Album of the Week: Dinosaur Jr - Your Living All Over Me

so this weeks album is an oldie, but a goodie. i apologize for not updating this blog... i have been in the process of routing the site over and simply have decided to start back on this one.

sooooo you ask, what is sooo amazing about this Dino J album? well to start with its one of the most fluent hardcore albums i think i have ever heard from Little Fury things to the Just Like Heaven cover.

WARNING: IF YOU DO NOT LIKE LOUD MUSIC OR HAVE WEAK EARS, DO NOT CONTINUE READING!

since your still reading you must be a fan of rock music that rocks the phones from your ears and blows the speakers in your car. YLAOM is one of the premier early hardcore/indie records that exists. you can start to hear that Dino J comprised of the elustrious Mascis on guitar, Lou on bass, and Murph on the drums, are really starting to find their spot as musicians. i've read interviews where Mascis stated that on the first album there was a lot of talk between them of the "right" direction and the right atmosphere to lay out... and you can tell there is some clash between their EARLY hardcore sound and then their mellowed out aggression that they developed into. so when you listen to YLAOM it may be Dino J's second album, it my opinion, which doesn't for stand much... but since your reading this blog you must have a shred of interest in what i have to say, in my opinion this is the first and best album that defines the Dino J sound.

What is the Dino J sound?

well that is not a completely easy question to answer, but to me, the Dino J sound is a mellowed out rhythm with an overlayed bleeding lead guitar, percussion with constant outbursts... and all of this is played at not 10, but 11 on the volume scale.

but anyways, thats just a short excerpt about the album, now go listen to it and tell me what ya think! till next time girls and boys!

peace and chicken grease!

- v!nce

Album of the Week

happy monday morning everyone! well, not really. its monday, its cold and we still got this dismal overcast going on... i hope everyone had a great weekend!

this week's Album of the Week is:

Pisces Iscariot by Smashing Pumpkins

this is the album of the week for a lot of reasons, but to simply sum it up... its an album that, to me, is about love that is struggled for. that in itself is a beautiful connundrum that we have all (hopefully) found ourself in from time to time. the track, Starla, is possibly one of my favorite smashing pumpkins songs ever... its at least in my top 5.

no concerts lined up for this week yet! but i will keep my eyes posted!

by the way, readers, please feel free to send me emails about what shows you think look good, or even your write ups about concerts, i might just post it up here and give you the credit!

anyways, feel free to post your comments here about what you thought of the AotW...

peace and chicken grease

-v!nce

04.03.08 | Red Collar at Duke Coffeehouse

Last night I was at home at around 8 o'clock, stringing my guitar,(actually more like fighting to get the eyeholes from the strings to push down through the bridge, cut my hand in this process... long story) and I was debating of whether to go out to this show in Durham. It was rainy. It was pitch black outside. It was in Durham and I live in Wake Forest.

Gas is expensive, but music is good. So around 8:45 I am rolling down I40, listening to Brick House by the Commodores and thinking, "Geez this is not going to be worth it, I can just sense a bomb of a night in music tonight..." I got to the coffee house and filed in quietly, the show said 9... but in typical indie fashion, you know that no one even shows up until 30mins after the show time. I got myself a cup of black coffee and found a comfy chair to do what I love to do most, observe human interaction.

Around 9:45ish the band decided it was time to play and got on stage, I had finished my coffee which I will admit I put one too many Sweet N Low's in... and headed up towards the stage. First thing I noticed was the guitarists Gibson (I am a guitar tech freak) and wondered why there was so much tape on it, I summed it up to him just liking duct tape.

Their Presence:

The lead vocalist, whose name is Jason, has a very Bruce Springsteen-ish sound to him. It sounds like the guy who works in the record store, has been there for years, and knows everyone's name. His voice is comfortable. His voice has that common man tone to it. The drummer was like any good drummer, tall, lanky, full of sweat and consistant. The bassist who with her long blonde hair and bass swagger(that is a term I have developed to describe what all bass players seem to get instantly once they find their groove) looked much reminiscent of D'Arcy from the ever godly SP... except she was happy... and in love, with the vocalist. I could tell by the way they looked at each other. It made for great stage connection. The final piece of this puzzle of a band was the lead guitarist... his name is Mike, and apparently it was his birthday. GRATZ! He showed me why he had tape on his guitar, he flailed around in classic punk fashion like he was being attacked by a swarm of japanese killer bee's.

Their Sound:

Sometimes when you hear a song you cannot relate... you feel alienated from those feelings or emotions. Red Collar is the exact opposite. Every one of their songs feels like you have heard it a million times and still love it. Their music has that American feel like Bruce Springsteen or James Taylor... but has that hardcore Minor Threat / Fugazi tempo coupled with the Ian McKaye guitar sound. The keyboards layers into it with a My Bloody Valentine background that breathes fresh air into oftenly rehashed punk rhthym. They have a warm sense of inviting musical commraderie that drives into you, grabs you and does not let go. When they pull the cable from their amp, drop their drumsticks, switch off the mics, and unplug the keyboard, you feel like you were just dropped to the floor from a kiss by a beautiful musical giant.



Overall:

I have a graph to represent this:

Hehe you can see I am horrible with MS paint.

Their website info is:

http://www.redcollarmusic.com/

- vince