#J Mascis + The Fog

[jt1674]

[bruciesexecutivelifestyleautos]

j saying “stretch it out, let me taste you”

[greensparty]

Nirvana Boston: Part 3 - MIT

This year marks 35 years since the release of Nirvana’s debut album Bleach and it also marks 30 years since the passing of Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain. In honor of one of my Top 3 Favorite Musicians of All Time, I’m doing a multi-part series Nirvana Boston, in which I’ll look at all of the concerts Nirvana did in Boston. Part 1 looked at their July 1989 show at Green Street Station and Part 2 look at their April 1990 show at Man Ray.

The third installment of this series is their second MA show of 1990!

April 21, 1990 Senior House at MIT (Cambridge, MA)

the show flyer

Earlier in the week, Nirvana did a show at Cambridge club Man Ray. Then they left town and did at show at Swarthmore College in PA on April 20 and then they returned to Boston for a show that Saturday on the MIT campus in Cambridge. The band's lineup at this time was Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Chad Channing (who was in his final months with the band). A new stage had been built at the courtyard, but the show was moved to the basement of the Senior House due to the rain. Also on the bill that show was Little Debbie and Boston band Slaughter Shack (around the same time they were in the Rock and Roll Rumble). I spoke to Slaughter Shack vocalist Colin Burns who says "The thing that was amazing was that we were down the street from The Middle East that we had played before, but the people at the show at MIT seemed like they had never been to a show before. The energy level was just crazy. Like we brought rock to this college." He went on to say "I remember it was one of the most exciting crowds we had played to in a long time".

The band's contract for the show and the stage set-up

Cobain at Senior House, photo by Stacey Egan

Channing at Senior House, photo by JJ Gonson

Novoselic at Senior House, photo by JJ Gonson

According to a Nirvana live website "Krist ripped one or two bones off the wall from a sign spelling out "Sport Death" (a Senior House motto) and used one to play half of a song on his bass. He ended up sarcastically apologizing when a few members of the audience got upset, according to attendees." Local photographer JJ Gonson, who hosted Nirvana at her apartment the previous year, got some pics and she recalls "it was very hot. I have photos fogged by the steaminess."

Cobain backstage before the show, photo by JJ Gonson

I wasn't able to find much in the way of recordings of this show or a setlist of what was played, but my guess is it was similar to the Man Ray show with a lot of Bleach-era songs.

Next MA show: This series is specific to shows that Nirvana did in Boston, but it is worth noting that the band did a show less than a week later on April 27 at Hampshire College's SAGA in Amherst, MA as part of an Amnesty International benefit. J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. (who was actually asked to join Nirvana) reportedly was the sound engineer at that show.

Up Next: Part 4 at their 1991 show at Axis as part of the WFNX Birthday Bash.

[doyourememberrocknrollradio]

J Mascis and The Fog - Lessons In My Life (Peter Tosh)

[hiwasseeriver]

no more superbowl only sad shit .

[the-final-straw-blog]

Comics, Collage and Anti-Copaganda with Johnny Damm

This week, a new contributor, Ian, talks to cartoonist and educator Johnny Damm about his recent releases I’m a cop, featuring dialogue from Police Union speeches and Riot Comics: Tompkins Square Park, which explores the 1988 Tompkins Square Riot in which Police evicted an unhoused encampment in the park on New York’s Lower East Side. They discuss the collage technique by which Damm assembles his comics, how his work dovetails with the larger work of abolition, and the role of propaganda in movement-making. Listeners can follow Johnny Damm on twitter @dammjohnny (with two m’s) and on IG @johnny.damm. His website is JohnnyDamm.com

Transcript

PDF (Unimposed)

Zine (Imposed PDF)

Also notable, are Damm's influence by Jack Halberstam's ideas that became the book The Queer Art of Failure ala the Failure Biographies book, and Damm's representations of the Compton's Cafeteria Riot, a similar but smaller trans and queer uprising in San Francisco  in 1966, preceding the more famous Stone Wall Riots of 1969 in New York City.

. ... . ..

Featured Track:

More Light by J Mascis and The Fog from More Light

Check out this episode!

[mannytoodope]

A great figure in alternative rock born today is Joseph Donald Mascis Jr. (born December 10, 1965) known as J. Mascis he is a  musician and singer-songwriter best known as the lead singer of the band Dinosaur Jr had a hand in shaping  90's alternative rock they weren't plastered everywhere but, they still made a great impression for serious fans.  I  became interested in them after I saw their video " Feel the Pain" directed by Spike Jones. whenever I hear that song I feel like I'm 15 wearing a Stüssy t-shirt. Mascis has released a number of solo albums that has the sound of Dinosaur Jr. only with his approach he has and has worked with a number of great artists including, Thurston Moore and many others Mascis is fantastic with unique sounds on his guitar and will continue to have that signature long hair and put out great music for a long time.

[cardest]

Boston, Salem & MA playlist

Ever been to Boston and Salem in Massachusetts? I hope to someday soon. Salem, Bruins, Cape Cod, Edgar Allen Poe, the history! Many great bands hail from Boston and Massachusetts, like Dinosuar Jr, Aerosmith and Guerilla Toss...ugh! So many bands. Converge, Isis, Cave-In, Pixies, Magic Circle....Not to mention the songs about Salem, MA and the witch trials, Edgar Allen Poe, Emily Dickinson and even Lizzy Bordon (in RI section).  The history of this region is fascinating. The Pilgrims and the Boston Tea Party etc. Many songs about this period of time. Hope you enjoy this playlist. Also I threw in a little Rhode Island and New Hampshire too.

Remember people, live life deliciously!

001 Times Of Grace - Strength In Numbers 002 Boston - Peace of Mind 003 Dinosaur Jr - Freak Scene 004 Pixies - trompe le monde 005 Cheers TV show - Opening 006 Aerosmith - Beyond Beautiful 007 The Byrds - Boston 008 Dave Loggins - Please Come To Boston 009 The Sensational Alex Harvey Band - Boston Tea Party 010 Buffalo Tom - Crutch 011 Escuela Grind - No Worship 012 Made Out Of Babies - Grimace (The Ruiner) 013 dropkick murphys -for boston 014 Lemonheads - Hate Your Friends 015 The Cars - Drive 016 Morphine - Honey White 017 The Breeders - Cannonball 018 Isis - Ghost Key 019 Better Than Ezra - Normal Town 020 Killswitch Engage - Starting Over 021 Converge -  Sadness Comes Home 022 Grief - Come To Grief 023 Aerosmith - Draw The Line 024 Dinosaur Jr. -  Watch the Corners 025 Friend & Lover - Boston is a lovely town 026 Magic Circle -  Departed Souls 027 All Pigs Must Die - Hungry Wolf, Easy Prey 028 Shadows Fall - The Light That Blinds 029 The Bee Gees- 'Massachusetts' 030 Belly - Feed The Tree 031 Boston - Rock and Roll Band 032 The Pixies - Planet Of Sound 033 Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra - Massachusetts Avenue 034 Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch - Good Vibrations 035 The Rosebuds - Back To Boston 036 Cave In - Inspire 037 Pearl Jam - Brain of J. 038 Tool - Sweat 039 Adam Ant - Bright Lights Black Leather 040 Tristania - My Lost Lenore 041 Nevermore - This Godless Endeavor 042 The Kingston Trio - MTA 043 Ylvis - Massachusetts 044 Captain Beefheart - 25th Century Quaker 045 Elder - Deadweight 046 Morne - Coming Of Winter 047 Lou Reed - I Wanna Be Black 048 Lyres - Boston 049 Rotting Christ - The Raven 050 Killswitch Engage- Rose Of Sharyn 051 Macabre - Boston Strangler Albert de Salvo 052 Dar Williams - Flinty Kind of Woman 053 STEELY DAN, The Boston Rag 054 The Beach Boys - Do You Like Worms 055 The Freeze-This is Boston not LA 056 Art Gruthie - Massachusetts 057 THE CARS _ Good Times Roll 058 Richard Band - Re-Animator OST Prologue - Main Title 059 Gang Green - Skate To Hell 060 Guerilla Toss - Come Up With Me 061 Karyn Crisis' Gospel of the Witches -Salem's Wounds 062 Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Agorapocalypse now 063 the MODERN LOVERS _Roadrunner_ 1972 064 Edgar Allen Poe - Black Cat 065 Rammstein - Stein um Stein 066 The Necromancers - Salem Girl Part I 067 Orange Goblin - Sons Of Salem 068 Danny Elfman - [Sleepy Hollow OST] Main Titles 069 King Diamond - Abigail 070 The Cult - The Witch 071 Witch - Eye 072 Cavalera Conspiracy -  The Crucible 073 Queens Of The Stone Age -  Burn The Witch 074 Salem - Witch Burning 075 Danny Elfman - [Sleepy Hollow OST] Into The Woods (The Witch) 076 Clutch - Sucker for the Witch 077 Bewitched TV show  - Theme 078 John Zorn - Witchfinder 079 Blood Ceremony -  The Witch's Dance 080 Billy Talent - The dead can't Testify 081 The Misfits -  Witch Hunt 082 Rob Zombie - Lords Of Salem 083 Acid Witch -  Witchfynder Finder 084 King Diamond - Salem 085 The Cramps Big Black Witchcraft Rock 086 Mount Salem - Lucid 087 Sleepy Hollow TV SHow - Main Theme 088 Demons & Wizards - Beneath These Waves 089 Hexvessel -  Woman of Salem 090 Cradle of Filth - Her Ghost in the Fog 091 Metal Church - Of Unsound mind 092 Lich King -  Ed-209 093 Disrupt - Religion is a Fraud 094 The Witch OST - Witch's Coven 095 Fuming Mouth - Out of the Shadows 096 Abigail Williams - Acolytes 097 Clutch -  Worm Drink 098 1476 - A Circle Of Hope & Despair 099 Sleepy Hollow (2014) Soundtrack 100 Pixies - All Over the World 101 Sonic Youth - New Hampshire 102 Meliah Rage - Absolute Power 103 Albert Goes West - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds 104 Symphony X - King of Terrors 105 Alan Vega - American Dreamer 106 Van Der Graaf Generator - Pilgrims 107 ZZ Top  - I Thank You 108 Walt Disney's Johnny Tremain, _The Sons of Liberty 109 Paul Simon - American Tune (LP version) 110 SAXON - Sailing to America 111 Old Man Gloom  - Skullstorm 112 Mastodon -  I Am Ahab 113 Patti Page - Old Cape Cod 114 Ty Seagull - Archangel Thunderbird 115 Morphine - Buena 116 Manticora - On a Sea of Grass 117 Young Widows -  Old Skin 118 Hurriganes - Slippin And Slidin 119 Glacier - O World! I Remain No Longer Here. 120 Marissa Nadler - Blue Vapor 121 SEA - Penumbra 122 Vital Remains - Infidel 123 Throwing Muses - Bright Yellow Gun 124 Ike and Tina Topless Turner - Sweet Rhode Island Red 125 Flotsam and Jetsam -  She Took an Axe 126 Lizzy Borden - Council for the Cauldron 127 Rob Noyes - Further off 128 The Real Kids - All Kindsa Girls 129 Immunerable Forms - Puritys Demand 130 Blonde Redhead  - Inside You 131 Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Agorapocalypse Now 132 Wear Your Wounds - Adrift In You 133 Howlin' Rain - Phantom In The Valley 134 J Mascis - Every Morning 135 Killswitch Engage - The Signal Fire (feat. Howard Jones) 136 Refuse Resist - _Still in Massachusetts 137 Church of Misery - Boston Strangler 138 City On A Hill TV show - Opening Theme 139 Pixies - U-Mass 140 Warhorse - Amber Vial 141 Zozobra - The Cruelest Cut 142 REVOCATION - Scattering The Flock 143 Metal Church - Of unsound mind 144 Seven Spires - Drowner Of Worlds 145 Boston Legal - TV show theme song 146 Converge -  Trespasses 147 Cave In - Anchor 148 Give up the Ghost - Love American 149 Dinosaur Jr. - Tiny 150 Boston Bruins theme song - Lets Go Bruins 151 Buffalo Tom - Staples 152 Trap Them - [Crown Feral #02] Hellionaires 153 Knights Of Bostonia - State Radio 154 Juliana Hatfield 3 - Feelin Massachusetts 155 The Red Chord  - Hymns And Crippled Anthems 156 CLUTCH - Emily Dickinson 157 New Kids On The Block - Step By Step 158 MELIAH RAGE - Decline of rule 159 Belly - Gepetto 160 AEROSMITH - Get A Grip 666 Denis Leary  - ASSHOLE  Also, check out the awesome L.A Witch Halloween Quarantine playlist at: https://floodmagazine.com/82347/l-a-witch-quarantine-helloween-playlist/?fbclid=IwAR3QRJEIMt57z-X_Zrfx5Ae7rjLkLdpOnjes6iv4yczqxAvLcG3OdfCulWw

[cordycepsspore]

J Mascis & The Fog - Back Before You Go

[dustedmagazine]

Dust Volume 4, Number 9

The Long Hots

We enter the pumpkin latte season with a full slate of short reviews, covering both anticipated and overlooked releases from rock, pop, jazz, punk and unclassifiable genres. Contributors this time included Bill Meyer, Ethan Covey, Jennifer Kelly, Isaac Olson, Jonathan Shaw and Justin Cober-Lake.  

Baked – II (Exploding in Sound)

II by Baked

Baked, out of Brooklyn, belches a lava flow of viscous guitar sound over sweetly unassuming pop melodies. If J. Mascis ever wrote a song to impress the women of Look Blue Go Purple, if Beat Happening experimented with a whacked out set of fuzz pedals, it might sound a bit like this – in short, it’s fetching DIY pop with serious muscles under the anorak. When soft, vulnerable tune meets the bristling heft of feedback, there’s a palpable fizz, never more so than on “Hope You’re Happy,” sung by Isabella Mingione. “The Hartlett Anthem” does the same trick with Jeremy Aquilino singing tender hooks over the droning surf of dissonance like a sleepier Teenage Fanclub. This particular recording is Baked’s third, after 2014’s Debt and 2017’s Farnham but earns the “II” by being the second in Exploding in Sound’s Tape Club series. That’s undoubtedly why it’s so short, but brevity is tantalizing. These five songs leave you wanting more.

Jennifer Kelly

 Big Blood — Operate Spaceship Earth Properly (Feeding Tube Records)

Massachusetts-based Feeding Tube Records favors such a frantic release schedule that it’s easy to miss the consistently strange, often delightful albums they spit out. Earlier this summer, the label dropped Operate Spaceship Earth Properly, a fresh & freaky 45-minutes of scuzzy psychedelia from Big Blood. The Portland, ME duo of Colleen Kinsella and Caleb Mulkerin — joined here in some capacity by their daughter, Quinnisa — have been delivering properly furry trips since the 1990s, originally as founders of Cerberus Shoal. The spin this time involves a tip of the hat to authors such as Octavia Butler and Ursula K. Le Guin via a science fiction-inspired song cycle. Yet, concept aside, the songs have serious teeth, stomping forward in a heady slop of bullying riffs, martial drumming and Kinsella’s third-eye rants. It’s headphone music for the deep forest, a turned-on reality-strip far more properly psychedelic than the jammed-out noodling frequently paraded by those dressed in thrifted tie dyes. Listen at your own risk; be changed.  

Ethan Covey

  Manu Delago—Parasol Peak (One Little Indian)

Manu Delago, a classically trained percussion who specializes in the steel-drum-like instrument known as a hang, isn’t doing things the easy way. For this album and the accompanying film, he convened a chamber group of seven people and led them, instruments and all, on a mountaineering expedition in the albums (pity the cellist). These eight tracks were recorded outside, in all kinds of weather, using natural elements like sticks, rocks and trees for additional textures. The result is a rather lovely blend of percussion-dappled Reichian minimalism, augmented by the sounds of water, thunder and wind. The music works its way to the summit, beginning in the leafy, sun-warmed environs of “Parasol Woods,” where reedy, breathy clarinet and pensive trombone catch the light sparkling off intricate webs of tonal percussion. By “Ridge View,” sounds have turned chillier and more remote; flute and chimes are buffeted by gales of wind. A mournful, solitary whistle frames “Listening Glacier,” a trebly coating of ice on a grounding drone of cello, but there is exuberance and accordion wheezing triumph in “Parasol Peak.” Fingers and lips must be pretty frozen all round by this point, but a warm, pulsing joy emanates from this brass-y, syncopated reel. The question arises: why would anyone do such a difficult thing?  But the answer is right there in the accompanying video. Because it was beautiful, because it was hard and because it made a sound no other new chamber group could make, with woods, mountains, stones and  physical effort built right in.

Jennifer Kelly

 Ethers—Ethers (Trouble in Mind)

s/t by Ethers

Ethers spun out of the late Chicago drone-punk-garage outfit Heavy Times, pulling front man Bo Hansen and bassist Russell Calderwood into this new enterprise and adding Calderwood’s wife Mary McKane and drummer Matt Rolin. Along the way, Hansen et al seem to picked up a heightened appreciation for melody and hook (and percolating keyboards thanks to McKane). “It’s a Rip-Off” lurches and jitters on slashed guitar riffs and hard, straight up and down drumming, but there’s an undeniable lilt in its fuzzy tune, and “Emily” balances bluster and tenderness in equal parts. If Heavy Times drove a post-punk freight train through a long, shadowy tunnel, Ethers breaks out into sunshine on the other side of the mountain, the darkness in the music but not all of it. “Something” ends the disc on a high note, chiming guitar notes streaking like meteors down to a burnt-bare beat, an intoxicating smell of sleeping gas all around.

Jennifer Kelly

 Iron & Wine — Weed Garden (Sub Pop)

Sam Beam has somehow become a master of the EP. Last year's full-length Beast Epic from Iron & Wine received critical acclaim and a Grammy nomination, but it never really settled the way much of his earlier work had. Given that Weed Garden draws from that album's leftovers, the new EP could have been a quick toss-off to turn a few dollars on otherwise dead songs. Happily, though, Beam delivers a strong, quick set. Where he had traded in resignation, this one starts with an immediate rally, the call in “What Hurts Worse” to “become the lovers we need.” His awareness of brokenness becomes the grounds for a fragile restoration, his voice and the smooth production serving the message.

A few years old but until now unreleased, “Waves of Galveston” brings the necessary precision to a complicated situation, and the continuing Croce-like sound fits the mood perfectly. “Last of Your Rock 'n' Roll Heroes” brings a steady bounce to a series of impressions that eventually give way to the darkness. Closer “Talking to Fog” uses language to resist pending dissipation, offering gentleness among hardness and “reaching out” despite knowing safer options. Beam's writing relies on visuals until he makes blurry images come into focus, even if he maintains that “it's hard to find.” It's a strong statement from Beam, an album's worth of care in a little EP, again.

Justin Cober-Lake

  The Lavender Flu — Mow the Glass (In The Red)

Heavy Air, The Lavender Flu’s 2016 debut was a double album of feel-bad rock sent forth from the Pacific Northwest damp to soundtrack an endless bummer. Chris Gunn, formerly of The Hunches and Hospitals, assembled the album at home, on analog tape, building and reworking the tracks into one of the year’s most impressive collages of sound. The second time around, with Mow the Glass, the approach is different. Here, Gunn is backed by a proper band — brother Lucas Gunn, former Hunches drummer Ben Spencer and Eat Skull’s Scott Simmons. Those folks all lent a hand to Heavy Air, yet here they are in the same room, playing together to the buzz of warmed amps and a view of the sea. The album is trim and clear, focusing Gunn’s aesthetic without losing sight of the mindset that got him here in the first place. A couple of cuts from the first LP — “Demons in the Dark,” a cover of Townes Van Zandt’s “Like a Summer Thursday” — reappear with fresh coats of paint. “You Are Prey” begins tipsy and unraveling, with the band chasing a whip of stereo-panning guitar, before setting into a reverb-rich ballad. The mood is subtlety sunnier throughout, like a crack of light on the horizon viewed from the soak of a storm.  

Ethan Covey

  Long Hots — Monday Night Raw (Self-Released)

Monday Night Raw by Long Hots

You should listen to Trouble Anyway, the new LP by Rosali Middleman. Middleman is a talented songwriter, but part of what makes Trouble Anyway so listenable is its lush instrumentation, all-star band, and pristine production. Middleman is also a member of The Long Hots, and their debut tape, Monday Night Raw sounds, by contrast, like it was recorded on a Fisher-Price tape deck by a band with about three weeks of musical experience between them. It’s glorious. The members of Long Hots are rock and roll lifers, so Monday Night Raw’s amateurism is both affected and effective, and sure to satisfy anyone who thinks Here Are the Sonics!!! is too slick. Of particular note is the ten minute “Boogie Trance,” which delivers exactly what it promises, no more, and “Die Die Die,” the chorus of which goes, you guessed it, “Die, Die, Die, Die.”  

Isaac Olson

  Paul Lydon — Sjórinn Bak Viò Gler (Paul Lydon)

sjórinn bak við gler by Paul Lydon

When you’re on your own, labels don’t mean much. Paul Lydon is an American musician who has been based in Reykjavik, Iceland since the mid-1990s. His discography is small, and he’s never made the same record twice. He’s sung alone and with a partner, in English and Icelandic, and kept the accompaniment varied each time. On Sjórinn Bak Viò Gler there is no singing at all, but it’s the most lyrical music of his recording career. The album’s title translates as The Sea Behind, and given Iceland’s prevailing clime you might want to keep it that way until there’s a closed door behind it and you. Lydon’s touch on the instrument betrays close acquaintance, and it’s easy to imagine him spending hours playing and ruminating on what he’s played. It doesn’t fall easily into any genre; its stream-of-consciousness flow is too perambulating for pop, too elaborate for minimalism and it doesn’t fall easily into any classical form. So let’s not worry about what it isn’t, and instead appreciate its confidently open-ended melodies and comfortably solitary mood.

Bill Meyer          

 Thee Open Sex — White Horses (Sophomore Lounge)

THEE OPEN SEX "White Horses" by Thee Open Sex

Indiana might seem like an odd place to give birth to a combo committed to diving deep into Krautrock concepts but think again. You’ve got highways and flat land that doesn’t afford much of a view once you’re over the cornfields; what could be more practical than motoric music? The Open Sex makes music that’ll whittle away the road miles, and White Horses is cut precisely to get you 35 minutes closer to home. That’s how long guitarist John Dawson and drummer Tyler Damon bear down on a groove that’s more metronomic than equine. Three guests use their playing as a foundation for a wheeling superstructure of squelchy notes and spacey textures. This is white line meditation music; be sure to stay mindful of the weight of your foot upon the gas.

Bill Meyer

 Rob Noyes & Ryan Lee Crosby — Modal Improvisations on 34 Strings (Cabin Floor Esoterica)

[CFE#68] Modal Improvisations on 34 Strings by Rob Noyes & Ryan Lee Crosby

On record and in concert, 12-string guitarist Rob Noyes displays a clarity of intent that you don’t often see from an artist who is young and new. But not only does he keep his picking clean and lyrical through rustic rounds and mystery-laden excursions, he keeps his head in the presence of a very different guitarist. Ryan Lee Crosby plays chaturangui, a sort of hybrid veena / dobro guitar developed by Debashish Bhattacharya. The chaturangui is suited to the swoop and chime of Hindustani ragas, and that’s how Crosby plays it. Noyes embroiders the contours of his partner’s voluptuous lines and pushes back with pure-sound strumming. He manages to sound quite supportive and engaged without compromising the very different character of his playing. This short (not quite 28 minutes) tape is a typically atypical Cabin Floor Esoterica product; home-dubbed and hand-wrapped, a first edition has already gone out of print, but a second run is imminent.

Bill Meyer  

 Riesgo — Demo MMXVIII (Self-released)

Demo MMXVIII by RIESGO

It’s not often that you can claim a tape is both a throwback to and a continuation of a vital movement in punk, but listen to Riesgo’s new demo. You can hear both of those historical trajectories as soon as “Lobxs” kicks it. The bass’s rubbery warbling and the guitars’ razoring buzz recall the initial tones of Black Flag’s “Nervous Breakdown.” Then Carlos Ruiz starts singing, and the tape’s sound snaps into sharper focus. Chicago’s South Side, Latinx punks, thrashy attitude: Riesgo have picked up the baton from the excellent and underappreciated Sin Orden, who in turn had received it from the nigh-legendary Los Crudos. (Or, in a couple cases, band members just held onto the baton: Ruiz sings for Sin Orden, and Jose Casas played guitar for Los Crudos.) Razacore is alive and angry. That’s good news, and very timely. Given our current national moment — the current bullshit hating on Latino American identity and the reactionary responses to the violence in Chicago — this bolus of pissed off, politically fierce punk is precisely what’s needed. “Ahógate” is a standout track. The vocals and lead guitar are pretty unhinged, while the rest of the band hammers away at a compelling hardcore riff. It’ll sound great in a sweaty basement. Viva, Riesgo!

Jonathan Shaw

  Rocket 808 — Digital Billboards b/w Mystery Train (12XU)

Digital Billboards b/w Mystery Train by Rocket 808

Rocket 808 is the latest incarnation of the garage guitar phenomenon John Schooley, whom you might remember from the Revelators (or if not, enjoy this set of Billy Childish covers laid to tape in a record store in Columbia, MO in 1996). A frequent solo performer (his website is called John Schooley and his One Man Band), Schooley does it all on these two tracks. “Digital Billboards” overlays the cheerful cheesiness of a vintage drum machine with incandescent flares of whammy and deep reverbed guitar darkness. Surf rock, sure, but evil and skeletal and scary, with shades of Suicide in the wild ghostly automatism. Side two’s “Mystery Train” amps up the rockabilly, the drum machine cranked to the breaking point, the guitar arcing and spitting in turbulent bursts. Schooley sings on this one, steering classic blues lines around hard bends until they lift off the pavement. This sort of blues-referencing, early-rock-aware music always has an element of parody, but Rocket 808 seems less performance-art-ish than Bob Log III or Heavy Trash. It’s dark and dangerous, a heightened reality rather than a pose.

Jennifer Kelly

 Sam Weinberg — A/V/E (Anticausal)

A/V/E by Sam Weinberg

Sam Weinberg has contributed some raw sax to some harsh ensemble settings, particularly the duo W-2 and various gigs with Weasel Walter. But when he closes the door to his Brooklyn apartment, things get real. The sounds from outside his window and on his kitchen table prove equally valuable as he constructs a mutating environment out of inscrutable industry, passing traffic and critters, the mechanical parts of his horns and some vigorously scoured surfaces. This is the stuff of life, or at least Weinberg’s life. Layer upon layer of sonic activity coexists like the residents of a big old NY apartment building, close in proximity yet not particularly interested in each other.

Bill Meyer

[evr0ck17]

Both j.mascis+ the fog records 

Are fucking sick, and I only really heard them for the first time a few months ago.

[elderlyinstruments]

Designed by indie rock legend J. Mascis (Dinosaur Jr./The Fog), this Squier Artist model Jazzmaster features a vintage white finish and a sweet gold anodized pickguard. Get all the other details at elderly.com: https://goo.gl/ANJfAs

[savetheinformanrarites]

Watch J Mascis, Fred Armisen, Kyle Spence (Harvey Milk, J Mascis + the Fog), Graham Clise (Lecherous Gaze, Heavy Blanket, Witch, Sweet Apple) & Mark Mulcahy (Miracle Legion) cover Mazzy Star‘s “Fade Into You” & an electric version of “Every Morning” from J’s album “Tied To A Star”

Sub Pop will be releasing “Fade Into You” as a single just ahead of Valentine’s Day

[daggerzine]

Dilly Dally, Chastity and American Culture @Larimer Lounge in Denver CO on 3/29/19 (by Ben Curnett)

Dilly Dally back in black 

No matter who's opening or who you're with or how early you get there, the night of the show for Dilly Dally's headliner tour supporting 2018's sophomore album "Heaven," there is no escaping the feeling that you are about to witness, all up close and personal, Kate Monk's voice. It's that distinctive. In terms of the iconic 90s rock stylings the band conjures, it's J Mascis' Jazzmaster squeal. It's Kim Deal's genre-defining bass. It's Kurt Cobain's soul crushing cry-break. You're in the club, and that voice is coming. You know this.

 It's a lot to live up to. Chris Adolf and American Culture knew this, apparently, and did a great job setting the stage (with a new drummer, who was fantastic!). He even went so far as to say that if you bought not one, not two, but three albums that night, make sure the third one was theirs, after supporting Dilly Dally and touring opener Chastity. That's generous and all, but American Culture has been getting better and better live, with last night's performance being hands down the best out of the three times I've seen them. It's always nice to see hometown kids setting them up and knocking them down for a large-ish nationwide touring band; American Culture killed it and got the crowd into things early.

 American Culture’s Chris Adolf at home

Chastity, the second band of the night and co-Canadian tour mates, then took the stage with a set that was a solid Jekyll-and-Hyde performance in all respects. It's clear that Chastity frontman Brandon Williams is sick-and-fucking-tired of being told his band sounds exactly The Cure and just said ok I like Sonic Youth let's try some of that. And before you think that's some sort of backhanded compliment or fronthanded(?) dig on Chastity, I should say that I actually really enjoy hearing/seeing musicians go through trying stuff out, both in the studio and live. Brave stuff, that. It made for a fun set. Bravo Chastity. 

Chastity- waiting for the house lights And truly, I feel like that's exactly what happened with Dilly Dally. Go ahead and listen to 2015's "Sore" against the new one. On the debut, it sounds like there's a seed of a thing in Kate Monk's voice that's about a universe and a half more distinctive than just being loud-quiet-loud, and between then and now she decided that she wanted to sound like what would happen if you were anonymously sexting someone and it got super amazingly hot and you both decide to jump on facetime and all of a sudden you're staring at the Crypt Keeper. 

*actual footage of Kate Monk's voice 

  The voice is a lot to support, sonically. Lucky for us in the crowd, guitarist Liz Ball, bassist Jimmy Tony and drummer Benjamin Reinhartz were up for it. More than that. They rock. They rocked. They are rocking. As a band, Dilly Dally was tight, full of energy, and completely dialed into the waves upon waves of music they continually crashed onto the lucky crowd that braved the Denver spring weather (sleet? freezing fog?) to see a band that's going to be harder and harder to get a ticket for in the years to come. Those of us that were there will smile say we saw them back when they were so close we could all see up Jimmy Tony's skirt and down Kate Monk's throat and if you think they're great now, they were absolutely amazing on that wet, frozen night in Denver in 2019.

[mannytoodope]

A great figure in “ indie rock” born today is Joseph Donald Mascis Jr. (born December 10, 1965) he is a singer-songwriter he is also a musician and best known as the lead singer of the band Dinosaur Jr. He has released a number of solo albums and has worked with a number of great artists including, Thurston Moore. Mascis a fantastic musician and will continue to put out great music for a long time.

[musicreissuesweneed]

J Mascis & The Fog - More Light (2000)

More J Mascis! Between stints in Dinosaur Jr., J Mascis fronted The Fog for a pair of strong albums, though More Light is the one I return to more often. The opening track Same Day, with guest vocals by Guided By Voices Robert Pollard, is both refreshing and familiar thanks to Mascis’ guitar squeals and leads. This album got a vinyl release, and if you’re willing to pony up $200 for the US version, you can get a copy. Would be nice to get this reissued for the mere mortals, and if possible, add the few b-sides to an expanded version from the pair of singles released.