Check 'em out: The Most Beautiful Losers

The Band: The Most Beautiful Losers

sounds like: Americana hard rock; strong Slobberbone influence

Hometown: Canton, Ohio

I don't know about you, but I find that I gravitate toward young, borderline unknown bands. I'm not sure why exactly, but I'd much rather see a struggling band just starting out play in a dirty rock club in front of 35 people than see some hot buzz-band play to a crowd of 2,000. It just seems more real to me - the essence of rock and roll is thick in the air of those small clubs. Anyway, while I've never seen the Most Beautiful Losers play, they're that kind of band. And they fall directly in the Tallboy cross-hairs: from some scrappy midwest town; they sing about getting too drunk, having horrible luck with the ladies, and general down-and-outness; they don't take themselves too seriously, but they take rocking quite seriously. I think you have to put their first 2 records into the "demo" category, as the sound quality and production can be cringe-worthy at times. But there are some good songs there and I dig their overall sound.

If these guys get a couple cross-country tours under their belt (for some experience) and with a decent recording studio situation, I think they could really turn some heads (ears? Is turn some ears even a phrase? It should be. Hey, I just came up with it. I'm gonna copyright it like Pat Riley did with "Three-peat").

Oh, and you just gotta love their little tagline: "A drinking band with a rock and roll problem"

http://www.themostbeautifullosers.com/

www.myspace.com/mostbeautifullosers

Here are 6 tracks for your streaming pleasure. "Asshole" is a sure-fire crowd pleaser. The last 2 are slower songs to show that side of the band as well.

The Most Beautiful Losers

Under the Covers: La Grange by Phish 1989

Before allegedly being offered $1 million to shave off their ridiculous beards

You gotta admit, Old ZZ Top - you know, before "Legs" and that stupid car and shit - was some pretty kick-ass rock and roll. The Texas boogie-woogie rock sound they had at the time was flat out cool-as-hell. If that shit doesn't make you wanna pound a cold tallboy can, then nothing will. I searched youtube long and hard for some video of the band from that era and surprisingly came up with nothing.



So instead of that (and in honor of last weekend's reunion in Hampton) I bring you Phish playing ZZ Top's "La Grange". This is from a killer show at Townshend State Park in Vermont in 1989 - Phish was young, tight and feeling their oats. This song rocks!

Important note: If you think you hate Phish and are unable/unwilling to listen to this with an open mind, skip it. Don't listen. Go away and come back later. What you definitely should not do is: listen to this song closemindedly with "I fucking hate fucking Phish" forever burned in your mind, then email me or comment about (1) how much Phish sucks (2) how much I suck or (3) how much both Phish and I suck. Save it.

Phish - Townshend State Park, VT

link to download:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/4wt3g2

stream it here:

Phish "La Grange" 8.26.89

Listen Here: "Amphetamine" by Steve Wynn and the Miracle 3

The Band: Steve Wynn and the Miracle 3

The Song: "Amphetamine"

The Deal: fantastic down-and-dirty guitar leads over a great driving bass line. This song is one of the inspirations for this blog.

Longer description:

I stumbled onto this song while casually listening to a coworker's Pandora station and it kicks ass. I'm sorry, I mean it kicks ass! This song hits the ground running with a prominent driving bassline and very cool feedbacky guitar shit for the first minute or so. Then it's lyrics > more guitar > cool dual-guitar thing > guitar solo > vocals > the "I'm gonna live, until the day I die" refrain (complete with the great "Na na na na na na na yeah!" backing vocals.) The super slow fade-out serves this song well, as it gives you the sense that the band may in fact continue to kick ass indefinitely. Everything about this song rocks.

note: minimal research has lead me to conclude that a track this kick-ass in nature seems to be a one-off anomoly for Wynn.


Listen to Amphetamine" on Wynn's myspace page:

www.myspace.com/stevewynnthemiracle3

http://www.stevewynn.net/

Yeah, this may be kinda fucked up as I normally abide by copyright laws and stuff, but here's a link to the download::

http://www.sendspace.com/file/uovil8

Live download: The Drams 6-11-05 Twangfest, St. Louis

The band in uniform (black t-shirt and jeans)

This is one of the Drams first few shows ever and it's the best recording of them I've heard (I've listened to a few of their shows up on archive.org (http://www.archive.org/details/TheDramsMusic) but was unimpressed with the sound quality. The sound quality of this show is quite good and I love the mix). While the band's debut album Jubilee Dive is very produced - overproduced in my opinion - this show presents the much rawer live sound of the band. Which I like. Considering the band had only played a few shows when this show was recorded, they're tight and play this set with a lot of force. The show is strong all the way through with the highlight clearly being Des Moines - the guitar solo part is The Drams at their best (and that's pretty damn good). And even though I'm usually 100% behind the blow-the-roof-off-the-place closing songs, the mellow closer "When You're Tired" works well here.



Yeah, the file by file download is a pain I know. But that's the limit of my tech-geekery. If there's any problems downloading or playing them let me know. Enjoy.




track 1 - hummalong: http://www.sendspace.com/file/vlp167



track 2 - fireflies: http://www.sendspace.com/file/51e2ru



track 3 - truth lies low: http://www.sendspace.com/file/37dl32



track 4 - september's high: http://www.sendspace.com/file/vcm0kt



track 5 - shortsighted: http://www.sendspace.com/file/iia23a






track 6 - you won't forget: http://www.sendspace.com/file/hwei88






track 7 - des moines: http://www.sendspace.com/file/ryez48






track 8 - unhinged: http://www.sendspace.com/file/8brh0a




track 9: when you're tired: http://www.sendspace.com/file/r1m1hj



For anyone who thinks I'm posting this show with blatant disregard of all copyright laws, I assume I'm not since the go-ahead was given to archive.org to host Drams shows:



"I, Brent Best, erstwhile comandant and general leader in all manners spiritual and managerial for the band The Drams, hereby grant my permission for performances by said band to be archived and made available on Archive.org.



brent"



But if the band/management ain't down with this just let me know and I'll take 'em down right quick.

Band You Should Hear: Grainbelt

The band: Grainbelt

The music: alt-country/rock/cowpunk

Hometown: Albany, NY

www.myspace.com/therealgrainbelt

http://www.thegrainbelt.com/

I'm happy to present Grainbelt, who are a hometown band for me. Rising from the ashes of the Albany alt-country/cowpunk institution Coal Palace Kings, Grainbelt balance a fair degree of twang with straight-up bar rock. These guys have guitars, a slight drawl, and above all else, the right attitude (what do I mean by that? It's hard to describe - hopefully it'll come through in the songs below). Audiophile I ain't, but the sound quality of their debut album is pretty poor. The drums sound particularly weak. And the band could certainly sound more "tight". However, these four tracks rise above all that shit and have been getting a good deal of play around here lately.

"The Drugs Don't Seem to Be Working" - Great, rocking track. This song epitomizes the style of music that Tallboy revolves around.

"On the Road" - Great broken-down-van/band on the road song (singer/guitarist Howe Glassman's forte.) The band slowly ratchets up the tempo and "jam" out the end of this one, which is cool.

track 4 and 5 - straight up, slower alt-country songs. In a good way.

Grainbelt

Band you should hear: The Reducers

The band: The Reducers
The music: driving, high energy rock and roll with English punk undertones
Hometown: New London, Conn

[note: This band veers a bit from the overall Southern-flavored vibe of most bands on this blog, but I've included them because they meet the #1 criteria here at Tallboy: they rock. ]

www.myspace.com/thereducers

http://www.thereducers.com/

I had never heard of The Reducers when I got an email from someone I didn't know saying they were great. And they were playing in my town in 2 days. This dude's overview of the band mentioned that they have been together since 1978 and it has been the same 4 guys since the band's inception. I was like, "They still have the same drummer they had in 1978? That's amazing." I went. They played. Fists were pumped. Beer was spilled. Sweat was sweated. Four 50-year old dudes rocked out like they were in their 20s. As I rode my bike home from the show late that night I thought, "If I hear one more music critic hipster motherfucker with his arty eyeglasses and messenger bag claim that 'Rock is dead' I'm gonna bust him in the chops!"

I'm interested in people's reaction to these guys - leave a comment or email me.

The Reducers

Download: Slobberbone live podcast

In honor of the 2 Slobberbone reunion shows that went down this weekend in Texas (which I had no chance in hell of attending living in NY), I'm posting this 27 minute live Slobberbone podcast. It was compiled by their record label I think and most of it is...well...kinda bland. The first 4 tracks are straight-forward songs and unexciting versions at that (Trust Jesus, Sister Beams, Trust Jesus (again - but this time a poorer quality version. Hey New West Records: fire the intern that put this thing together. Dummy.), and Billy Pritchard. But it's the last song, "Can't Stay Sober" that you should hear. It starts at 19:35 if you just want to skip ahead. Very rocking. I just love the whole pick-scratching thing. Download it here:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/80wcks

Any word about those shows this weekend?

Band You Need to Hear: Oakley Hall

Brooklyn's Oakley Hall play American Rock with an edge (and without the typical pretentiousness of a band from Brooklyn. Or at least a minimal amount of it.). Varing from Neil Young style distorted rave ups (that definitely have an abrasive quality) to simpler, more melodic tunes with sweet harmonies, this band runs the gamut between those two rock stylings. And they do it well. The 2 ladies in Oakley Hall add so much to the band's sound, Claudia on the fiddle and Rachel with her shining vocals. I've seen them twice live and both shows were stellar.

Here's what I feel is a pretty spot-on quote:

"Imagine The Band if they were twenty-first-century New York kids." DAVID FRICKE - ROLLING STONE

www.myspace.com/oakleyhall

www.oakleyhall.net/

The video below is of one of their more raucus tracks ("Lazy Susan"),and it's pretty cool (I actually bought the DVD of this show from the PUNKCAST dude who filmed it last year for $5 postpaid. How cool is that?). It's a simple one camera hand-held video and has a grittiness and realness that gives you a good feel for the room (and I think highlights the failings of the much slicker, multi-camera, overly edited shit that seems to have become standard for what "good" concert footage is these days). And the audio is superior to 99% of that other live music shit on youtube.

Check out these tracks on the imeem playlist below:

(1) Angela - I put this mellower first to counterbalance the decidely non-mellow Lazy Susan video. This song highlights Rachel Cox's great voice. The slide guitar part that starts at the 2 minute mark is simple, but so fucking cool...

(2) If I Was in El Dorado - The fiddle is prominent here but it's still not too country for me.

(3) Confidendence Man - Cool intro. Lots of cool distorted guitar. I like the cadence of the vocals too.

(4) Light of My Love - Pat Sullivan shows that he can sing too.

(5) Eyes, Lock and Steel - A slower track, but there's a lot to like about this song

(6) Free Radicals Lament - A mellower Pat Sullivan song that I really dig.

Oakley Hall

[LISTEN HERE]* Drive By Truckers: "Where the Devil Don't Stay"

I like the Truckers. However, I don't love them as much as some people I know. ((1) They have a lot of songs. And a lot of them just don't grab me, you know? (2) I saw them once and they sounded...muddy(?). And this is supported by a live EP someone lent me that sounded similar (but which had some great story which served as a song intro. I forget what the story was about, but it was cool...) Anyway, they do have some truly great songs. And I think it's safe to say that few artists are better at story-telling songs than the Truckers. And as someone not from the South (actually, maybe as far from the South as possible - Queens, NY), they paint such vivid imagery of the South and southern life.

I only got The Dirty South recently and for some reason listened mostly to the other top-notch songs on its first half but not this track. I'm not sure why I skipped over it, but I usually did. Then I was looking to by an Ipod dock for my wife for Christmas for the kitchen so she can listen to the radio and I can crank tunes to drown out her fuckin bitching and moaning (just kidding. I love my wife. And her fuckin bitching and moaning...) I brought my Ipod with me and was checking out some systems at Best Buy. And since this was the first track on the album I was playing it. Loudly. And I was cranking that shit big time in Best Buy, getting weird looks from other patrons. I was waiting - just waiting - for an employee in his blue smock to come over and tell me turn it down so I could lambast him with "But this a stereo store! You need to crank this shit. Wuss." But no employees even noticed me. They were probably in the back talking with other employees about "this killer new 'app' I got for my iphone." Anyway this track rocks. I love the lead with slide. Very cool.

* or maybe I should call it [LISTEN, HEAR]. Kinda a cool play on words. Maybe with a semi-colon, like [LISTEN; HEAR]. I don't know.

Drive By Truckers: "Where the Devil Dont Stay"

[UNDER THE COVERS]: Two Cow plays the Beatles

Our new "Under the Covers" series highlights cover songs that rock particularly hard. This segment brings you Two Cow Garage playing an over-the-top version of the Beatles "Don't Let Me Down". It's off what I have to assume is the little-known "Voluble EP" (which also has a an alternate version of "Goodbye (alt)" which I like way better than the original) Tow Cow put out...actually I have no idea when it came out but I think it hasn't been available for a while. Anyway, it's pretty kick-ass so check it out.

* I wish I had a recording of them doing "Stay With Me" (The Faces), which they closed a recent Albany show with. May not seem like it would on paper, but it absolutely brought the house down...

Dont Let Me Down - Two Cow Garage

video: Grand Champeen

God, I just love this Grand Champeen video. It sure does make life on the road in a struggling rock band look like FUN. I love when they show the odometer flip. So cool.

This song rocks! Lucero - "Noon as Dark as Midnight"

Lucero - "Noon as Dark as..."

If there's one thing I wanna do, it's rock out. Hence the whole backbone of this blog. And this song kicks serious ass. After I first heard it I was like "How are people not shouting about this song from rooftops?" Here's a more detailed take on the song I wrote a while back:

The slow, dour lyrical portion of this song is a great lead-in to the hard rocking that dominates the last 3 and half minutes of this track. Check out the tempo change at the 3:00 mark - for all you lame jambands out there who think 18 minutes of aimless guitar playing is "jamming", you're wrong. This tempo change is the backbone of what real jamming is (at least in my opinion - my opinion is the only one that matters, right?). After some of that shit, they then slow it down and you think they're going back into another lyrical section, but instead there's the cool backscratching guitar part. Then that turns from what you'd traditionally expect to come next (a slower lyrical section) and instead they start jamming even harder. This is the kinda stuff Phish based a career on - and let's face it, they were the hands-down masters of it. I still can't believe more bands across all genres don't adopt this lyrics > guitar solo> [tempo change] harder guitar solo > lyrics approach to rocking out. I'd like to see at least 1 such track on pretty much every rock record (but preferably 2. Really, I'd like there to be 3 on each record. Now I'm just getting greedy - 3 is unrealistic. OK 2 will suffice then...)

[rumor] Slobberbone: New Album?

coolest press photo ever?

I'm not normally a rumor-monger, but...

...in an interview from this November (http://www.donewaiting.com/2008/11/14/road-trippin-with-two-cow-garage/), someone in Two Cow Garage said


Question: [What do you listen to in the van when you're] longing to hear something nostalgic

Answer: (Anonymous) Slobberbone, although there are rumors of a possible new Slobberbone album …


That's news to me. Exciting news. Can anyone add to this?

[update]: I see Slobberbone has 2 reunion gigs booked for early February in Texas. Very cool...