Canard Music

Here’s a new maddening piece of psych-electro-fizzle from Electric Lawnchair, the alter ego of Newsboy Legion.

It Was Cheddar Cheese

 Recorded in October of 2007 in Rome, Ga. Lovingly messed with by THE ENEMY FROM SPACE.

 

In no real order

Wilderness- Vessel States www.jagjaguwar.com

These dudes make anthems for aliens. Their lead singer sounds like he’s undergoing a metamorphosis or some kind of rebirth. I like them. They’re pretty atmospheric, all guitar arpeggios and wide open space. It just sounds strangely majestic and tiny at the same time. I recommend! It’s an aquired taste and a lot of people prefer their first record, but this one is my fave.

Comets on Fire- Avatar   www.subpop.com   

 

Noone is making the freak out music like these guys. Great sounds of psychedelic passion with withering guitar and spazzed out drumming.

Mastodon- Blood Mountain   www.mastodonrocks.com

Best current metal band. These guys did not compromise wih their signing to a major. i know some indie fuckheads will disagree, but they can go listen to their “hard to find albums pressed on Norwegian black Metal ham sandwiches”. Heavy, prog-ish in parts. It’s on relapse/reprise! Did Sinatra’s ghost sign these guys?

Band of Horses- Everything All the Time  www.subpop.com

Never has a band that on first listen sounded so derivative had such a lasting impact on me. This record is beautiful and the singer/guitarist has a pretty great voice and “awwww, shucks I’m on ecstacy” stage presence and banter. We saw them at Pitchfork Fest in Chicago. Our friends hated them and compared them to Journey. That should tell you about the sound mix out there and by the way, the guy that MC’s that festival was a cheeseball. These guys get compared to My Morning Jacket a lot because of the reverb activity. I agree they share some aesthetics in their sound.

Espers- II   www.dragcity.com

This folk-rock band expanded its line up to include a drummer and some more instruments. They’re kind of on the Pentangle tip, but at the end of one of their freeze dried, trance inducing drone sessions, they remind me of the end of “Epitaph” off of King Crimson’s first lp. That is a huge compliment coming from me as I worship Robert Fripp’s delay module and vintage mellotron. Great musicianship all around. This is a bliss out type of jam. “Dead King” and “Moon Occults the Sun” are my favorite.

Oneida- Happy New Year     www.jagjaguwar.com

These guys from New York aren’t afraid to get down on the prog tip. They change stylistically from album to album.”Up with People” is a stilted funk-pop-a-roll jam about 8 minutes long. The title cut is pretty great too with its meandering synth. Jagjaguwar seems to be putting out my favorite stuff right now.

Decemberists-The Crane Wife     www.decemberists.com

This is literate rock for nerds. There’s nothing wrong with this. Let your nerd-o flag fly. Pretty pop music that doesn’t insult your intelligence unless you’re stupid, in which you will not be able to comprehend its beauty. Try listening to Fall Out Boy instead you jerk-off.

Bright Black Morning Light- self titled     www.thebrightblackmorninglight.com

This is some mellow shit. If I was a pot damaged goober, I’d love this. I’m not, but I still love it. Good late night or Sunday morning music. Drones for the drones.

Built to Spill- You in Reverse        www.builttospill.com

The delay pedals! The haunting voice!

I haven’t really cared too much about these guys since ‘There’s Nothing Wrong with Love’, but I really liked this one a lot. You can shoot me now, but I didn’t say I disliked ‘Perfect..’ or ‘Keep it…’. Those records just didn’t move me as much.

Mew- And the Glass Handed Kites    www.mewsite.com

Scandinavian dudes kick up some MBV-type noise on this album. I liked it quite a bit. Atmospheric rock with a guest vocal from that grey haired wizard J Mascis. The guitars sound hyper compressed and with weirdo twang on them. Nice vocals and some pretty interesting drumming/time changes. A little prog-ish.

Viva Voce- Get YR Blood Sucked Out   www.vivavoce.com

Husband and wife team make some great rock and roll. Great songwriting, interesting structures and hot ass guitar playing.  A home produced gem of a record.

Lemonheads- Lemonheads       www.vagrant.com

Essentially, if you did not already know, Evan Dando is the Lemonheads. After a good, but overlooked solo album he has teamed up with the rhythm section of the Descendents and put together a solid album of pilled out sounding punk pop. The guy (Dando) has always been somewhat of a burn out, but I’m not sure he’s put out a really stinky album. ‘Come on Feel the Lemonheads’ was the closest due to his smoking crack rocks all through the sessions. Strangely it produced their slickest record! Bill Stevenson helps out with some songwriting and Dando benefits from his tight ass power drumming. It breaks no new ground and will be largely forgotten, but it is a worthwhile, humble effort. Stay off the needle.

Silkworm- Chokes       www.silkworm.net

Anybody who knows me is aware of how much I love Silkworm. Most of them cannot understand it. They don’t dislike them, they just don’t see why they tower over a lot of bands in my opinion. I feel it is their lyrical complexity and maturity mixed with a powerful drummer and some great guitar/bass interplay. A band like Silkworm is so adept at using dynamics and space in their songs that it’s almost ridiculous. A lot of bands should stop playing all the fucking time and learn some restraint. Silkworm will rock the house down when they want to and if the song needs it. Unfortunately, Michael Dahlquist-drummer genius, was killed along with some other good folks when an asshole, waste of space plowed into their car in a failed suicide attempt. She survived while all three of them perished. Tim and Andy of Silkworm have carried on in Bottomless Pit and will hopefully relese something soon. They have some tracks streaming on their site ( www.bottomlesspit.us ) and they sound really great. The ‘Chokes’ ep is the last stuff Silkworm recorded and its awesome. Interestingly enough , there is no bass on the cd, Tim plays the “twanker” which is some kind of bass/baritone guitar type-o-thing. Don’t take my word for it though. You can order the ep direct through a link on the Silkworm site.

REISSUES

I generally send too much time and money on music I already own or have owned. Where’s the new shit that doesn’t suck?!?!?

here are some reissues from 2006 that I found to be…worthwhile.

Chavez- Better Days Will Haunt You     www.matadorrecords.com

The complete recordings of Chavez, a great guitar based rock band that were active in the mid to late 90′s. Billy Corgan should be licking their balls.

Pavement- Wowee Zowee Sordid Sentinels edition       www.matadorrecords.com

Pavement’s “difficult” album. This is the one where they dig hard on the prog tip. Great stuff. Lots of bonus shit on the extra disc. Would have liked more liner notes about the actual sessions.

Boobs: Junkshop Glam Discoteque

Brent gave me a copy of this glam collection of obscure 70′s rockers. Looks like Kim Fowley had his greasy fingers on most of these songs. “Motorboat” is a standout and they all sound like they were recorded in Marc Bolan’s gold lame trousers. Great fun for anybody that digs T. Rex, Sweet and Gary Glitter (prior to his child molesting exploits, of course!). Although this actually came out in 2005, I am making an exception for its greatness! Thanks Mr. Brence.

 

 

 

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The Exploding Madonna finally released their self titled cd. It is available for purchase at www.theexplodingmadonna.com . Hey we got some shirts too! Here’s a track off the album. “Stansbury Case” . Enjoy its ferocity.

There have been no posts for while as I have been dealing with finals and job stuff. I will try to post some tunes asap.

I appreciate the patience.

Once again I have been stricken ill and this time by some horrible throat bug that’s sapping my energy. I will post new stuff when I can. Maybe over the weekend. Defintiely by this monday.

I will post again with new stuff when I can remove my head from inside the toilet. Flu contraction just ain’t to my satisfaction. Word.

Ric Ocasek- the leader of the group. He’s a varied artist. Extremely creative!

Benjamin Orr- the sexy bass player . He’s dead now, but that don’t matter. The stage presence will be the same. Bland.

David Robinson- the drummer. His steady beats are the heart of the group. High in fiber, you always know what you’re getting.

Greg Hawkes- the nerdy keyboardist. He’ll do the robot, play sax as well. A multiple utility player.

Elliott Easton- his stringy leads are the things dreams are made of. Watch him rock out on a noodly solo. Wow! Hair helmet!

If you haven’t picked up their new album “Spaghetti-O” do so now!!!

Aimee and I moved into our house in 1998. When we first moved in our nextdoor neighbors were these two freaky security guys who liked the devil’s dandruff too much I’ve been told. Anyway they vacated in the middle of the night leaving all of their property behind and the house went into foreclosure. These people bought it for next to nothing and refurbished it, but discovered some weird stuff. Anyway, when the studio was being built Tony Buzone went over there and took a look at the place to see if they needed any help with carpentry and what not. He found that the dudes that lived there liked to cut and paste porn pictures on the walls. They would cut the heads off of the porno chicks in the pictures and replace them with celebrity heads. There was one that Tony found that was so disturbing and it featured Brooke Shields. Sorry I do not have that to post but this is a G rated site folks! Also found was box after box of family photos including this gem! Don’t know who he is, but he loves dem eggs!

I would like to thank you for visiting my site. As some of you may know I have been a fixture on the local music scene here in Tallahassee for about 20 years. Not sure what that says about me! After much cajoling from my friends and fans I have decided to create a place where my music can be downloaded for free. Every week I hope to have a featured download as well as more archival material. Some of this stuff will date back to 1984 so don’t be surprised if sound quality, maturity and weirdness fluctuates wildly. That’s how I am in my life and that’s how I am in my music! I will be posting blogs about whatever I feel like writing about, possibly some fiction, weird dream sequences, record reviews and biographical anectdotes for those who care. I will attempt to comment on all the Mp3′s that go up here. You can expect to hear stuff from all incarnations of the Singing Spoons, Ultraboy, Bacon Ray, Ancient Brain and Canard. Maybe some other stuff I have been involved in like the New You, Exploding Madonna,etc. I hope that you like the music and enjoy it as much as I will enjoy digging it out of my extensive beer stained archives. I will be posting ancient photos of Tallahassee band nightlife as well as old articles. Yes, the sound of tears rolling down my cheeks and into the 4 track, 8 track, 16 track and the digital domain. The sound of paper towels being typed upon by a lonesome wreck of a man. Enjoy!!!!