for your
pleasure...
MIRANDA FISHER
Atlantic Thrills - A Day at the Beach (Almost Ready Records)
Another nice one from the reliable Almost Ready. The A side is a beachy
(duh) tune with vocals that are substantial enough to hold things down.
I’ve spent the last ten minutes trying to decide how I feel about the line
“My hand was on some titties and my song was on the radio.” I think
I’m in favor of it. I prefer the B side, “Hold Your Tongue,” which is a little
trashier and punker, but both songs are worth a listen.
Crazy Band - Live From Prison (Teenage Teardrops)
I am really glad this record exists. Primarily because it’s fucking great. It’s
dumb in the best way -- not that Mean Jeans brand of “hey everybody let’s
party with a pop culture reference” dumb, but the kind of dumb where you
find yourself wondering if the it’s the guitarist’s first time picking up the
instrument, if the vocalist is capable of hitting more than one note. But of
course they could sound more competent if they wanted to. It’s just that it
sounds better this way, all fucked up and atonal and awesome. I’m also
glad this is a mostly-female band. Look, it shouldn’t matter, and in some
ways it doesn’t. But when you’re looking at women in rock music and it
feels like your only choices are overly cute girly drivel and sleep-inducing
indie pop, it’s nice to have Crazy Band as an option. And I will physically
fight anyone who tries to call this “riot grrrl.”
Gino and the Goons - Play Loud (Total Punk)
This is way sold out. Probably shouldn’t even be reviewing it at this point.
But if future people are looking at Rubberneck #7, I want to make sure it
says in there that in the year 2013, Gino and the Goons were doing budget
rock better than the vast majority of bands from 20 years earlier, and
doing music in general better than almost any band that exists right now.
Got it? We’re gonna be on the right side of history here.
Lazy - Obsession (Moniker)
I can’t help but feel that I’d be way more into this if I grew up in the ‘90s.
It’s not bad, I guess. But the grungy, mid-tempo pop punk on this record
reminds me more than anything of bands like Gaunt, who I could never
really get into other than a song or two. That song on Obsession is, for me,
“Bring It Up,” which stands head and shoulders over the other tracks and
is the only one to justify the post-punk comparisons I’ve been reading.
Overall, I can only call Lazy the third-best band in Kansas City at this
point, and I’m no KC connoisseur, so make of that what you will.
Missing Monuments - Missing Monuments (Dirtnap)
Another nice one from the reliable Almost Ready. The A side is a beachy
(duh) tune with vocals that are substantial enough to hold things down.
I’ve spent the last ten minutes trying to decide how I feel about the line
“My hand was on some titties and my song was on the radio.” I think
I’m in favor of it. I prefer the B side, “Hold Your Tongue,” which is a little
trashier and punker, but both songs are worth a listen.
Mordecai - College Rock (Richie)
What will it take for you people to start paying attention to Mordecai?
If they were from Australia instead of Montana and fit more with your
expectations of their surroundings, then would you care? Or does it
have to be a complete paradigm shift? If people finally start prioritizing
primitive pounding and unexpected guitar lines over the lazy attempts at
psychedelia that currently rule the landscape, then would you care about
Mordecai? Look, any time a band hunts me down on my personal Facebook
and sends me free records because they read our Ron House interview, I’m
gonna be predisposed to like them. But let me say this: over in the other
room, my roommate is mad that this sounds “too much like the Electric
Eels.” That’s a good thing. Next time I read a list of up and coming new
bands, Mordecai had better be in there.
Obnox - Corrupt Free Enterprise (12XU)
I’ll admit it: when I saw this was a double LP, I groaned. But by the time
I made it to the second disc, I was completely sold. Lamont Thomas does
a phenomenal job here of moving seamlessly from genre to genre without
ever sounding awkward or out of place. And by that I don’t mean that
he sometimes sounds more garage rock and sometimes more punk rock.
This album covers just about the entire spectrum of popular music: rock,
soul, funk, psych, noise -- hell, there are hip hop elements here that even
manage to sound natural. And it’s an equally enjoyable a listen as ]\