Teenage Kicks

TK #93: Crooked Fingers – Dignity and Shame (2005)

2009-11-25T14:38:00.001-06:00

After crafting one of the last decade’s best songs (Archers of Loaf’s “Web in Front” from 1994), Eric Bachmann scrapped his band and created one of this decade’s best, “Call to Love” under his new nom de rock, Crooked Fingers. The sparkling songs are cut by a creeping darkness that recalls Lou Reed in places (especially on “Destroyer”), and the title track is a duet for piano and broken heart.

Dignity and Shame - Crooked Fi...

TK #94: Amadou & Mariam – Dimanche a Bamako (2005)

2009-11-25T13:16:00.001-06:00

African music accessible to American ears. Mali’s leading exporters of indigenous pop team with Manu Chao to produce songs with layer upon layer of rhythms, guileless guitar, and stacked vocals. Don’t fret that you don’t know the language. You’ll understand the music.

Dimanche a Bamako - Amadou & M...

TK # 95 - A.A. Bondy - American Hearts (2007)

2009-11-25T11:45:00.001-06:00

AA Bondy makes music that comes from the “old, weird America”, a term coined by Greil Marcus to describe The Basement Tapes. Bondy, a spiritual kin to the rickety folk rock of The Felice Brothers, picks at the scabs that threaten to bleed the demons and devils that lie just beneath the skin’s surface. His debut, American Hearts, is a ghostly, weary affair that examines faith and despair in equal measures of darkness and redemption.

American Hearts - A.A. Bondy

TK # 96 - Jason Heath & The Greedy Souls - The Vain Horse of Hope (2008)

2009-11-25T10:48:00.003-06:00

Mixing a down-on-his-luck everyman’s socially conscious worldview with a sly sense of humor, Jason Heath & the Greedy Souls debut sparkles with the same clean, effortless sound Uncle Tupelo captured on Anodyne, their magnificent swan song. Heath shoots (and scores!) for Petty and Springsteen territory, his sound sweetened with an alt-country stew of fiddle, accordion, standup bass and harmonica. I dare you not to fall in love with Heath’s “Anarchist Girl”.

Jason Heath & The Greedy Souls - "Anarchist Girl"

TK #97: New Pornographers - Mass Romantic (2001)

2009-11-24T17:05:00.002-06:00

Not since peanut butter first slammed into chocolate has there been a confectionary collision as satisfying as the head-on smash-up between the spun sugar of Neko Case’s voice and the heavy syrup of Carl Newman’s songs. On this, the band’s first, jagged melodies swarm like fireflies, and none glows brighter than “Letter From An Occupant,” one of the decade’s great indie singles.

Mass Romantic - The New Pornog...

TK #98: Gorillaz - Demon Days (2005)

2009-11-24T13:21:00.002-06:00

Damon Albarn spent the decade doing whatever he damn well felt like, and he did what he felt like damn well, especially on the second album by his band of cartoon warriors, which combines funk, dub and pop into a bubbling, propulsive and dark platter of anti-matter.

Demon Days - Gorillaz

TK #99: Joe Henry - Blood From Stars (2009)

2009-11-24T08:39:00.002-06:00

Yet more exquisite professional perfection from the world’s leading purveyor of folkjazzbluespop. Delicate, but not dainty, wistful, but not wispy, and by the time the album builds to its centerpiece “Suit on a Frame,” it gains a sort of momentum you never saw coming.

Blood From Stars - Joe Henry

TK # 100: Justin Townes Earle - The Good Life (2008)

2009-11-23T22:15:00.006-06:00

Resist your initial inclination to dismiss the work of the wayward scion of a troubled troubadour, because Justin Townes Earle delivers a high and lonesome debut album that traded on the old-timey sounds of Hank Williams and Jimmie Rodgers, but still managed a fresh approach for ten original songs that mark him as an alt country star-in-waiting. Highlights include a jaunty romp of tough love (“Hard Livin”), a simple declaration of rootlessness in “The Good Life” and thoughts on “What Do You Do When You’re Lonesome”. Not to be missed in concert - JTE will be appearing at Johnny Brenda’s in March.

Justin Townes Earle - "Hard Livin"

Hard Luck Stories Out Today!

2009-11-23T15:23:00.003-06:00

Ike Reilly is a long-time Teenage Kicks favorite. He returns today with Hard Luck Stories, ten songs about sex, drugs, returning vets, fucked up losers, fucked up winners, sex and drugs. Drawing on Dylan's deep, twisted phrasing and the feral gut punch of prime punk rock, Reilly is a master storyteller who's bringing back two things sadly missing in rock and roll - humor and swagger. The dude is a fist fight wrapped up in a three minute explosion of rock and roll, complete with pulsing, soaring chouses that imbed themsleves deep - you may not know it, but you need to hear Ike Reilly.

After our top 100 of the decade, we'll be bringing you more Ike Reilly, including an exclusive interview, but for now we'll leave you with this freewheeling duet with Shooter Jennings, "The War On The Terror And The Drugs", whose title seems to promise one thing but whose lyrics deliver, in the words of Monty Python, "something completely different". Meant to be played LOUD.

Hard Luck Stories is available digitally now at itunes and amazon.com.

Ike Reilly (w/ Shooter Jennings) - "The War on The Terror and The Drugs"

Teenage Kicks Top 100 of The Decade

2009-11-23T11:58:00.003-06:00

There have been approximately 24,000 album released this decade. We heard less than 5% of those. But we know what we like and over the next few weeks we will bring to you, our loyal and content-starved Teenage Kicks readers, our favorite 100 records of the past ten years. We created a very comprehensive and scientific methodology to determine the artistic merit of each record. Some of the metrics included minus 10 points for any reference to an animal in your band name, plus 25 points for keeping all songs on the album under four minutes, minus 20 points if we could connect anything about your music to Dave Matthews, plus 5 points for any band including brothers and plus 15 points for bringing the rock.

And when we're done (or even before we start), feel free to tell us who we missed.

Avett Brothers - I and Love and You

2009-11-09T08:53:00.002-06:00

[This post, written by Trip, originally went up a few months back. It is being reposted because of technicall gremlins]

Imagine a reverb-less Fleet Foxes with Ben Folds playing piano and harmonizing and then listen to this absolutely lovely new song by The Avett Brothers, the title track to their new Rick Rubin produced album, I And Love And You, due 9/29 from Columbia Records. This moves to the top of my "I'll keep hectoring you until you buy this in 2009" list.

The Avett Brothers - "I And Love And You"

The Avett Brothers - "Die Die Die" (from 2007's Emotionalism, available from Ramseur Records)

Rock of Ages - Part VI (The Hall at The Garden)

2009-11-05T23:41:00.005-06:00

While we here at Teenage Kicks endeavor to cover as many musical events and happenings as possible, sometimes we're just proud to know people who are attending such rock and roll milestones as last night's Miley Cyrus concert (nice job Sherry), Pearl Jam's closing of The Spectrum, the Sir Rod tribute show at The Polish American Club in Clifton Heights on 11/21(Teenage Kicks gives this one our highest rating - at least the fab 70's first half of the show!). But then sometimes people who know people get to see rock and roll history unfurl right in front of them. Ace TK field reporter Scott McClatchy (aka Scooter) got to see The Rock and Roll 25th Anniversary concerts last week at Madison Square Garden. While Teenage Kicks initially cast a skeptical eye towards an event surely headed for major bloat (hello U2), could any rock show with Bruce Springsteen be a letdown? Our ace reporter says no, and files his report here.

Rock of Ages - Part II (Born to Run)

2009-10-30T23:53:00.005-05:00

10/13/09 – Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band open a four night stand as they play The Spectrum one last time… or four last times. Nostalgia has a way of refocusing the lens of time so that if we squint hard enough that a sports arena that housed its share of bad basketball teams, who-cares hockey teams, mutant circuses, pound-of-flesh-taking Disney extravaganzas and dinosaur rock bands somehow gets remembered as a quaint little showcase. Now we shut the old girl down and every gig becomes a must-see last gig. The good news is Springsteen rarely fails to deliver (I’m willing to forget the acoustic shows and the by-numbers Human Touch/Lucky Town tour if you are).

If you’re fortunate enough to have seen this tour (or at least don't live in Kansas City), I hope you saw a Born to Run show. From the mournful, opening call of “Thunder Road’s" harmonica and piano through the final, wounded howl of “Jungleland”, seeing Springsteen’s 1975 masterpiece start to finish was goose bump city. Yeah, the diehards were soiling themselves over rarities like “Seaside Bar Song”, “The Fever” or “This Hard Land”, but only because they were rare, not because they cold hold a candle to songs like “She’s The One”, “Backstreets”, “Meeting Across The River” (itself a bit of a rarity) or the twin titans of the title track and “Thunder Road”. Born To Run is the greatest American rock and roll record ever made and seeing Springsteen and the band tear through it was exhilarating and life-affirming, but also sadly beautiful.

And that’s because it really feels like this is the last tour for this configuration of the E Street Band. And this is the way to go out – not at their peak (nothing will top the legendary shows from the E Street Band’s first decade), but a still dynamic brotherhood who on their best nights can still summon the essence of rock and roll. The reason that believers still swear by Springsteen’s live show are the small moments that demonstrate that rock and roll should, at its core, be about fun. Think about that simple concept – FUN. (Ed. Note: It makes me wanna smack Jay Farrar). The local flavor inserted into the new “Wrecking Ball” (“cheesesteaks are as big as airplanes”), the request granting (a “Can I Sing” poster gets a little schoolgirl a show-stopping duet on “Waiting on a Sunny Day that also includes a kiss), another delirious little girl being twirled during “Dancing in The Dark”, the garage stomp of “Little Bit O Soul” complete with po-face mugging about his AARP cover appearance, are all topped off with the greatest of encore songs, “Rosalita”.

If this is indeed the last full blown E Street tour, as I’m positive we’ll see Springsteen down the road, I’ll just say:

“Well if you do you'll know I'm thinking of you and all the miles in between

And I'm just calling one last time not to change your mind

But just to say I miss you baby, good luck goodbye”

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - "Thunder Road" (12/28/75 - Tower Theater)

Rock of Ages - Part I (Long Live Rock!)

2009-10-24T16:56:00.003-05:00

The next time someone tells you rock and roll is dead and cites Taylor Swift, the Jonas Brothers or Kanye West as proof, just tell them a) they’re wrong and b) Taylor, the JoBros and Kanye are the bomb. Now if they tell you that there’s no good current music and cite Britney Spears, Animal Collective and Jason Mraz as proof, just say a) I’m feelin’ ya, bro and b) you’re still wrong.

Because in 3 days this month, I experienced 5 shows that cleared away the cobwebs, got the blood pumping and proved that J-Roll’s double may not have been the most earth-shaking, head-snapping, jaw-dropping, chest-thumping moment this October. (OK, that might be a lie – while music rarely breaks your heart like your favorite sports team, moments like J-Roll’s gapper are timeless, unforgettable and able to unite a city that can usually only agree that there’s nothing that we can all agree on.).

So stay tuned and bear witness to the fervor and soul of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Lucero, the Avett Brothers, Lucero and Gaslight Anthem. That’s a murderer’s row of passionate rock and roll bands.

As a teaser, here’s two of my favorite songs of the year. My buddy Allen calls “Sounds of The City” the song of the year and god damn if “I And Love And You” doesn’t get me every single time.

Lucero - "Sounds of The City"

Avett Brothers - "I And Love And You"

Literary Kicks

2009-10-21T14:57:00.001-05:00

Shocking, I know, but I'm known to read a book from time to time. Here's my interview with Sarah Vowell about her book The Wordy Shipmates.

Lowe Life

2009-10-07T11:19:00.002-05:00

Here's my interview of Nick Lowe, in the new edition of the Providence Phoenix.

Take Six

2009-10-02T18:06:00.002-05:00

In preparing for an interview I conducted this week (details to come), I found myself immersed in the late seventies and deeply satisfied. It made me think about discrete eras in music, and which would be my favorite. Not best. Not most important. Just favorite. As in, if I were permitted only to listen to music released in a particular five-year window, what five years would I choose? And then because this is my own meaningless exercise – and because I was stuck – I expanded it to six years.

And what span did I pick?

1977 through 1982.

Lots of folks will think that I’m exactly ten years too late, and it’s hard to argue with a stretch bookended by Sgt. Pepper’s and Exile on Main Street. I love those records. But no other period hits me where I live quite like punk’s onslaught and afterglow. What does that period get you? Elvis Costello’s first six (six!) albums for starters, each a classic or nearly so. Talking Heads’ first four albums. The Clash’s entire catalog! Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River and Nebraska. Some Girls and Tattoo You. “Teenage Kicks,” “Another Girl, Another Planet” and “Starry Eyes.” Jesus of Cool and Seconds of Pleasure. The Specials, the Feelies, the English Beat. Leave Home, Road to Ruin and Rocket to Russia. Exodus, Kaya and Uprising. Dirty Mind and Marquee Moon. Never Mind the Bollocks and Rumours. XTC and Squeeze. Squeezing Out Sparks and Rust Never Sleeps. In Color and Back in Black. Trans-Europe Express and Juju Music. The Cars, Excitable Boy, Parallel Lines. Pere Ubu’s original avant garage records and Roxy Music’s elegant rebirth. One Nation Under a Groove and Off the Wall. Damn the Torpedoes and Tusk. The first two albums by the Pretenders, X and the dB’s. Making Movies and Double Fantasy. Shoot Out the Lights. Marshall Crenshaw’s transcendent debut.

That barely scratches the surface, and it forms the backbone of my musical being. I get a little thrill just looking at the words on the page, and some regret that I don’t listen enough. If you put those six years on a loop, would the shine ever wear off? I really don’t think so.

What are your six years? Leave a comment.

Ike Reilly's Hard Luck Stories Drops 11/24!

2009-09-29T16:17:00.003-05:00

In 2009, waiting until the official release date to hear an album is a quaint, outdated notion akin to waiting to get the morning paper to see if the Phillies magic number still hasn’t changed. With bit torrents, advance leaks, facebook, twitter, my space, text alerts and occasionally even the artist’s own website, it’s impossible not to hear a new release before the street date.

But then there’s Ike Reilly – a fiercely independent singer-songwriter who combines the snarl and abrasiveness of punk rock with power pop’s joyous celebration of melody. Along with The Hold Steady, Gaslight Anthem and Lucero, Ike’s bringing back bare knuckled rock and roll. Last week Ike mentioned on Facebook that he’s dropping his latest, Hard Luck Stories, on 11/24. And apparently that’s the only mention I can find of this release on the whole wide world web except the fab Twitpic you see above. I kinda like this media de-saturation – Ike’s kickin’ it old school.

Can anyone provide an Ike update? Artwork? Track list? Tour dates? While you surf, here are five (count ‘em FIVE) versions of Ike’s signature song “Hip Hop Thighs # 17”.

Hip Hop Thighs # 17 (Salesmen And Racists version)

Hip Hop Thighs # 17 (Spook Brady Version)

Hip Hop Thighs # 16 (Poison The Hit Parade version)

Hip Hop Thighs # 17 (live @ WXPN)

Hip Hop Thighs # 17 (live @ KCRW)

Jason Mraz Defeats America

2009-09-25T15:25:00.003-05:00

I am left stupefied, befuddled, bewitched and frankly shocked beyond belief that “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz has recently established a new benchmark for longevity on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. This lighter than air piece of sing-song dreck has been on the Billboard Hot 100 for 75 weeks and currently sits at # 48.

Inconceivable!

How did this happen? Appearances on Saturday Night Live (oh SNL… why?), American Idol (perfect group cheese), a Verizon commercial and overall television ubiquity made this former Mraz throwaway demo (it was a Mraz throwaway!!) an unkillable monster. America – please explain yourself!

Free beers for life for any Teenage Kicks reader that knocks that mridiculous hat off his head.

Lucero "Darken My Door" Video

2009-09-18T22:36:00.003-05:00

Lucero has commisioned a homemade video for each song on their upcoming slab of dynamite, 1372 Overton Park (out October 6 on Universal Republic). Here's "Darken My Door" from big time Brooklyn fan Alex Mecum. It's a gas. And since we're in such a good mood, how about an mp3 for the first single "Smoke"?

Darken My Door from Lucero on Vimeo.

Lucero - "Smoke"

Jim Carroll Band - People Who Died

2009-09-12T13:55:00.004-05:00

A troubled, brilliant soul - another one gone too soon. It can stop now.

Funk on a Friday

2009-09-11T16:04:00.001-05:00

Get down to the electofunky sound of Claude VonStroke, featuring one Bootsy Collins.

Stranded

2009-09-08T12:01:00.004-05:00

Philadelphia’s WXPN, the station that brought Trip and me together, is asking listeners to submit lists of the ten songs they’d want to have on their iPods were they to be stranded on a desert island, an occurrence that happens far more often than the left-leaning media would have you know. These lists will then be compiled into one master list of 885 songs to be counted down by the station, and perhaps to be ridiculed – excuse me, commented upon – by the proprietors of this humble web site.

I tried (and probably failed) not to overthink my list, but once the final song came to me, it was a eureka! moment. It was plain to me, as I’m sure it will be to you, that the list is perfect, unassailable, and unimproveable. Before I unveil the list (and you may not want to look directly at it, for the brilliance could be blinding), I want to stress that sequence is important. The songs must be encountered in the proper order. There is logic to it, with synergies created. Dynamics. Pace. Crescendo. If the songs are placed in any other order, not only do they lose their power, they could be become volatile, dangerous, even deadly (under no circumstances should the offerings from Mingus and the ‘Mats be placed adjacent to one another). Please, use good judgment.

“Another Girl, Another Planet,” The Only Ones. Like all good rock and roll mixes, this one starts with a bang. One of the best songs from one of the most fertile times for rock and roll singles, this (just barely) post punk slab of angular guitars, monster melody and breathless pacing is the perfect blend of rock and roll power and pure pop bliss. I considered tunes by Nick Lowe, the Undertones, the Plimsouls, Pretenders and Marshall Crenshaw for this spot, but nothing else sounded quite so perfect.

“I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man,” Prince. Gotta sustain momentum with the second track, while still heading in a different direction. This was a fairly late entry, taking the place of Curtis Mayfield’s “Move On Up,” and somehow it feels like sneaking Curtis and Sly Stone on to the list in a single song. This is the best of Prince crammed into one tune – the funk, the pop, and that otherworldly guitar.

“Many Rivers to Cross,” Jimmy Cliff. An out of left field choice and the last song to make the list. A few Bob Marley songs had been penciled in here, and I was ready to hit submit with “No Woman No Cry” in the three-hole, but Bob seemed to rest uncomfortably here. And then it just struck me. I have long loved this song, but I don’t think I knew how much. So beautiful, so powerful, so soulful, and so remarkably comforting. Even stranded, you can never be alone with a song like this. And the intro blends so nicely with Prince’s fade.

“Goodbye Pork Pie Hat,” Charles Mingus. This isn’t some awkward effort to shoehorn some jazz onto the list. This tune might be here if I were allowed just five songs. Stately, elegant, never cloying, always satisfying. And when the bass and sax flutter in unison, it sends me through the roof.

“Amelia,” Joni Mitchell. From Mingus to his most famous fan (evidence here). I loved this song the very instant I first heard it twenty-some years ago, and that love has only deepened over time. As graceful a recording as I can imagine, it provokes something powerful within me, the sort of deep connection that you spend a lifetime chasing but rarely finding. Still, the few times you find it make all the chasing worthwhile. The song gets bonus points for being about someone who may actually have been stranded on a desert island.

“Answering Machine,” The Replacements. From a song that is (largely) a woman and her guitar to one that is (largely) a man and his, but a hard shift in tone. Paul Westerberg’s greatest song is nothing less than the electrified sound of exposed nerve endings. Has anyone ever been so desperately alone at such devastating volume?

“Your Little Hoodrat Friend,” The Hold Steady. Much has been made of Craig Finn being Bruce Springsteen’s spiritual heir, but at least half of his DNA comes from fellow Minnesotan Westerberg. This is the song that indoctrinated me into the cult, the one that first made me feel at forty the way the ‘Mats made me feel at twenty. The way we deify The Hold Steady has become a bit of a running joke around here, but down deep, it’s dead serious. I love this band. I love everything about them: the riffs, the words, the ambition, the respect for the audience’s intelligence. Everything. And I love this song best.

“All Down the Line,” The Rolling Stones. Everything I love about rock and roll can be traced back to the Stones’ perfection of Chuck Berry’s imagination, and this is the epitome – the best song on the best album. The way Mick sings, the way Charlie swings, the way Keith sends it hurtling down the tracks, the way Mick Taylor dances on top, the way Bill Wyman anchors it at bottom. It’s a lesson in chemistry, in physics, and in literature. “Open up and swallow, yeah!”

“Born to Run,” Bruce Springsteen. If you complain that this is obvious, I’ll remind you that obscurity isn’t the object. I’ve heard this song a million times and I can’t wait till the next. When the E Street Band explodes – is there any other word for it? – into the song, I feel the rush every time. It’s like fight-or-flight with guitars, and I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to pump my fist and sing with abandon and hear something new with each listen as layer after layer of sound peels away. That a scruffy Jersey kid could conceive of such a thing at 25 was audacious. That he could achieve it was supernatural.

“Marquee Moon,” Television. My “Stairway to Heaven,” and the only way I could end this thing. “Marquee Moon” is pure mystery to me. I don’t know why I should love such a long song with a medium tempo and an odd construction, but I do, and more than I can express. It is pure majesty, and the long, winding, ascending guitar dance between Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd is a musical/sexual path to higher consciousness. This song is last because I don’t know what could possibly follow it.

Oh Chameleon Club, If You Are Trying to Woo Me...

2009-09-06T01:00:00.002-05:00

The Felice Brothers (amazing!) plus $2.00 bottles of Yuengling were an excellent start. Now just move your club closer to my house.

New Music From The Garage (And The Library)

2009-09-03T09:42:00.002-05:00

The inbox has filled up with new music in the past week or so. And much of the best possesses the raw-boned thrum that made us love rock and roll in the first place.

The Black Hollies would sound right at home on a Nuggets compilation, tucked neatly between The Seeds and The Barbarians. The single “Run With Me Run” is chock-a-block with grimy guitar and organ topped by heavenly harmonies. Those of you in Philly can catch the band on Sunday (Sept. 6) at Johnny Brenda’s.

The Black Hollies, “Run With Me Run”

Speaking of Philly, the city’s own Nixon’s Head has just unveiled the new album Enemies List. The whole thing’s a treat, combining Mitch Ryder-style Detroit muscle with Merseybeat melodicism. Locals can catch them on September 11 at Puck in Doylestown, PA. “Done Dealing” is the lead track to the album. A keeper.

Nixon’s Head, “Done Dealing”

Birdmonster is back with its own brand of revved-up, snarling Americana. The album (out Sept. 22) is Blood Memory, and “I Might Have Guessed (Mean Version)” got under my skin before the verse even kicked in.

Birdmonster, “I Might Have Guessed (Mean Version)”

The Library may be the most appropriately named band in rock and roll history. They make a whisper-quiet music reminiscent of The Clientele or Elliott Smith (minus the despair). The Life and Times of Rosa Lee is a winning collection of songs perfect for bringing the curtain down on a long day.

The Library, “TomKat”