“Three is the magic number” – Schoolhouse Rock!

Ah, the power trio. Whether we’re talking the traditional guitar-bass-drums line-up (think either of Jimi Hendrix’s incarnations; Cream; Rush; et. al.) or the slightly augmented version featuring the keyboard/organ employed by Emerson Lake & Palmer, the age-old question comes into play again and again: who really needs a fucking rhythm guitarist? With only three members you can all turn your shit up to eleven and the guy you hired just to strum can go home, you didn’t really wanna split the gate with him anyway because why split something up four ways when you really only need three?

The term “power” implies a certain strength, and here it’s volume. Pure, unadulterated, balls-to-the-wall rawk. So I bring to you fifteen of the greatest power trios of rock-and-roll.

15. Boris (Takeshi, bass/guitar/vocals; Wata, guitar; Atsuo, drums)

Japan’s heaviest trio- that is when they want to be heavy. Changing styles from record to record, it’s pretty impossible to pigeonhole Boris into one genre, if you want stoner sludge, go Heavy Rocks. For thrash, go Pink. Veering towards psychedelia- Smile. Drone metal in the style of SunnO)))? Akuma No Uta. (They also did an album with those Southern Lord drone-jerks, but then that’d a quintet now, wouldn’t it?) Mogwai-esque minimalism/bombastic post-rock? Flood. “Something for everybody” should be Boris‘ mission statement. There’s both an attitude of sneering punkishness and a severe metal influence underpinning the whole sound, it can be as extreme as orthodontics or as subtle as being tickled with feathers on the soles of your feet.

Recommended listening: Flood (MIDI Creative; 2000) is basically one 70-minute song divided into four suites; (probably) my favorite, but that’s more or less an intense and active listening experience- encompassing all over Boris‘ styles in one go. I’d say start with Pink (Southern Lord; 2005), it boils down the experience into an eleven track, 55-minute ride; again: sludge, thrash, psychedelic/stoner, drone metal at its finest.

14. Hüsker Dü (Bob Mould, guitar/vocals; Grant Hart, drums/vocals; Greg Norton, bass)

If you play the very first Hüsker Dü song from their first album (All Tensed Up from Land Speed Record) next to the last song from their last album (You Can Live At Home from Warehouse: Songs & Stories), you’d have a hard time trying to convince someone that they’re the same band and that this evolution only took five years to complete. This Minneapolis threesome re-wrote the rules by adding melody to hardcore, penning a seventy-minute double concept album with piano-driven ballads, folky acoustic tunes and touches of psychedelia (completely unheard of in punk circles at the time) and slowly morphing into an alt-rock/MTV-friendly band, Hüsker Dü never gave a shit what anyone thought anyway, so when Mould sang I Apologize on New Day Rising, don’t think he meant anything by it…

Recommended listening: New Day Rising (SST Records; 1985) isn’t as tedious as the “punk opera” Zen Arcade (SST Records; 1984), but both are glimpses of the band’s apex in the mid-80s, before they got all melodic on the world. If you’re feeling adventurous, go Zen, with its angst-ridden, emotive honesty (as much as a storyline about running away but never getting anywhere can be). If you want a great melodic punk record, then NDR.

13. Yo La Tengo (Ira Kaplan, guitar/keyboards/vocals; James McNew, bass; Georgia Hubley, drums/vocals)

Hoboken’s second most famous residents (after Ol’ Blue Eyes, of course), this trio of Mets’ fans named themselves after the famous “catch”-phrase from the Richie Ashburn-Elio Chacón fiasco of 1962 (I can’t explain it here, and if you ain’t a baseball fan then just forget it…). Anyhow, YLT has made quite a name for themselves as an indie rock giant, an unrelenting force that’s been with Matador Records since ‘93, veering from Sonic Youth-type guitar noise rock to My Bloody Valentine-esque shoegaze to Stereolab-ish post-rock/electro; basically being unbound by any genre or classifier, and usually in the span of one album. I got to the Yo La Tengo party late; they allow recording of their live shows and encourage tape trading, so I “found” them on an interwebs trading site (2002). I haven’t regretted it in the least.

Recommended listening: I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One (Matador; 1997) is as close to an indie rock masterpiece as anything else you can name (I dare you, for I will defend this record against almost everything), combining elements of Krautrock psychedelia (Spec Bebop), shoegaze (Return To Hot Chicken), dream pop (Autumn Sweater), fuzzy noise (Deeper Into Movies), atmospheric ambience (Green Arrow), electronica (the Stereolab-inspired Center Of Gravity)- it’s truly an everyman’s record, for there’s everything here. There’s even a fuzzed-up version of The Beach Boys‘ Little Honda.

12. Motörhead (Lemmy, bass/vocal; Eddie Clarke, guitar; Phil Taylor, drums)

The best combination of punk, metal and rock, ever; probably invented speed metal, because this is what metal played by speed freaks sounds like. I’m citing the “classic” line-up here, from 1976-’82. So what exactly Lemmy, Fast Eddie and the Philthy Animal did for 80’s metal is pretty much take the whole thing up a notch by introducing a punk sensibility (have I mentioned speed yet?) while paving the way for the whole “New Wave Of British Heavy Metal” bands like Judas Priest & Iron Maiden to keep getting faster. This of course pushed Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth & Anthrax and thrash metal to come. Inventing a new genre while influencing about ten more is pretty much some serious game-changing shit. Add those aforementioned facts to the idea that Motörhead did all this without the technical chops of Maiden or the leather pretentiousness of Priest. Completely uncompromising punishing metal.

Recommended listening: No Sleep ’til Hammersmith (Bronze Records; 1981)- the obligatory live album is the best place to start; it contains live versions of tracks from the three best studio albums: 1979’s Overkill & Bomber and Ace Of Spades (Mercury Records; 1980) the definitive early-80s metal album.

11. Dinosaur Jr. (J Mascis, vocals/guitar; Lou Barlow, bass/vocals; Murph, drums)

When people think of the 80s musically, they mostly think of really cheesy synth-pop (thanks to Madonna, Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, and the like. You definitely don’t think of monster guitar bands, let alone a screamy, sludgy, Big Muff mess like D-Jr. But through the latter part of the decade, they released some of the best guitar rock this side of Sonic Youth. I’m not even gonna count the Lou Barlow-less version of this band as an accurate representation of who and what they are (anything that a mass of backward hatted-fratboys can get behind, count me out) so the period of this band between 1989-2004 doesn’t matter, as those four records are a craptastic paint-by-numbers ’90s type of alterna-rock that pandered to said college fucks. But the five albums D-Jr did with the “real” line-up are as good as Sebadoh. Almost.

Recommended listening: The opening songs from both You’re Living All Over Me (SST Records; 1987) and Bug (SST Records; 1988) are as good as any album openers in recent memory; Little Fury Things and Freak Scene respectively are kick-ass rockers. Bug is the tighter album of the two, meaning that Mascis‘ supreme guitar heroics are more refined, whereas on YLAOM he’s basically a hot mess- a sloppy, screechy, explosive and beautiful mess.

10. Grand Funk Railroad (Mark Farner, vocals/guitar; Mel Schacher, bass; Don Brewer, drums)

The classic line-up of Mark, Don & Mel from 1968-’71 were as heavy as Black Sabbath and funky as Funkadelic, and their signature hard-rock/blues/funk sound was responsible for influencing a whole decade’s worth of what would later be called heavy metal. Hailing from the working class city of Flint, Michigan contributed to Grand Funk’s heroic output of music as a trio- five full-lengths and a live record in the span of four years. If there ever was a poster-child for blue-collar rock-and-roll, Grand Funk is the band.

Recommended listening: Their second album, simply titled Grand Funk (Capitol Records, 1969) finds the band hitting their stride with the almost ten-minute jam-and-a-half Inside Looking Out, a cover of the The Animals‘ song from 1966. Add the rocker Mr. Limousine Driver- one of the best songs about groupies this side of Frank Zappa.

9. Emerson Lake & Palmer (Keith Emerson, keyboards; Greg Lake, vocals/guitar/bass; Carl Palmer, drums)

Masters of prog-rock studio wankery (and I mean that in the highest regard), ELP did for the synthesizer what Jimi did for the guitar. Okay, Rick Wakeman is up there too; and both Herbie Hancock & Chick Corea have better chops, but I’ll take Keith Emerson just for his sheer audacity and ability to spend thousands of hours in the studio to get that perfect sound. Everything ELP ever recorded went over-budget and over-deadline, but listening to the masterpieces like Brain Salad Surgery or the pretentious (if not ambitious) re-imagining of Mussorgsky’s Pictures At An Exhibition, or their self-titled debut; I can only imagine the heartburn and insomnia they caused countless producers, record executives, etc. during the recording process. I mean, they had a whole 18-wheeler just for Emerson’s equipment, which is the pinnacle of 70s arena-rock excess.

Recommended listening: Brain Salad Surgery (Manticore Records; 1973) When I was in middle school, I used to get really “sick” the second week of March, so I could stay home and watch the opening rounds of the NCAA basketball tournament. One year, CBS (I think) used Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression, Part 2 as their theme song (you know it, the song that goes, “welcome my friends to the show that never ends, step inside, step inside…”) and for the next year I was convinced it was a Who song (Greg Lake kinda sounds like Roger Daltrey there). So when I got kicked out of Choral Music on the first day of class, I had to take General Music, and it was probably the best thing that ever happened to me, because a Mr. Dave Nelson was our teacher and we proceeded to learn about all the awesome music from the mid-to-late sixties up through to that year (which was 1989). Of course, we did a little unit on ELP. When Mr. Nelson played Karn Evil 9 for us, the lightbulb went on. Then we spent a week on Pictures At An Exhibition (Cotillion; 1972), a re-invented version of a Russian piano suite written in 1874 by Modest Mussorgsky.

8. Sebadoh (Lou Barlow, guitar/bass/vocals; Eric Gaffney, drums/guitar/vocals; Jason Lowenstein, bass/guitar/drums/vocals)

So Lou Barlow wasn’t long for the original version of Dinosaur Jr, a younger J Mascis was probably threatened and paranoid having another songwriter in the band, and he couldn’t hold back Lou’s immense talent forever. So Lou was freed, meets Eric Gaffney and they begin a quest of four-tracking every little noise they make. Enter Jason Lowenstein and the rest is history. My “favorite band that no one else listened to” in high school, and why would anyone want to listen a trio of weedheads ramble on about things like control or girls or weed forestin’ or the seBADoh? Unfortunately, Gaffney would leave the band in ‘93 and new drummer Bob Fay would step in as Sebadoh’s acclaim grew- the next couple of albums are two of the mid-90’s greatest records. Sebadoh would release one more record as the decade wound down, then fade away (as Barlow had his Folk Implosion to fall back on, and the eventual reunion of D-Jr. in 2004).

Recommended listening: Sebadoh hit their stride in the mid-90s, with Bakesale (Sub Pop Records; 1994) and Harmacy (Sub Pop; 1996)- the two records are easily their most accessible, most polished offerings (and would see co-founder Gaffney quit the band right before they “made” it). Go for their earlier stuff if you want the four-track madness, but these two albums showcase both Lou and Jason’s songwriting chops- Barlow’s flair for being the “sensitive guy” (no wonder he and Mascis didn’t get along) and Lowenstein’s tongue-in-cheeky confrontational nature adds up for some great listening. Bonus points for Barlow as well, right around the time he was releasing these Sebadoh records, Dinosaur Jr. was turning into a friggin’ joke on commercial radio and MTV.

7. Sleater-Kinney (Corin Tucker, guitar/vocals; Carrie Brownstein, guitar/vocals; Janet Weiss, drums)

So here’s another version of the power trio; a guitar-guitar-drums edition. No bass is needed because these ladies absolutely rock the fucking house down; I don’t mean the shutters are shaking a little bit, I mean earthquake-roof-collapse-cracked-foundation rock the fucking house down. Here the two guitar attack acts as both a lightning rod and buzz-saw; lest I forget the strongest part of S-K’s sound- Corin Tucker’s amazing wail. The first two records are basically warm-ups, then in comes drummer Janet Weiss before recording Dig Me Out and voila- they go from cutesy riot grrrl act to full-fledged feminist icons. Big, attention-grabbing, anthemic. Three ways to describe the Pacific Northwest’s answer to overblown kawk-rawk.

Recommended listening: Dig Me Out (Kill Rock Stars; 1997) is their debut with Weiss on drums, and it’s the album where they both found their sound and were the most exciting, blistering eardrums with tracks like Words & Guitar, One More Hour and the title track. One Beat (Kill Rock Stars; 2002) is a politically-charged as well as introspective look at the the post-9/11 world according to Sleater-Kinney, it has their best songwriting efforts. Or the anthemic swan-song The Woods (Sub Pop Records; 2005) has their arena-sized ambitions at heart, too bad they never made it there…

6. The Jimi Hendrix Experience (Jimi Hendrix, guitar/vocals; Noel Redding, bass; Mitch Mitchell, drums)

You probably think I’m insane for ranking Jimi at #6, but keep reading (this wasn’t his only band, just his more famous one…) Yet people may forget that this band was broken up by Hendrix because he didn’t think they were the best possible bandmates for him, and somewhat hampered his ability to get as wild as he could (or would). At any rate, the three records this trio released will go down as three of the best ever, as well as their performances from October of 1966 until Woodstock three years later. The effect, influence and importance Jimi had on the electric guitar is immeasurable, it’s like trying to understand the effect of the moon on ocean tides; it has something to do with gravity and fluid motion, but they’re not 100% sure, yet. And that’s what Mr. Hendrix and his guitar are like; no one’s really sure how wide his net of influence is- I’d say all rock and roll, but that’s open to interpretation and inviting all kinds of argument. Nevertheless, Jimi did in these three years with the services of Redding & Mitchell what people have been trying to do ever since; blow your mind with music. Feedback, wah-wah pedals, distortion, psychedelic R&B; Hendrix married them all and gave it to the world, and forever changed the way people look at the electric guitar. Thank you, Jimi…

Recommended listening: Of course, Jimi was at his best when playing live, so Jimi Plays Monterey (Reprise Records; 1986) catches him at his best- kicking off the “Summer Of Love” on June 18th, 1967 at the Monterey Pop Festival; you can hear Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones introduce the Experience as they tear into Killing Floor and go into a 45-minute buzz saw-whirlwind-Stratocaster fury. Yeah, this is the infamous show when Jimi burned his guitar at the end of Wild Thing. In the studio; I’d go with the first release Are You Experienced (Reprise; 1967)- it contains Jimi at his rawest and serves as an example of his earliest mind-blowing, face-fucking awesomeness. But really, anything (live or studio) Jimi’s ever done is pretty rad, so you can not fail with any releases by him. Fact.

5. The Police (Sting, bass/vocals; Andy Summers, guitar; Stewart Copeland, drums)

Adding pure pop sensibilities to a combination of jagged punk rhythms, skanky roots reggae, angular post-punk guitar lines and one of the most amazing stickmen (Copeland) to ever pound the skins, The Police were like a breath of fresh air- debut Outlandos d’Amour had a perfect mix of the above sensibilities, and tongue-in-cheek lyrics of falling in love with prostitutes, loneliness and sex with blow-up dolls showed a naïve immaturity that was endearing. Sting would later go one to become that tantric douchebag, selling his songs to Jaguar commercials and basically making lame music for housewives to make home-made potpourri to, but from ‘78 to ‘83, The Police were the world’s pre-eminent power trio.

Recommended listening: first off- if you can, get the remastered versions of Regatta De Blanc (A&M Records; 1979) because the drums are louder, and I’ve always felt that the strength of The Police was in the drumming of Stewart Copeland. Some of their best songs are on this album: Message In A Bottle, Walking On The Moon, Bring On The Night and The Bed’s Too Big Without You. For the big “hits”, get Synchronicity (A&M Records; 1983)- it’s their most accomplished record. Side Two (of the vinyl, dummy) is better than 99.9% of every other band’s entire recorded output.

4. Rush (Geddy Lee, bass/vocals/keyboards; Alex Lifeson, guitar; Neil Peart, drums)

Between 1976 and 1981 Rush went on one of the most impressive five record runs, all prog-rock/high-art concept album masterpieces in their own right. I know that I’m practically begging for the comment section to fill up with “pssshhhhts” and “ewwwws” right here, as if the words “prog” and “pretentious” are interchangeable and I’m the biggest asshole in the world for even mentioning Rush, but if you cast aside your ignorance for just a minute, Rush totally fucking rules. Make fun of Geddy’s voice all you want, but try to name another bass player that’s been at this for forty years non-stop. Neil Peart’s drumming? Unparalleled. Alex Lifeson’s riffs? His solos? The entire 2112 album? Seriously…

Recommended listening: 2112 (Anthem Records; 1976) If you’ve never taken LSD in your parent’s basement and listened to 2112 over and over again, stop reading here. If you have, then you know as I know all the secrets to the universe are contained here in this record (also in Jethro Tull’s Thick As A Brick, Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, Jefferson Airplane’s Surrealistic Pillow, etc; but that’s another essay altogether). This is the greatest thing Canada has ever given the world. Then five years later, Rush gave the world Moving Pictures (Mercury records, 1981) and nerds everywhere could now spend eternity not getting laid while playing air guitar to the breakdown in Tom Sawyer. Duuuuuuuuuude!

3. Minutemen (D. Boon, guitar/vocals; Mike Watt, bass/vocals; George Hurley, drums)

So D. Boon turned up the treble knob on his guitar and scratched, jabbed, raked and blistered the strings with such ferocious and wild abandon that he’s been heralded as an innovator- no one played the guitar like that until he came along. With a  dominant rhythm section of Mike Watt and his low end bass bombs and George Hurley’s supertight stop-on-a-dime-and-pick-it-up drumming makes the Minutemen the most interesting band of the early eighties. Interesting because nobody knew who or what the fuck they were- were they punk? Post-punk? Hardcore? Post-hardcore? Funk? Finding a home on SST Records kept them virtually unknown outside the punk community, they eschewed the trappings and confinements of a major label by “jamming econo”, their term for keeping costs down by loading their own gear in and out of shows, driving themselves to and from shows, etc. Sadly, Boon died in a car crash, cutting the Minutemen’s wonderful career prematurely short.

Recommended listening: Double Nickels On The Dime (SST Records; 1984) A double album? Unheard of in punk rock circles, the massive undertaking of DNOTD was spurred on by the Minutemen’s friendly rivalry with labelmates Hüsker Dü, after hearing their Zen Arcade tapes before it was released caused Boon, Watt & Hurley to go back into the studio and cut 20+ more tracks. Their first full-length release, The Punch Line (SST Records; 1981) is a furious attack of 18 songs in a mere fifteen minutes- you can see the nascent promise that was fully realized three years later.

2. Cream (Eric Clapton, guitar/vocals; Jack Bruce, bass/vocals; Ginger Baker, drums/vocals)

I used to consider Clapton vastly over-rated, but have changed my mind as of late- he wasn’t over-rated, he just peaked too early and hasn’t done anything remotely as interesting as the things he did with Bruce and Baker. That’s not a bad thing, it’s just enough to put Cream at a distant second to Jimi’s Band Of Gypsys. With the blues-influenced Clapton on guitar and the jazz-trained Bruce (who played an upright or double bass before switching to electric) and Baker (also well-versed in jazz and blues as a previous band-mate with Bruce in the Graham Bond Organization) the “cream of the crop” soon outdistanced their peers with technical proficiency par excellence, seamless and “heavy” improvisations, Baker’s ability to play odd time signatures and polyrhythms, Slowhand’s blues soloing, all three members sharing vocal duties; basically it all adds up to one of the most important and influential bands of all time.

Recommended listening: Disraeli Gears (ATCO Records; 1967) All the staples are here: Strange Brew, Sunshine Of Your Love, Tales Of Brave Ulysses. The perfect segue from their bluesy roots into the world of acid-drenched psychedelia that was fully developed on Wheels Of Fire (ATCO Records; 1968); the world’s first platinum-selling double record. With a disc of studio tracks (White Room as well as a cover of Born Under A Bad Sign), the actual awesomeness here is the second “live” disc, with a version of Crossroads, Willie Dixon’s Spoonful and a 16-minute Toad (featuring a thirteen-minute Ginger Baker drum solo).

1. Band Of Gypsys (Jimi Hendrix, guitar/vocals; Billy Cox, bass; Buddy Miles, drums/vocals)

The penultimate power trio, nothing even comes close in my book. The only drawback is that their entire recorded output is only somewhere around two hours (the 1999 release of the 1969-70 Fillmore East New Year’s shows, which is basically an extended version of the previously released Band Of Gypsys album from June of 1970; and a handful of singles: Stepping Stone, Izabella, Ezy Ryder, etc.). Of course people immediately point to the more famous (and probably more accessible) The Jimi Hendrix Experience, but I always thought they lacked the “soul” that the all-African American trio had. With Billy laying down some of the deepest funk grooves known to man and Buddy perfectly creating the pocket with hard-hitting and metronomic fills, Jimi was the cornerstone of the strongest three-man foundation ever laid to two-inch tape. The combo allowed him to work out his furious finger exercises and frenetic psychedelic blues explorations- not a single note is wasted anywhere. Plus, Buddy Miles was a damn fine singer as well. If you want the most bang for your buck, go Gypsys- you shan’t be disappointed.

Recommended listening: Live At The Fillmore East (MCA Records; 1999) Both versions of Machine Gun here will suck the roof of your skull forcibly down your spinal column and blow it out of your fucking chest. For the abridged version of this two-disc set, the previously released Band Of Gypsys (Capitol Records; 1970) is just six songs in length, more to the point but less of the actual experience of Jimi (no pun intended).

Disclaimer: you may be all, “Where’s Nirvana?” Well, sorry- I’m not a Nirvana fan and never really was. Completely over-rated. They’ve been placed on a pedestal that they don’t deserve, they didn’t do anything new or inventive- they wrote catchy, three-minute pop songs that happened to have some fuzz/distortion and pounding drums. Nothing special. You’d blow your brains out, too, if people threw a ton of money at you that you knew you didn’t deserve; which, by the way, is what created this whole “mystique” and “legacy” anyway. Suicide=album sales. Take your Nirvana-loving ass away from my blog, bitches.

Heartless Bastards – The Mountain
I first came across Heartless Bastards on woxy.com, and loved them the instant I heard “Blue Day.” After immediately downloading “All this Time” I found myself time and again grabbed by hook after hook, loving every second of the ride (particularly Blue Day, Valley of Debris, Came a Long Way). They are one of those bands that seem to channel all the best synthesis of rock and blues, taking lessons that hearken back to the likes of Janis Joplin and Led Zeppelin, and while they don’t break any new ground (the Village Voice called their melodies “arctypal”), they have perfected the sound.
The Mountain definitely has its own hooks, to be sure, but it feels like a deeper album. Where All This Time seemed introspective and somewhat melancholy, The Mountain feels more philosophical and hopeful, sometimes even playful (“I could be so happy, if I just quit being sad/I could be so funny, if I just quit being a drag/I could be so sweet, if I just quit being sour”). Regardless of mood, there is just nothing more soothing than Erika Wennerstrom’s weathered voice, sounding like the rock diva who has been where you’ve been, someone you’d sit down and have a beer with and tell your troubles to.

Mos Def – The Ecstatic
I had given up on Mos Def. I thought Black on Both Sides was a fluke, and that I’d be consigned to get pissed every time I saw him in some shitty buddy movie, ranting and raving about how he coulda be a great rapper.
Then Jimmy told me to check out The Ecstatic, and with skepticism I spent 16 of my valuable emusic credits getting it, swearing I’d never speak his name again if it sucked. Un-fucking believably good. That’s all I have to say. I knew it was all going to be ok when I heard “Supermagic” and it just kept getting better.
His voice glides over the tracks, effortlessly weaving between, under, over and around incredible beats and samples.

Bad news and good dope
powder, potion, pills, smoke
baby how you trying to go
Duro o dulce
fast or slow
yay
no
it’s ok you can have it your way
naw, it aint all good but baby I’m cool
feeling great feeling good how are you
10% condition, 90% response
Survival mathematics the number man’s song

I swear the motherfucker just makes the shit sound easy, and like he was born to do it. I don’t pretend to be a hip hop aficionado, but Mos Def in his best form, as he is here, just inspires the shit out of me.

Band of Skulls- Baby Darling Doll Face Honey
Band of Skulls was another great woxy.com find (seriously a great station to listen to) on Future Sounds. I know one isn’t supposed to describe a band by likening it to another band, but I can’t really help it in this case. There are times they sound a lot like White Stripes (Death By Diamonds and Pearls), sometimes not unlike Radiohead (Fires), and I could probably come up with a few other comparisons. Sorry…I know that’s a shitty thing to do, but there you have it.
The thing is, they’re really really great even if they don’t have a totally new sound. I have them in regular rotation, and they are totally a blast to listen to. They are a solid band, and even though I’ve listened to them dozens of times now, I still want more. So much so, in fact, that I’m going to see them this Sunday at Du Nord, and I have a feeling that they’re going to be a blast to see live. Anyway, definitely worth checking out.

Not Necessarily New
Vandermark 5
I first heard The Vandermark 5 in the days of yore when I still shopped at Amoeba on Haight. I was picking through the bargain bin, feeling like a homeless dude looking for the holy grail of an untouched hamburger, when this suite of melancholy saxophones stopped me in my tracks (for future reference “Outside Ticket (for John Gilmore)”. Not wanting to seem like I was displaying the range of catatonic behaviors of some dude with schizophrenia, I continued to flip through the CD’s, eyes closed and lost in that blissful brain frenzy that can only come from Jazz. If I’m remembering correctly, I kinda floated over to the information counter and asked what it was. Looking like I just told him to eat a dick, he pointed at the cover of “Elements of Style, Exercises in Surprise” and told me I should buy it, which I promptly did.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am one of those dorks who spent like a decade with “A Love Supreme” on repeat 24/7. Having said that, The Vandermark 5 brings in such a wide range of music so successfully, careening from the chaos of the jazz improvised solo to the slippery goodness of funk, it feels totally accessible. Led by Ken Vandermark, one of those uber music geniuses who wins all kinds of awards (seriously…sounds like quite the amazing dude) and gets involved with all kinds of cool projects, the quintet makes some amazing music that makes my brain happy every time I put it on.

Anyway, back to business.  This is a record I picked up in Brooklyn when I was visiting some buddies of mine a couple weeks ago.  It’s this amazing Puerto Rican group called Pepito Torres y Su Orquesta Siboney.  Super old school latin music makes me A) wish my Spanish was more advanced than merely “tengo hambre” and B) wish I knew how to get my salsa dance on without lookin’ like a goofy white boy.  I believe that both of these issues can and will be rectified at some point in my life.  Not sure when though.

Both of these songs are off of the album called En El Fiesta Room.  And for those who aren’t whiz’s like me, that means At The Fiesta Room.  Listen to the horns especially.  They’re my favorite.  Since I couldn’t find an image of the cover, here’s a few of many options that google provided me with to represent the prompt “At the fiesta room.”

Here are your jammers.  Enjoy:

Pepito Torres y Su Orquesta Siboney – El Zapato Y El Cordon

Pepito Torres y Su Orquesta Siboney – La Salve Del Loco

After my brother’s boss busted out the 3 boxes of LPs despite the promised “8 or so,” we looked through them. The original deal was that we could take them for free but we had to take all of them as opposed to some. Fair enough. It was then that the boss’s wife proceeded to explain that she wanted us to make her a digital copy of each of the records. Hmm, yeah, I dunno. Not sure if she really knew what that would entail. She seemed fine with the prospect of not having all the records digitized as long as we did some of them and as long as we let her talk about her Ph.D, her chickens, and her dream house that she and her husband lived in. In freakin’ La Honda. So, my brother and I hung around and talked with his boss’ wife for quite some time and played with their boxer Suzie who was getting increasingly more excited with each passing minute. By the end of the afternoon, she was literally leaping on top of my face. We decided it was time to go when their neighbor Larry, who proudly rocks a Confederate flag over his house and a set of yellow teeth in his mouth, showed up with a bottle of wine.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I had a great time, and quite a laugh. However, the combination of a vastly overexaggerated collection of records, a dog that had clearly done a pound of blow before we got there, and a host who was enthusiastically talking about her chicken coop for 30 minutes was definitely and interesting one to say the least.

In the end, I scored a big chunk of great records including this one:

Louis Armstrong & His All-Stars play all Fats Waller songs. Here are two of them:

I’VE GOT A FEELING I’M FALLING – Louis Armstrong & His All-Stars

ALL THAT MEAT AND NO POTATOES – Louis Armstrong & His All-Stars

It really was a good experience for me. I mean, as a parting gift, we were given pumpkin butter, tangerine marmalade, and a dozen fertilized eggs… I’m tellin’ you, all you gotta do is travel 30 or 40 minutes outside San Francisco in any direction and you meet the strangest people.

Here’s a bonus Fat’s Waller video of him playing “Joint Is Jumping”

Parliament/Funkadelic is the biggest crew of funky dudes that has ever been. I’m posting three tracks this time. It’s actually pretty crucial for me to warn anyone of the male persuasion that reads this post of something REALLY important: There are some horn sections in the songs that you’re about to hear that are intensely funky. If you are gettin’ down with a lady-friend during said sections, things could get nasty… It’s a bit TOO funky. You, and most likely your lady as well, may not be able to control yourselves. I cannot be held responsible for what happens…

That being said, here are a few tunes for you:

RIDE ON – Chocolate City (1975)

DR. FUNKENSTEIN – The Clones Of Dr. Funkenstein (1976)

BOP GUN (ENDANGERED SPECIES) – Funkentelechy Vs. The Placebo Syndrome (1977)

If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense that this is direction a lot of the doo-wop and Motown musicians went in the ’70s. They played the same grooves with more synthesizers and for longer; FUNK. And you know, truthfully, Parliament is the only band in my book that can get away with the fade-out, fade back in routine. On any other occasion, I might have a problem with a trick ending, but these dudes just wanna make it clear that the groove really DOES go on forever, despite a fade-out. I am okay with that.

Though I’m sure nothing could top having seen Parliament play live in ‘76, George Clinton is still around and still playing all your favorite jams today. I went to see him for New Year’s Eve at the Warfield this year with my dear friend Annierose and it might have been the best decision of my life. Yeah, it was expensive (80 smackeroos) but well worth it. My suggestion to you is that you do not pass up on a chance to see Parliament play live. Also, with the amount of acid and crack that George Clinton has done in his time, there’s no telling when he’s gonna just keel over… Funky Funky.

Spraynard – Self-Titled Demo (Self Released; Winter 2008)

Every once in a while I “find” a band that I love and instantly have the urge to search for hours for the rest of their releases, b-sides, etc., just to make sure it’s just not that CD, but rarely will that happen with a 6 song tape handed to me at a show by a band named Spraynard, a 3 piece from the West Chester area.

I got this tape the day after Christmas and I consider it one of the best Christmas presents I received this year, next to my Dwight Bobblehead, of course!

Any song named after one of the best SNL skits since the Will Ferrell-era has a lot to live up to; and Are You Ladies Familiar With The Works of Zach and Cody? starts out with a bang, setting a pace to expect for the rest of the tape. The next track Timmy Gave Me a G is a dancy little minute-and-a-half song about being at a show where you don’t like the people and thinking you’re “surrounded by assholes tonight”.

Don’t Throw Me Down, Clark is next, this song is about the relationship between a boy and his mother, and her use of force to make her son pray before bed; making the boy question the actual existence of a higher being. The bridge of this song is the best part, Mark plays a chord progression like a bass line as Pat yells in the back ground “Please mother, lay your hand down / and I promise when I’m older, I will make you proud…”

Although none of the tracks on this tape are bad, Punch And Pie lacks in comparison to the other songs. The lyrics tell a story about a soldier who just can’t handle his time in combat and is depressed and ashamed of what he has experienced.

The other day I was asking Mark, the bassist in Spraynard, what songs would make the full length and the only one on the demo making the cut is the next song, Ruth Buzzi Better Watch Her Back. This is a great choice on their part, the lyrics tell the best story out of all the other songs. Pat tells of a family who comes to the United States for a new lease on life, and tries to overcome the struggle of starting over and the fast paced American life and “…their ever changing style”. These lyrics, combined with the excellent instrumentation, led to this being the best song on the demo.

Sadly, the tape comes to an end with Mary Swanson; no joke- I laughed for a good ten minutes just thinking back at the limo scene in Dumb and Dumber when I saw the name of this song. Back to the song- there is nothing wrong with this track, it just doesn’t stand out to me!

All in all, this 6 song demo from a band in its infancy is far better then some full-lengths I have heard from bands who have been together for 3 or 4 years. The highlight of the tape is by far the lyrics; Pat’s ability to write stories from the perspective of so many different people makes it a fun game to try and figure out what the next song is going to be about. On a scale one to five, I give this a 4.7, with Punch and Pie being the only downfall.

Spraynard likes to keep it nineties and has a website where you can check out new things happening with them, new shows, and also download these 6 songs FREE!!

http://www.spraynard.com/

Fun Little Facts about the band…

-Spraynard is Dos, Mark and Pat. Dos plays drums. Mark plays bass. Pat plays guitar. We are all known to sing… except Mark.

-The studio they recorded in is in their basement and is run by Arik, the owner of Creep Records. At one time bands such as The Bouncing Souls, The Casualties and Kill Your Idols recorded in this studio.

For More Fun Facts read the Bio on their Website.

You know, sometimes I wonder if these dudes just conceptualized “funk” prenatally. Few things have made more sense to me than the connection between the idea of “funk” and the records created by all the Parliament & Funkadelic dudes. I have no doubt in my mind that they were born with extensive knowledge about what is funky, what’s not funky, where the funk is at, why funk, and how to do funky…

Bootsy Collins. This fool lives up to his funky-ass name. Aside from being one of the few musicians solid enough to play with James Brown and not get kicked out of the band for playing a single wrong note, Bootsy is currently a living legend in the world of funk. Along with George Clinton, Bootsy has created some of the funkiest music fathomable. Not sure if any human has a greater capacity for funk than these two. I mean, Bootsy is famous for playing his signature Space Bass.

The two songs here are by Bootsy’s Rubber Band. The first is off of their debut album called Stretchin’ Out In Bootsy’s Rubber Band (1976). The song following is from their equally funky second record called Ahh… The Name Is Bootsy, Baby! (1977). If you walk by these albums at your favorite record store, they’ll catch your eye. Pick ‘em up. If you find them on CD or record, I doubt either of them will be more than 10 or 11 bucks. Worth every penny.

Rubber Duckie – Bootsy’s Rubber Band

Psychoticbumpschool – Bootsy’s Rubber Band

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, Fred Wesley is the man.

Some people may respond to this statement by saying, “who?“  Others may have heard his name tossed around. Some may have even been listening to his records for quite some time. Regardless, I’m confident that pretty much everyone who learns more about the dude would agree that he is the man…

Fred Wesley was James Brown’s main trombone player and did a huge portion of horn arrangements for The Godfather’s hits that you know and love. He has produced and recorded a ton of music with Mr. Brown, as well as on his own with a bunch of the same musicians. I posted two tracks here. Both of them are the title tracks from their respective albums. The first is the band The J.B.’s who are famous for being James Brown’s main backing band. It’s the title track off the album Breakin’ Bread. The second is the title track off of a record called Say Blow By Blow Backwards by the band Fred Wesley & The Horny Horns.

Pick up these albums and you shan’t be disappointed. And trust me, there are many more grooves to come…

Breakin’ Bread - Fred Wesley & The J.B.’s

Say Blow By Blow Backwards - Fred Wesley & The Horny Horns

Factors Of Four – Whoa!!! EP (self-released)

There’s a ton of fresh music talent in this world.

The trouble is finding it- unless it finds you; then your job as a music writer is made about ten times easier. Wading through all the crappy bands that send you “New Friend Requests” on the MySpace is like walking deep into a sewer- you’re almost bound to get shit right up to your knees. Most of that soggy excrement I didn’t ask for, but it keeps coming at me in the form of over-wrought singer/songwriter crap, lousy death metal or bands that assume I’ll like them because they were compared to The Hold Steady or Dirty Projectors in a review somewhere.

Thank god for young bands with moxie- Philadelphia-based Factors Of Four has a ton of it. I’ll also mention that they have easily accessible songs, nice instrumentation, hooks for days, a lead singer with a wonderful voice and a six-song EP that shows so much promise it’s going to be hard to hold this band back. Refreshing is the one word I’d use to describe their sound; if I could boil the EP down into one overarching statement (even though it’s shitty and reductive of me) that’s what they represent to me.

Having written for a music magazine back in Philly, I can say (for a city its size) that there’s a lot of sub-par bands inhabiting the 215- I had to cover a few. There’s also some of the most amazing bands there. Factors Of Four I’d throw into the latter; and to expand on how their sound is so refreshing to my ears I’d liken it to accidentally coming upon an oasis in a desert.

I love their official bio, from their band site: “Our name and the amount of members in the band is a coincidence. Factors of Four is made up Naomi, Tim, Ed and Frank, occasionally Albert plays with us too. We started out at the end of the summer is 2007 and wrote 3 songs in a weekend so that we could play a show the next weekend. After a few line up changes and countless acoustic shows we got our act together and recorded our first Ep entitled “Whoa!!!” and similtaniously released an acoustic Ep dubbed “Im Not Creative”. We are playing shows as much as possible playing anywhere and everywhere and with a trip to Lowell in April, a tour in the works for June to be accompanied with a Full Length release. Now we are a band that loves working out of sweaty basements and cluttered bedrooms.“

The EP is a stunning little gem of jangle pop; it reminds me of that Rough Trade C86 cassette I had when I was twelve (Primal Scream, The Soup Dragons, The Pastels, The Wedding Present, et. al.) If Factors Of Four is referencing that era with their music, then they are a savvy bunch of individuals. However, based on their ages; I’d say it’s accidental. And a lovely accident nonetheless. They perfectly capture the feel of those aforementioned “sweaty basements and cluttered bedrooms” with their own brand of late-teen angst.

The EP opens with the feel-good sing-a-long It Shines, with its “whoa-oh-oh’s” and “go ahead boy / go ahead get down” bridge section, replete with screamy vocals from Ed. It’s a smile-inducer. What Good Your New Eyes Will Do continues the goofy grinning, it’s almost criminal how happy this collection of songs makes me. Partially because I’m proud these kids grew up in my hometown, also because I know Eddy (and his eclectic taste in music as well). I’m also loving Naomi’s vocals in Happy Hour; there’s a hint of awkwardness in her voice which I find so endearing, kind of the way I find Colin Meloy’s reedy vocals or Will Oldham’s country warble equally as endearing.

Penny Wars is (correct me if I’m wrong) about raising money for a charity; here it’s about longing: “…suffice to say / you seem miles away / the surface penetrating / I find myself constantly waiting…” Or it’s about another homeroom collecting more pennies than yours. Either way, there’s a bit of mystery. It either is or it isn’t, and there has to be ambiguity in lyricism- that whole mystique can’t be shattered by a music critic.

12th Street is Naomi’s best song vocally; my girlfriend said (while she was making dinner last night as I was in here making notes for this review) how good her voice was- there’s an infinite amount of promise in those pipes, as well as the hooks contained in their tunes; there isn’t a chorus passage, drum fill, solo or bridge out of place- it’s a cohesive sounding collection of songs. The EP closes itself out (much too early) on the ironically titled Song 1, sounding like an early New Order track (Ceremony, Age Of Consent).

It’s funny that I was listening to most of what this reminds me of as Factors Of Four was being born; and that’s part of the genius contained therein. Accidental or not, this band has made something to be proud of, to show it off, call it their own.

Please keep making music!

Tracklisting:

1. It Shines

2. What Good Your New Eyes Will Do

3. Happy Hour

4. Penny Wars

5. 12th Street

6. Song 1

Factors Of Four is Naomi- Vocals, Tim- Guitar, Ed- Bass, Frank- Drums

Visit their MySpace!

Mega Wand is Mishal Hashmi (drums and vocals) & Rachel Levy (keyboards, computers and vocals)

Genre: Electro-Indie-Ghettotech

Geography: Echo Park, Los Angeles

I sat down with Rachel this week (via AIM, ain’t technology grand?) for a quick little Q&A sesh, she had me laughing the whole time with her quick wit (and typing- she challenged me to a type-off; I type one-finger with my head down, she can do like a thousand w.p.m.) and easy demeanor. So here’s how it went down (AIM speak is totally gnarly of course, so I took the liberty of cleaning it up a bit)…

JM: I’m loving the track OF BE to death, yo.

RL: Really? That was the first Mega Wand song.

JM: It’s really catchy, on the poppier side- shows that you can be refined.

RL: Thanks. It’s a bit watered-down, not hard enough to me- it’s too slow, we can’t play it live. But it shows some versatility, we definitely get kind of crazy- we always destroy Mishal’s drumset!

JM: Wow! So what are your ages, how’d you meet, all that stuff?

RL: I’m 25 and Mishal’s 24. We grew up together, so best friends. Been playing together for like 10-12 years?  Mega Wand is a new project, but we’ve always played together in whatever.

JM: What were some of those bands like?

RL: Stuck in a Rut (punk/hardcore), OLD Mega Wand circa 2004ish was purely a noise band and Jazzercise (elevator music).

JM: You had an elevator music band? That’s effin rad.

RL: It was short-lived, but truly rad.

JM: That’s both tragic and awesome- awesomely tragic!

RL: I know, right? Thus the basis of its appeal. And shit.

JM: Ha ha ha, thank you for adding the “and shit”!

RL: And here’s a “cute” fact- we’re both five feet or under.

JM: So what would you say your major influences would be? Musical and otherwise, that inspires you to create?

RL: Seeing any live performances always pump me up, but my first instrument was trumpet. So I listened to a lot of classical music and jazz. And then, let’s see- David Bowie, Velvet Underground, Rolling Stones… then tons of electronic like Ed Banger record guys.

JM: Trumpet? So a lot of Miles Davis?

RL: Yes, always down with the Miles. But seriously- we love music. That’s always the hardest question for me (about influences) so it’s usually a sucky answer. I love thrift store record shopping! What music is on your playlist these days?

JM: I’m completely loving Paavoharju, the new Beirut EPs, old school hip-hop (I’m sort of writing a retrospective on the whole genre because one of my friends complained I don’t cover enough rap on the site, he’s totally right) and this Tougher Than Tough compilation- it’s like a history of Jamaican music from 1958-1993.

RL: Nice! What if I wanted to tell you more music? Like The Beach Boys and The Brian Jonestown Massacre? Oh my god! You Know what I love? CLASSICAL GUITAR!

So then at this time, Mishal also IM’ed me (they share their MySpace account so they both have access to my screen name) and invited me out to pizza with The Mae Shi. I had to say sorry and that I’m in Oakland, but the flight to LA is only like 50 minutes. She said that I better hurry.

JM: So Mishal jusy IM’ed me- she said this interview is all you because she did the last one. So what do you do when not doing Mega Wand?

RL: I teach first grade at an independent school, it’s all about teaching the whole child. We take then on outdoor education trips, community service, all that sweet stuff.

JM: That’s awesome- so you got any miscellaneous quotations, socio-political agendas, anything like that you’d like to add?

RL: Nah man- we’re all about having fun with everyone and eating pizza. Just always enjoying life. And shit.

JM: Nice! thx thx superthx.

RL: super welx and super thx back to you!

We also talked a bit about the awesomeness of listening to jazz music in the rain, the euro-trashiness of Ladytron and my Ween phase of a few years ago. Here’s some choice tracks from the ladies of Mega Wand, who I’d like to thank again for their generosity and accessibility. And congratulations for being the first band on The Musicologists‘ new Bands On The Rise feature!

Mega Wand