Some say he’s the father of country rock. He kicked off his career with The International Submarine Band, joined The Byrds and was a major contributor to their classic Sweethearts Of The Rodeo album. After leaving The Byrds, he formed the Flying Burrito Brothers, and was booted from that band, and then made the acclaimed solo albums GP and Grievous Angel, passing away before the latter was released. His influence can be felt to this day with some alt-country artists. In honor of Gram, get out your iPod or MP3 player, hit shuffle and share the first ten tunes that come up.
- Nick Lowe — She’s Got Soul (The Convincer): The Convincer is perhaps the best of the recent Nick Lowe albums, now that Basher has reinvented himself as a mellow rock and roll crooner. The songs are so economical and Lowe’s voice may be a limited instrument, but he makes the most of it on this light R & B track. I could here a modern R & B act turning this into a more up tempo cut.
- Happy Hate Me Nots — Nothing Short of Paradise (The Good That’s Been Done): An Australian band that followed in the footsteps of The Saints, with a punky sound that is heavily infused with R & B influences. The playing and songwriting is more controlled and anthemic than the early Saints. The HHMNs have an ability to send a song soaring at the drop of a hat. This song relies on the time tested device of moody verses with bright and shiny expansive choruses. Hope their reunion album comes out soon.
- Nothing Painted Blue — Go To Waste (Emotional Discipline): An early NPB cut from the odds and ends compilation Emotional Discipline. While you’d never call Nothing Painted Blue a punk band, this song tends in that direction, as the band pushes the pace on a ragged but intent recording. This shows how early on the band’s modus operandi was established — Franklin Bruno fills verses with dense word play that he crams into a melody (when the song is faster) which ends up in a terse refrain that provides a bit of a hook.
- The Viscounts — Harlem Nocturne (Loud, Fast & Out of Control): This comes from a great Rhino Records box set of hot early sides from the ’50s. Akin to Rhino’s Nuggets box sets, a few familiar names are surrounded by lesser lights. This song is moody instrumental that is an excuse for a hot sax solo. This is kind of a cool down from all the hot rockabilly on this set.
- Splitsville — Dotcom (Repeater): From the band’s third, and most impressive, album. Splitsville were a power pop band that showed a bit of inspiration from Jellyfish and Fountains of Wayne, but certainly had their own direction. Touches of new wave and psychedelia float throughout their songs. This is more on the psychedelic end, an atmospheric mid-tempo number with a great arrangement and a variety of guitar sounds. This song slowly builds to a pretty bravura ending.
- Don Byron — Hagalo (Nu Blaxploitation): This is an inventive genre blending jazz album. On most of the tracks, Byron combines jazz and funk. But this song here has more of a Brazilian vibe, with a lively horn section and some percussive piano playing.
- Slow Jets — False Alarm (Worm Into Phoenix): A typical arty indie rock song from a band I discovered through Reckless Records. They are certainly influenced by groups like Wire and Pere Ubu, but also have a lot in common with less studied outfits like Archers Of Loaf and The Embarassment. The hooks here are a bit more subtle, but nothing less than satisfying.
- The Raspberries — The Party’s Over (Collector’s Series): One of the original power pop bands. As was often the case back in the ’70s, when not trying to emulate The Beach Boys and Beatles, or singing wussy ballads, a band had to have a few standard issue rockers. This is one of the ‘berries’ rockers, working some basic bluesy hard rock, like a lower key Humble Pie. Credible but not their strength.
- Arcwelder — I Hear And Obey (Xerxes): This Minnesota band mixed the melodic punk aspects of Husker Du (and their drummer, who wrote and sang about half the songs, sounded a bit like Bob Mould), with some more dissonant guitar sounds, a la Fugazi and Jawbox. They found just the right balance of edginess and catchiness, especially on Xerxes, their third album. This song works off a repeating guitar figure that could have been nicked from Television and hurtles into a passionate chorus. These guys had such a firm grip on song structure that could take detours and not get lost.
- Sloan — I Understand (Never Hear The End Of It): This 30 song album is arguably Sloan’s masterwork. Keeping the song structures tight, this Nova Scotia quartet shows its utter command of ’60s and ’70s inspired pop and rock. Their inspirations are often obvious, but the band has developed a distinctive sound. They aren’t imitating their heroes, they are trying to equal them, and they succeed more often than most of their contemporaries. This is wonderful mid-tempo song in the tradition of Badfinger, Paul McCartney and Big Star, without sounding quite like any of them. Marvelous.
The CHIRP studios (and our entire block) are currently without power, apparently due to today’s high winds in Chicago. Because of this, we’re airing backup programming until our power comes back on. That means you won’t see updated playlist information scrolling on CHIRPRadio.org. We hope to be back live soon, and we appreciate your patience. Until then, please enjoy some great archived CHIRP Radio shows airing now!
He was one of The Dead Boys, an underrated slab of brute force American punk from Ohio. The band’s first album was Young, Loud and Snotty, and a picture of Stiv from those days would conjure up all three of those words. An expressive front man, he was never a star, but always someone who everyone noticed. After leaving the band, he showed promise as a power pop artist, but never caught on. He then fronted another cool band, the gothy Lords Of The New Church. Sadly, he passed away after being hit by a car. In Stiv’s honor, please grab your iPod or MP3 player, hit shuffle, and share the first ten tunes.
- Joy Division — Heart And Soul (Permanent): One of the leading lights of the post-punk era, under the guidance of producer Martin Hannett, Joy Division mastered the use of sonic space on their moody, rhythmic songs that throbbed with tension and menace. On this track, skittish snare fills and Peter Hook’s flowing bass lines keep things grounded, with a measured vocal from Ian Curtis and swirling psychedelic guitars that come in after a couple of minutes.
- Rank And File — I Don’t Go Out Much (Sundown): The loping rhythms and twanging guitar signify country music, but there was something different about Rank And File’s take on this classic American style. They did a great job of tipping a hat to tradition while not sounding imitative or slavish. This is a fun little bopper.
- Electric Light Orchestra —- Ticket To The Moon (Time): The first line of this song is “Remember the 1980s” which is in keeping with this futuristic sort of concept album from ELO. On this track, Jeff Lynne sings like John Lennon on a Paul McCartney solo track, before the bombastic chorus comes in…bombastically?
- Prince — Ronnie, Talk To Russia (Controversy): This is a simplistic new wavey nursery rhyme directed at President Reagan, complete with the sound of rifles in the background. Perhaps this level of political discourse influenced M.I.A. Despite the inanity, this brief ditty fits in well on the second side of Prince’s fourth album.
- My Dad Is Dead — Deja Vu (For Richer, For Poorer): There should be a special rock hall of fame for artists who manage to make the most of a limited voice. Mark Edwards would belong on the first ballot. His midwestern sincerity oozes out of every syllable, as he sing-talks his way through his Velvet Underground/Joy Division inspired rockers. Given his limitations, Edwards has found a way to inject a lot of melody into his songs over the years, and this is a very thoughtful tune with typically stellar guitar work.
- The Morells — Waitin’ In School (Morells Anthology Live): A basic rockabilly shuffle with D. Clinton Thompson on lead vocals. More importantly, Thompson is also playing guitar and he corks off some really nice solos on this one.
- Cliff Hillis — So Much to Tell You (Better Living Through Compression): During the late ’90s, the relative success of Matthew Sweet, The Posies and The Gin Blossoms fueled the dreams of thousands of aspiring power pop acts. A surprisingly substantial percentage of those hopefuls were very good. Hillis, who was in the Baltimore band Starbelly, is a good example of this. This is a very well constructed song, well played and topped off with Hillis’ friendly vocals. This would sound great on the radio, which, without megabucks for promotion, doesn’t mean much.
- Eddy Current Suppression Ring — Isn’t It Nice (Rush to Relax): This Australian band flows from a great tradition of in-your-face rock from The Saints and Radio Birdman, to The Scientists and The New Christs and many others. It’s raw guitar rock that sometimes shows off a bit of a blues rock vibe. This short burst of rock could also appeal to fans of Art Brut and The Len Price 3.
- The Fall — Why Are People Grudgeful? (The Infotainment Scan): A Fall rarity: a playful ska cover of a Lee Perry tune. The bass playing seems out of place with the rest of the band, who seem to throw themselves fully into the more traditional elements. There are some creative dub touches in the production too. It’s a shame The Fall hasn’t turned to ska or dub more often. The latter would fit well with the band’s Krautrock leanings.
- Tommy Keene — You Can’t Wait For Time (Ten Years After): Before there were artists like Cliff Hillis, there were folks like Tommy Keene, keeping power pop viable in the ’80s. This is from his first full length for Matador, which showed that after a bit of a lay off, he still had the chops. This has a 1964 Merseybeat gloss on it.
Monday is CHIRP night at the Whistler, and you won’t want to miss any of the bands on this bill, so get there early. Getting there late will only get you turned away — CHIRP night always packs in music fans for some great listening, socializing and drinking (CHIRP gets a percentage of the bar sales). Our DJs will spin before and after the bands, but the main attraction will be three local acts that specialize in pushing the musical limits.
Not sure if The Eternals want to make their music eternal or the disparate musical elements are eternal, but either way their “everything AND the kitchen sink” approach works. It’s bands like this that make you think you should listen to more difficult music — the lead off track to 2007’s Heavy International (Aesthetics), summarizes it nicely: “The Mix is So Bizarre.” From The Eternals you’ll hear jazz, ska, reggae, industrial electronica, all over a propulsive backbeat and conveyed via vocal harmonies that are half helium, half Curtis Mayfield. Add the occasional drill solo and cans and jars and tire irons and you can imagine that a kitchen sink would not be out of place here.
On their new EP (Plustapes) recorded live in their practice space, Verma come out of the gate on “Dust Commander” like the evil bastard child of Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd performing the soundtrack to a haunted house, and they maintain that vibe throughout the five psychedelic excursions selected. This is not music played from blown speakers, but clearly they’ve been possessed by demons of distortion, for this is a fuzzed-up eardrum buzz of potential tinnitus. While they rein it back a bit by embracing some keyboard underpinnings on the quieter cuts, it’s clear that Verma vow their eternal souls to the garage rock gods.
Great Society Mind Destroyers funnel a maelstrom of fuzz-soaked garage rock through a blender of their antecedent forebears including the Yardbirds, Count Five, Nirvana, Pink Floyd — you’ll even hear some blaxploitation soundtracks and Black Moth Super Rainbow if you listen closely enough. Although it’s unclear from their name if they are pro or against LBJ, and the music is more mind expanding than destroying, there is clearly a darker element at work — a Howling, bluesy Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal focused on providing a rain of frogs on this sock-hop and turning that mutha out.
—Craig Bechtel
11:15pm – The Eternals
10:30pm – Verma
9:45pm – Great Society Mind Destroyers
The Whistler
2421 N. Milwaukee
Chicago, IL
No cover
Percentage of bar sales benefits CHIRP
CHIRP DJs spin before and after bands!
Raffle tickets sold throughout the night — win awesome prizes!