WHAT’S SPINNING -...
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page 19 Thursday, February 16, 2017 TOP 30 PLAYS WHAT WE’RE PLAYING NEW MUSIC POW! gave the world a gift with the release of “Crack an Egg,” a dizzying synth punk delight more honest and exciting than anything you’ll find in the Top 40. POW!’s act has been accurately described as garage-punk-with-synths, but it also incorporates elements of psychedelia, new wave and post-punk. Forged from the creative will of Byron Blum and Melissa Blue, POW! got its big break when Thee Oh Sees frontman John Dwyer signed the musicians to his label, Castle Face Records. “Crack an Egg” marks the third full-length album from this ingenious San Fransisco-based duo. I plan to listen to all three, but decided to give this record a fair shake by not comparing it to its predecessors. “Dns” gets the ball rolling with an uptempo progression of distorted guitar and what sounds like a saxophone. “I’m absent in my mind, I’m absent in my brain,” hisses Blum, urging listen- ers to drift away on whirling waves of synth and a multi-layered solo. Album highlight “Back On the Grid” hooked me in the first two seconds. Blue lays out an infectious line on her keyboard that could push even the shyest audience member to experiment on the dance floor. “Crack an Egg” offers more catchy leads and steady, aggressive drumming, then eases off the gas with its fifth track, “Runner.” Here POW! nearly cuts the tempo in half and pays respect to the avant- garde. Older listeners and music geeks may be re- minded of The Velvet Underground as Blum moans over a borderline creepy soundscape. POW! ironically places “Crack an Egg Intro” in the middle of the record and creates a brief, unpredictable interlude. The next song, “Color the System,” is one of my favorites. It kicks the tempo into overdrive and tosses in a synth tone from an old arcade game I played once. “Crack an Egg” is undoubtedly a fun and enigmatic listen, and it does have its obscure mo- ments, but those are the moments when POW! pushes its creative boundaries. Otherwise, this in- your-face combination of power chords, distortion and synthesizers should satisfy your electropunk needs. For fans of: AUSMUTEANTS and Useless Eaters Los Angeles-based psychedelic garage rock outfit Meatbodies returns with “Alice,” the joyously bizarre sequel to an excellent 2014 self- titled debut. Meatbodies began as the solo project of Chad Ubovich, frequent collaborator and close friend to L.A. garage icons Ty Segall and Mikal Cronin. The first Meatbodiess album, written entirely by Ubovich, was a massively-thick, relentlessly-paced garage rock thriller, replete with walls of fuzz and shimmering psychedelic melodies. To say “Alice” is more of the same wouldn’t be entirely inaccurate. A lot has changed since the first Meatbodies release. Namely, they’ve added a second songwriter named Patrick Nolan and cranked the weirdness up to 11. This album is quieter and less compressed than the debut. Although audiophiles may find this pleasing, I wonder how many fans of balls-to- the-wall psych would label themselves as such. Still, turn it up loud enough and you’ll be in for some pretty blissful doses of fuzz pedal. Opening track “The Burning Fields” mixes Sunn O)))-inspired fuzz guitar with the sound of drum machines and tropical birds. The next two tracks, “Kings” and “Alice,” both sound as if they were pulled out of a half-asleep dream state. It’s a strange way to start an album, and fans of the no-holds barred immediacy of the last album might be put off. The heavy riffs are soon to return, however, as the middle of the record holds some of the strongest cuts. “Disciples” and “Scavenger,” writ- ten by Nolan, are some of the most interesting new garage psych I’ve heard out of L.A. in some time. There’s a sort of deep-seeded weirdness in his songwriting, vocal inflection, and general sensibility that comes off quite refreshing. Nolan’s contributions are all great, including album standouts “Haunted History” and “Gyre.” While Ubovich appears slightly stag- nate as a songwriter, Nolan excels throughout the album. His songs are enough to elevate “Alice” to must-listen territory for genre fans. For fans of: Ty Segall, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and Thee Oh Sees REVIEW BY TAXI Think of a song that pulls you into powerful emotion, be it sadness, power, or majesty. Currently the song that comes to my mind is “Sun(flower)” by Mr. Carmack, an emotional nuke that lays each note in front of you to inspect at your leisure. Every element in this song is useful, and nothing is out of place. “Sun(flower)” is a soft and caring friend that you get to talk to about everything, but only once in a while. When I come across a song like this one, I keep it out of my playlists so I don’t ruin it. HEAR IT ON RADIOSNACK (ELECTRONIC) SATURDAY, FEB. 18 9 TO 11 P.M. On “Green Onions,” Booker T. Jones leads on organ in an unmistakable 12-bar blues pattern, followed by the rest of the band. Throughout the title track’s three minutes, Jones trades solos with his guitarist Steve Cropper. “Green On- ions” has appeared in films, TV shows and video games so many times, nearly everyone knows it. Less people know the song has a second part, “Mo’ Onions,” which appears further down the track list. We’ll be playing the full album, which features instrumental covers like “Twist and Shout,” “I Got a Woman” and “Lonely Avenue.” HEAR IT ON HIGH TIDE (ALBUM SHOW) SATURDAY, FEB. 18 1 TO 3 P.M. Even fair weather punk fans know how iconic The Misfits were within their genre. Although the band is best known for pioneering horror punk, they also managed to belt out a number of classics, and “Teenagers from Mars” is one. This song would be my favorite from the expansive Misfits catalog if I could ever bring myself to choose one. In my opinion, “Teenagers from Mars” is the essence of punk rock — fast, loud, dirty and under three minutes. HEAR IT ON MORE THAN NOISE (PUNK) WEDNESDAY, FEB. 22 11 P.M. TO 1 A.M. 18 17 SHIP OF FOOLS, HYDRA PLANE, _THESMOOTHCAT// THE VARSITY 8 P.M. 1 Austra/Future Politics/Domino REVIEW BY DJ SICKMAN “Crack an Egg” by POW! ARTIST/ALBUM/LABEL 2 A Tribe Called Quest/We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service/Epic 3 The Modern Savage/Unwilling Participants/Self-Released 4 Bonobo/Migration/Ninja Tune 5 Run The Jewels/Run The Jewels 3/Run The Jewels 6 Lettuce/Mt. Crushmore [EP]/Lettuce Records 7 Ty Segall/Ty Segall/Drag City 8 Japanese Wallpaper/Japanese Wallpaper [EP]/Zero Through Nine 9 Cherry Glazerr/Apocalipstick/Secretly Canadian 10 Priests/Nothing Feels Natural/Sister Polygon 11 Foxygen/Hang/Jagjaguwar 12 The Regrettes/Feel Your Feelings Fool!/Warner Bros. 13 Sacred Paws/Strike A Match/Rock Action 14 The Applesauce Tears/Commuters/ Black Cottage 15 Parekh and Singh/Ocean/Peacefrog 16 Japandroids/Near To The Wild Heart Of Life/Anti 17 Tobin Sprout/The Universe and Me/ Burger 18 Thigh Master/Early Times/Bruit Direct Disques 19 Otherkin/Can You Feel It [EP]/ Rubyworks 20 Gabriel Garzón-Montano/Jardin/ Stones Throw 21 Arcade Fire/”I Give You Power” [Single]/Capitol 22 Bash And Pop/Anything Could Happen/Fat Possum 23 Surfer Blood/Snowdonia/Joyful Noise 24 Cloud Nothings/Life Without Sound/ Carpark 25 Homeshake/Fresh Air/Sinderlyn 26 Alabaster Stag/Perfume [EP]/Self- Released SPINNING AT Ship of Fools are back perfoming around town after a hiatus. Don’t miss this indie folk-pop quartet with a stacked local line-up as support. _thesmoothcat will be opening with the, yes, smoothest hip hop you’ve heard around here. Hydra Plane will guide you softly through the night with jazzy, swirling guitar and a touch of funk. If you are looking to venture into the vibrant local music scene, this is a good place to start. HOST OF MORE THAN NOISE, WEDNESDAYS 11 P.M. TO 1 A.M. (PUNK) “Alice” by Meatbodies @KLSURadio klsufm 225 578 5578 KLSUradio lsunow.com HOST OF THE PSYCH WARD, SUNDAYS 9 TO 11 P.M. (PSYCHEDELIA) The Swan Taxi Captain Kidd MANGATA, BOXING DEI DEI, THE 501ST// 524 7 P.M. CAPTAIN GREEN’S FUNKY LUVIN’ MARDI GRAS BALL WITH FUNKIN’ FIERCE// THE SPANISH MOON 9 P.M. WHAT’S 16 27 Father John Misty/”Pure Comedy” [Single]/Sub-Pop FEB FEB FEB SATURDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY UPCOMING SHOWS 8/10 7/10 28 Chance The Rapper/Coloring Book/ Self-Released 29 The Youngest/See It Through/Self- Released 30 Angel Olsen/My Woman/Jagjaguwar
Transcript of WHAT’S SPINNING -...
page 19Thursday, February 16, 2017
TOP 30 PLAYS
WHAT WE’RE PLAYING
NEW MUSICPOW! gave the world a gift with the release of
“Crack an Egg,” a dizzying synth punk delight more honest and exciting than anything you’ll find in the Top 40.
POW!’s act has been accurately described as garage-punk-with-synths, but it also incorporates elements of psychedelia, new wave and post-punk. Forged from the creative will of Byron Blum and Melissa Blue, POW! got its big break when Thee Oh Sees frontman John Dwyer signed the musicians to his label, Castle Face Records.
“Crack an Egg” marks the third full-length album from this ingenious San Fransisco-based duo. I plan to listen to all three, but decided to give this record a fair shake by not comparing it to its predecessors.
“Dns” gets the ball rolling with an uptempo progression of distorted guitar and what sounds like a saxophone. “I’m absent in my mind, I’m absent in my brain,” hisses Blum, urging listen-ers to drift away on whirling waves of synth and a multi-layered solo.
Album highlight “Back On the Grid” hooked me in the first two seconds. Blue lays out an infectious line on her keyboard that could push even the shyest audience member to experiment on the dance floor.
“Crack an Egg” offers more catchy leads and steady, aggressive drumming, then eases off the gas with its fifth track, “Runner.” Here POW! nearly cuts the tempo in half and pays respect to the avant-garde. Older listeners and music geeks may be re-minded of The Velvet Underground as Blum moans
over a borderline creepy soundscape.POW! ironically places “Crack an Egg Intro”
in the middle of the record and creates a brief, unpredictable interlude. The next song, “Color the System,” is one of my favorites. It kicks the tempo into overdrive and tosses in a synth tone from an old arcade game I played once.
“Crack an Egg” is undoubtedly a fun and enigmatic listen, and it does have its obscure mo-ments, but those are the moments when POW! pushes its creative boundaries. Otherwise, this in-your-face combination of power chords, distortion and synthesizers should satisfy your electropunk needs.
For fans of: AUSMUTEANTS and Useless Eaters
Los Angeles-based psychedelic garage rock outfit Meatbodies returns with “Alice,” the joyously bizarre sequel to an excellent 2014 self-titled debut.
Meatbodies began as the solo project of Chad Ubovich, frequent collaborator and close friend to L.A. garage icons Ty Segall and Mikal Cronin. The first Meatbodiess album, written entirely by Ubovich, was a massively-thick, relentlessly-paced garage rock thriller, replete with walls of fuzz and shimmering psychedelic melodies.
To say “Alice” is more of the same wouldn’t be entirely inaccurate. A lot has changed since the first Meatbodies release. Namely, they’ve added a second songwriter named Patrick Nolan
and cranked the weirdness up to 11. This album is quieter and less compressed
than the debut. Although audiophiles may find this pleasing, I wonder how many fans of balls-to-the-wall psych would label themselves as such. Still, turn it up loud enough and you’ll be in for some pretty blissful doses of fuzz pedal.
Opening track “The Burning Fields” mixes Sunn O)))-inspired fuzz guitar with the sound of drum machines and tropical birds. The next two tracks, “Kings” and “Alice,” both sound as if they were pulled out of a half-asleep dream state. It’s a strange way to start an album, and fans of the no-holds barred immediacy of the last album might be put off.
The heavy riffs are soon to return, however,
as the middle of the record holds some of the strongest cuts. “Disciples” and “Scavenger,” writ-ten by Nolan, are some of the most interesting new garage psych I’ve heard out of L.A. in some time. There’s a sort of deep-seeded weirdness in his songwriting, vocal inflection, and general sensibility that comes off quite refreshing.
Nolan’s contributions are all great, including album standouts “Haunted History” and “Gyre.” While Ubovich appears slightly stag-nate as a songwriter, Nolan excels throughout the album. His songs are enough to elevate “Alice” to must-listen territory for genre fans.
For fans of: Ty Segall, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and Thee Oh Sees
REVIEW BY TAXI
Think of a song that pulls you into powerful emotion, be it sadness, power, or majesty. Currently the song that comes to my mind is “Sun(flower)” by Mr. Carmack, an emotional nuke that lays each note in front of you to inspect at your leisure. Every element in this song is useful, and nothing is out of place. “Sun(flower)” is a soft and caring friend that you get to talk to about everything, but only once in a while. When I come across a song like this one, I keep it out of my playlists so I don’t ruin it.
HEAR IT ON RADIOSNACK (ELECTRONIC)SATURDAY, FEB. 18 9 TO 11 P.M.
On “Green Onions,” Booker T. Jones leads on organ in an unmistakable 12-bar blues pattern, followed by the rest of the band. Throughout the title track’s three minutes, Jones trades solos with his guitarist Steve Cropper. “Green On-ions” has appeared in films, TV shows and video games so many times, nearly everyone knows it. Less people know the song has a second part, “Mo’ Onions,” which appears further down the track list. We’ll be playing the full album, which features instrumental covers like “Twist and Shout,” “I Got a Woman” and “Lonely Avenue.”
HEAR IT ON HIGH TIDE (ALBUM SHOW)SATURDAY, FEB. 18 1 TO 3 P.M.
Even fair weather punk fans know how iconic The Misfits were within their genre. Although the band is best known for pioneering horror punk, they also managed to belt out a number of classics, and “Teenagers from Mars” is one. This song would be my favorite from the expansive Misfits catalog if I could ever bring myself to choose one. In my opinion, “Teenagers from Mars” is the essence of punk rock — fast, loud, dirty and under three minutes.
HEAR IT ON MORE THAN NOISE (PUNK) WEDNESDAY, FEB. 22 11 P.M. TO 1 A.M.
1817SHIP OF FOOLS, HYDRA PLANE, _THESMOOTHCAT//THE VARSITY8 P.M.
1 Austra/Future Politics/Domino
REVIEW BY DJ SICKMAN
“Crack an Egg” by POW!
ARTIST/ALBUM/LABEL
2 A Tribe Called Quest/We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service/Epic3 The Modern Savage/Unwilling Participants/Self-Released4 Bonobo/Migration/Ninja Tune
5 Run The Jewels/Run The Jewels 3/Run The Jewels6 Lettuce/Mt. Crushmore [EP]/Lettuce Records7 Ty Segall/Ty Segall/Drag City
8 Japanese Wallpaper/Japanese Wallpaper [EP]/Zero Through Nine9 Cherry Glazerr/Apocalipstick/Secretly Canadian10 Priests/Nothing Feels Natural/Sister Polygon11 Foxygen/Hang/Jagjaguwar
12 The Regrettes/Feel Your Feelings Fool!/Warner Bros.
13 Sacred Paws/Strike A Match/Rock Action
14 The Applesauce Tears/Commuters/Black Cottage15 Parekh and Singh/Ocean/Peacefrog16 Japandroids/Near To The Wild Heart Of Life/Anti17 Tobin Sprout/The Universe and Me/Burger18 Thigh Master/Early Times/Bruit Direct Disques19 Otherkin/Can You Feel It [EP]/Rubyworks20 Gabriel Garzón-Montano/Jardin/Stones Throw21 Arcade Fire/”I Give You Power” [Single]/Capitol22 Bash And Pop/Anything Could Happen/Fat Possum23 Surfer Blood/Snowdonia/Joyful Noise24 Cloud Nothings/Life Without Sound/Carpark25 Homeshake/Fresh Air/Sinderlyn
26 Alabaster Stag/Perfume [EP]/Self-Released
SPINNINGAT
Ship of Fools are back perfoming around town after a hiatus. Don’t miss this indie folk-pop quartet with a stacked local line-up as support. _thesmoothcat will be opening with the, yes, smoothest hip hop you’ve heard around here. Hydra Plane will guide you softly through the night with jazzy, swirling guitar and a touch of funk. If you are looking to venture into the vibrant local music scene, this is a good place to start.
HOST OF MORE THAN NOISE, WEDNESDAYS 11 P.M. TO 1 A.M. (PUNK)
“Alice” by Meatbodies
@KLSURadio klsufm 225 578 5578KLSUradio lsunow.com
HOST OF THE PSYCH WARD, SUNDAYS 9 TO 11 P.M. (PSYCHEDELIA)
The Swan TaxiCaptain Kidd
MANGATA, BOXING DEI DEI, THE 501ST//5247 P.M.
CAPTAIN GREEN’S FUNKY LUVIN’ MARDI GRAS BALL WITH FUNKIN’ FIERCE//THE SPANISH MOON9 P.M.
WHAT’S
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27 Father John Misty/”Pure Comedy” [Single]/Sub-Pop
febfeb feb
SATURDAYTHURSDAY FRIDAY
UPCOMING SHOWS
8/10
7/10
28 Chance The Rapper/Coloring Book/Self-Released29 The Youngest/See It Through/Self-Released30 Angel Olsen/My Woman/Jagjaguwar
