Frumpzilla

Jam of the Wednesday: Big Star

Guess what, Frumpsters. After life, there is death. Death after life, or something. Shocking, we know.

When we honored Mark Linkous in our last “And on the 7th Day…God Created Jam,” we noted that it was an exception (those Jams are typically reserved for “contemporary” music (90’s onward)). We make an exception today as well in this “Jam of the Wednesday” (the posts that usually focus on the 90’s onward). Alex Chilton, of The Box Tops and Big Star “fame,” has passed away, and we figured it was pretty much a necessity that we bend the rules a bit with this Wednesday’s Jam(s).  Though Chilton’s work with The Box Tops is nothing to scoff at, especially The Letter, we’re gonna be focusing on Big Star.

Believe it or else, if you weren’t aware already,  the influence Big Star’s work has had on alternative and indie rock/power pop music has extremely few rivals.  Don’t take our word for it, though.  Let’s see:   “[Big Star is] the quintessential American power pop band…and one of the most mythic and influential cult acts in all of rock & roll.” – Allmusic; “[Big star produced] a seminal body of work that never stopped inspiring succeeding generations.” – Rolling Stone. “September Gurls was and is the sine qua non of power pop; a glorious, glittering jewel with every facet cut and shined to absolute perfection…a peerless, aching distillation of love and longing. [It] may not actually be the greatest song ever recorded, but for the duration of its 2:47 running time, you can be forgiven for believing it is.” -The Ultimate Power Pop Guide.

We’ll let you judge for yourself.  Make the jump for a few more cuts from Big Star and Alex Chilton.  RIP.

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James Brown’s body may have harbored even more soul than previously thought

LaRhonda Pettit, the Godfather of Soul’s illegitimate daughter, presumably broke out in a cold sweat over the news that her father’s body has apparently gotten up off that crypt that was housing his body in South Carolina and is now, thusly, out of sight.  It’s true, James Brown’s body is missing, and, given the controversy regarding the circumstances surrounding his death, I’ve got the feeling  that this could turn out to be a super bad situation.

Upon Brown’s passing back in 2006, initial reports suggested it was the drugs, alcohol and painkillers the hardest working man in show business was doing to death that brought about his demise at the tender age of 73.  Ms. Pettit, however, believed there was foul play, but her requests for an autopsy have been repeatedly denied.  In light of this, LaRhonda now thinks her father’s body is being hidden to ensure a full post-mortem examination is never performed, sparing any alleged perpetrators the big payback that would surely await them once discovered.

Of course, strange things happen, and there’s certainly a chance, however slim, that Brown may be back up on the good foot, living in America and making it funky in ways never thought possible.  In that case, who knows, perhaps Brown will be delivering the payback himself.  Either way, this bizarre story is sure to leave many feeling bewildered.

Source: The Daily Mail (The Admiral with the link and shoop)

And on the 7th Day…God created Jam: Sparklehorse

Frumpzilla's classic jam of the week features Tommy Bolin

Typically we reserve our classic jams feature for stuff pre-1990. However, given the loss of Mark Linkous over the weekend, today we’re gonna make an exception. Linkous, probably most readily known for his work as Sparklehorse, apparently committed suicide outside a friend’s home in Tennessee on Saturday (shot himself in the heart). Sad day, and a shame he won’t get to see the official release of Dark Night of the Soul, which, after a highly publicized bout of legal problems, is finally supposed to hit the market this year.

As a memorial, here’s three cuts from Linkous as Sparklehorse, including two from the Dark Night of the Soul album (featuring Super Furry Animals’ Gruff Rhys and The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne, respectively). Rest in peace.

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Jam of the Wednesday: Phoenix

Guess what, Frumpsters: Tickets for our favorite band from Paris, France went on sale today in our neck of the woods.  You know what that means?  It means they make an easy plug in for a our weekly Jam of the Wednesday feature. 

Don’t worry. We won’t offer you anything that’s been picked up by a Cadillac commercial. We’ve been following them since United leaked, so we’re not your average group of nouveau-Phoenix fans.  Make the jump for two more from Thomas Mars and the rest of the les gars from Phoenix. Oh, and we’re making a conscious effort to show off their range…

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Centro-matic’s Will Johnson wants to serenade you…in your living room.

In what’s certainly one of the more intriguing tours I’ve heard about in quite some time, Will Johnson (Centro-Matic, Monsters of Folk, South San Gabriel, solo) and Anders Parker (Varnaline, Gob Iron, solo) are just dying to fill fans’ living rooms with some organic alt-country rock come the end of March.

You can find out more details at Centro-matic’s site, but here’s the gist: If your house has an indoor space capable of comfortably hosting about 30-45 people (and you have a couple of chairs for Will and Anders to sit on), there’s a chance you could be seeing these two modern indie troubadours, in the flesh, from the comfort of your own home .

It’s not a contest or anything. You just need to contact them to let ‘em know you’re interested. If your humble abode is deemed worthy, you get 5 free tickets; the rest are twenty bucks a pop, sold and marketed only via the artists’ websites. So yeah, you may have a few strangers in the house that evening, but you’ll know their names beforehand, and at least you’ll all have the unequivocal bond of shared musical taste to help break the ice.

If this is the first time you’ve heard of Will Johnson or any of his related projects, make the jump for a couple, whistler wetting, cuts. Oh, and who knows…maybe we’ll meet in some stranger’s living room some time over the next couple months…

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Jam of the…Wednesday: Surfer Blood

It’s wednesday, so that means it’s time for a new jam!  This week I bring you an offering from the youngins from Florida, Surfer Blood.  I’m a big fan of their new album, ‘Astro Coast’.  This is a fun album with “Big” guitarwork.  I’m reminded of early Weezer(ya know, when they were good), Pavement, and maybe a harder Velvet Underground.  Do yourself a favor, look em up.  Here is a single off ‘Astro Coast’, “Swim”.

Juggalo News

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m really not all that familiar with Insane Clown Posse and their music, although I guess I may be proud of that. I’ve also learned what a “juggalo” is just today, but then that probably only adds to my aforementioned point of pride.

Well, apparently juggalos now have a news channel tailored specifically to their kind and culture. Seriously, utterly fascinating. Enjoy, but please mind the rather harsh, esoteric language…

If you still need some help defining just what the hell a “juggalo” is, apparently this is a fairly good place to start, and thanks to dbj for educating me in the mysterious ways of the juggalo.

New Broken Social Scene!

It’s been 5 years since we’ve had an album released under the name Broken Social Scene that wasn’t followed by ‘Presents’.  That all finally ends on May 4th when their new album “Forgiveness Rock Record” graces our presence(album art above).  BSS lineups have varied in the past and have a tendency to get a bit largel, but according to frontman Kevin Drew, this album was written and performed by a core group of 6.  Of course, in true BSS style, that core group may not be the only ones playing on any particular track.  Guests on this album include Leslie Feist, Stars’ Amy Millan and Evan Cranley, Metric’s Emily Haines and Jimmy Shaw, Jason Collett, and of course more.

As if you had any doubts on whether or not this release will stack up with prior BSS albums, the recent single release should ease your mind.  Below, feel free to listen to the 7 minute “World Sick”, which is the first track we’re able to hear off FRR.  Also, after the frump, you can give your email address and BSS will let you download your very own version of the song.  Enjoy!

Broken Social Scene - World Sick

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And on the 7th Day…God Created Jam: Love Ain’t for Keeping

Well, Valentine’s Day is coming to a close.  If you haven’t gotten around to showing off your sausage skills yet, your opportunities have just about exhausted themselves, so why not close out the night with a classic jam (and one that is certainly topical)?

It’s true, love ain’t for keeping.  I stand firmly by that notion, as do The Who.  Sure, maybe some say Pete Townshend allegedly should have kept a bit more of his love to himself, but, tonight, that’s neither here nor there.  Take this one in, and take it in well.  Together.  It’s short and sweet, and, curiously, happens to be followed up on the album by a song about escaping from one’s wife (after the jump).  You be the judge of that.  Happy Valentine’s Day, Frumpsters!

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And on the 7th Day…God Created Jam: BB&A’s Superstition

In honor of Super Bowl Sunday, I held back on our weekly classic jam feature til today. All apologies.

90% of the time, I prefer originals to covers (every time), but occasionally you have to make an exception — Namely, when the cover in question just jams your frumpin’ pants off as much as this one does.

I guess the fact that Stevie Wonder actually wrote this for Jeff Beck helps, too. However, Stevie’s manager apparently liked the song so much that he insisted Wonder record it first (which he did), and the rest is history. Wonder instead offered “Since We’ve Ended As Lovers” to Beck as an exclusive, and Beck pressed that on his landmark fusion jazz album, Blow By Blow (1975).

You can find “Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers” after the frump, but, for now, here’s Beck, Bogert and Appice’s cover of “Superstition.” Check your volume, and hold onto to your frumpin’ pants…

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Jam of…the Wednesday: Underwhelmed

So it’s Wednesday, and it’s time to JAM (contemporarily, or something).  Today we bring you a jam from one of my (Ciaran’s) all time favorite bands; a little indie group out of Halifax, Nova Scotia that goes by the name of “Sloan.”  If it were up to me, I’d make sure the entire Frumpzilla community was Sloaned to hell, but, alas, I have no desire to hog our Jam of the Wednesday feature.

With that in mind, I’m just offering you Sloan’s first (and arguably only) “hit” south of the border.  If you appreciate clever, tongue-in-cheek lyrics (and puns), you’ll enjoy it.  If, moreover, you enjoy that classic story of being irretrievably into a girl (or guy, I guess) that you ultimately realize is just not that into you, you’ll love it.

Here’s 1992’s Underwhelmed (it’s actually not a word (Chris Murphy looked it up)).  Sloan’s sound evolved rather drastically after this (for the better, somewhat, in my opinion), but this still ranks as one of their (and the 90’s) all-time classic jams…

And on the 7th Day…God Created Jam: Chest Fever

Man…we’ve been waiting to frump this one bad. Several frumpsters have had several golden, “Listening While Impaired” (LWI) experiences with this one (or Listening Under the Influence (LUI), depending on the state (so to speak)).

On an album/sessions that produced timeless classics like The Weight, Tears of Rage, I Shall Be Released, In A Station, Katie’s Been Gone, and Lonesome Suzie, there was one track that truly JAMMED. We frump it for you here: Chest Fever, off The Band’s debut album “Music From Big Pink.”

Make the jump for a couple of the aforementioned cuts (Including a really strange video for Katie’s Been Gone (and no, not The Weight. You’ve heard that at least 500 times already. Oh, and special thanks to Bob Dylan)). (more…)

Jam of the Wednesday: Ponderosa

Ponderosa are an unsigned quintet from Athens (and Atlanta) Georgia. After seeing their live performance and getting a copy of their EP, Moonlight Revival, I think their “unsigned” status will only last as long as they choose.

Fans of older Black Crowes material and Ryan Adams (or Whiskeytown era Ryan Adams) and the Stones will love their EP.

Check out more from Ponderosa here…

And on the 7th Day…God created Jam: Headhunters

Well, I couldn’t let The GingerHead Man be the only Frumpster to miss a deadline this week, and thus I’m bringing you Frumpzilla’s weekly, classic jam feature a day late.

The changes don’t stop there; we’re switching gears quite a bit by frumping an entirely different genre than we have the previous two weeks: Fusion Jazz. Not just any fusion jazz, mind you, but arguably the most influential example of it in the whole frumpin’ history of popular music.

Herbie Hancock’s 1973 Headhunters didn’t just influence other jazz artists either. Even a quick listen should enable the most casual of musicologists to discern how Hancock’s then novel combination of jazz, funk, R&B, African, and Rock elements has inevitably impacted the same forms, and a relatively new one in Hip Hop, to this day.

Here we have the first track on the album; Hancock’s radical reworking of the Jazz standard he had released a decade earlier: “Watermelon Man.” You can find a more detailed review of the album we frumped awhile back here, but, if you prefer more listening to reading, just make the jump for another, possibly more familiar, cut from Headhunters…

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early access: Broken Bells

Since the GingerHeadMan let us all down by neglecting to do this Wednesday Jam, the Admiral is here to save the week.

The upcoming album by Broken Bells is the side project of James Mercer(The Shins) with  Danger Mouse (Gnarls Barkley, The Grey Album).

The record isn’t out yet, but it has leaked all over the intertronz and should not be hard to find for those who know how to work Google the way it was meant to be worked.

If you’re old school and want to actually only listen to it AFTER you buy it, then you’ll have to wait until March 9th, 2010. With a leak occurring this far in advance, though, I’m going to guess that release date is pushed upped drastically.

For now, listen and enjoy…and make the jump for another Broken Bells cut.

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