album that come with the disc and every one of them employs groundbreaking and surrealistic takes on the band's music that completely enhance the experience of the music.

Eagulls - Live Performance on KEXP

Okay, I hate to use genre monikers, especially when you get into sub genres, as I'm about to, however there are a few of these that I find extremely helpful and on the nose when discussing similarities between certain bands/scenes. One is Post-Punk. I know, usually you slap "post" on anything and it immediately sounds pretentious. That's fine; pretension is sometimes warranted and sometimes good. ESPECIALLY when discussing Post-Punk groups such as Gang of Four, Bauhaus, Savages, Wire, The Teardrop Explodes and Magazine. There's been quite a resurgence in Post-Punk these last couple of years and Eagulls definitely fits into it. Expect more of these guys here; like I said earlier, I am in hardcore love with this record.

Eagulls - Soulless Youth

I am absolutely in LOVE with Eagulls debut 2014 record. Oh my. As Mr. Brown said after sending this my way, they'd make a great double bill with Savages.

Grant Morrison & Frazer Irving's Annihilator...

...is the topic of discussion in this week's Thee Comic Column over there on Joup. Published monthly by Legendary Comics (that's the comics arm of Legendary Pictures, the fine folks who endeared themselves to me forever by releasing The Dark Knight Rises and Pacific Rim) Annihilator's first issue sets up what I'm thinking is going to be one hell of a unique tale by mind-fuck master Grant Morrison, with beautiful art by Frazer Irving, who did some of the creepiest art I've ever seen in both Morrison's Klarion the Witch Boy and the penultimate arc of his Batman and Robin series.

Drinking with Comics Half-Pint

New Half-Pint entry into our 'micro-series' where we discuss Eric Powell's The Goon, his collaboration with John Carpenter on the Big Trouble In Little China sequel book from BOOM! Studios and, er, social ills and how pouring beer on yourself can help them...?

Trailer: David Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars

This looks nuts, but in a very restrained, new Cronenberg kind of way. Which is good.

My Suggestions for the Top 5 Graphic Novels Everyone Should Read

This week's Thee Comic Column over on Joup is the 100th edition! To celebrate I've compiled this list - it's not necessarily a list of my favorite five - though it's probably close - but the suggestions I would give to anyone - my mom, your sister, Sister Ray, Billy Joel - whoever on how to break in to comics. Because honestly, I feel these books transcend whatever anyone could expect of them and could all shatter whatever misconceptions keep people from giving the comics/GN's a fair shake.

Scratch Acid - Live Set in Austin, 1985

The sound quality isn't spectacular but it's from 19-freakin'-85 so what could we expect, eh? Mr. Brown sent this to me some time ago and I'm (criminally) just getting around to watching it now. Yow is in good form, although he doesn't seem quite as insane as his Lizard days. I should add I never had the chance to see Scratch Acid live but became a fan after reverse engineering from The Jesus Lizard. This is pure musical archeology here; for the record, as it were.

Serengeti - The Whip

Okay, I kind of feel as though I'm doing this song a disservice pulling it out of the context of Serengeti's breathtaking 2011 record Family and Friends but I just have to. If the album's a masterpiece - which it most assuredly is - then this song is the pinnacle of that masterpiece; the facet in which every theme reaches a harmonic crescendo of skill and emotion that vibrates at an occult frequency that affects the listener - or at least this listener - in a way that feels as though it confirms and encapsulates life and all its highs and lows in their entirety. This track makes me straight up cry.

Good show Serengeti. Once, long ago I was foolishly afraid you would always be Kenny Dennis, the "Dennehy" guy. You're not that guy anymore; by my count your just about the only person making rap music left that is still worth a damn and Family and Friends is a hip hop masterpiece that completely transforms and transcends the genre.
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I interviewed Serengeti back in 2010. You can find both parts to that here and here.

Drinking w/ Comics #12

Had a great time doing this one! Jessica was truly gracious, the Lost Coast Brewery Downtown Brown has replaced every other Brown Ale as my favorite and the Rick Remender drinking game is officially retired!

Stray Toasters!

Bill Sienkiewicz's Stray Toasters is the topic of discussion in this week's Thee Comic Column over on Joup. This book freaked me out as a kid and, honesty, still freaks me out to this day.

Body Count Covers ST's Institutionalized - and it's Awesome!

My friend Missi just told me about this. I laughed out loud.