Tag: XTC

Don't you be giving Vundabar the hairy eyeball, because they will mess you up.

The weather is rushing up on us, and this mercurial ambiance fits tonight’s opening cover from Yo La Tengo, as they take a blistering Ramones classic and turn it into a bit of beach blanket bingo. Respect was paid later in the show with the original “Rockaway Beach,” which sure sounds like a fun place.

I always admired The Hold Steady’s narrative approach to songwriting, but I didn’t imagine it could be applied to this particular Western Colorado town, and tonight’s opening track clearly shows my lack of imagination. Elsewhere tonight, I’m happy to bring you new music from The No Ones, featuring the unmistakable holler of one Scott McCaughey of the Young Fresh Fellows, R.E.M., The Baseball Project, and so much more.

The first time you hear Courtney Barnett taking on the Velvet Underground's "I'll Be Your Mirror," what you get is an electrifying shock of recognition: you know that distinctive voice, you know that timeless melody, but what you're hearing is completely new. I must add that there's a VU tribute album every few years, and even the worst of them can be decent, supported by the strength of the songs, but this one (also titled I'll Be Your Mirror) is exceptionally good.

The lush instrumentation and arrangements carry the incisive lyrics like a deep blue velvet cushion holding a surgical scalpel. The songs on this concept album seem to be coming out in real time, making more sense tomorrow than they did yesterday.

The Scientists have been conducting their Australian experiments in proto-punk for over four decades now, and it's surprising that they've yet to publish in a peer-reviewed journal.

If you are of a certain age and exposure to the MTV, you would think that people in Tijuana eat barbecued iguana, but that was just Stan Ridgway and Wall of Voodoo reaching for a cheap rhyme. Polvo takes the song's nervous energy and turns it up a few notches.

There’s no detail too small or scar too deep for Eels to pick up and examine in a wry musical light.

The Shilin Night Market had seemed to grow even more chaotic in the intervening years, yet the vendors and customers still retained their preternatural calm, as if the events happening all around them were due to forces completely out of their control. As the skeptic checked the status lights on the Stinky Tofu Containment Device for the seventh time that mission, the inspector pinged the jetpacks they had secured under a table of bejeweled phone cases to make sure they were primed for a quick getaway. Their progress came to a sudden halt as they considered the sign before them: “Small Sausage In Large Sausage - $120”

The extremely productive Messer Chups hails from St. Petersburg, Russia, and is currently going through some very heavy surf.