June 26, 2008

La Plebe - Mi Tierra
Skankin' Pickle - It's Not Too Late
The Aquabats - Cat With 2 Heads
Slow Gherkin - I Only Smoke When I'm Drunk
The Siren Six! - Burn
---
Satori - Finding Your Place
The Slackers - Henderson Swamp
Bad Manners - Sally Brown
Fishbone - Ugly
Sugarhill Downtown Orchestra - Home Made Song
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Bomb The Music Industry - Depression is no Fun
Common Rider - Signal, Signal
Toots & The Maytals - Pressure Drop
Rx Bandits - Apparition
Hepcat - Yoko Zuna
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Blindspot - Right Field
Blue Meanies - Johnny Mortgage
Mu330 - Baby Rats
Operation Ivy - Yellin' In My Ear
Fruity - Cinderella Boy
Shiina Ringo - Mayonaka wa Junketsu
---
Alkaline Trio - Help Me
Alkaline Trio - For Your Lungs Only
Ging Nang Boyz - Trash
Lemuria - Pants
Little Mercury - I'm Not & You're Not
Jimmy Eat World - A Praise Chorus
The Thermals - An Endless Supply
No Age - Here Should Be My Home
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Minus the Bear - Let's Play Clowns
Boris - BUZZ-IN
Unwound - Unauthorized Autobiography
Bangs - Sweet Revenge
Blue Hearts - Chernobyl
---
The Night Marchers - I Wanna Deadbeat You
Superdrag - My Day Will Come
The Cherry Tempo - Treble Is High
The Buzzcocks - What Do I Get?
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Andrew WK - Party Hard

Bullet (not the Misfits song)

I never knew that there was more to this than just rumors, but here is the California High Speed Rail Authority website, detailing their plans and ideas for routing and financing the bullet train that will be able to travel from San Francisco to LA in just an approximate 2 hours and 40 minutes. With the prospect of a drive to LA from San Jose looming ahead for me, the idea that I could cut the trip time in by a third and do it for cheaper has me very excited!!! (Note: a projected 2020 completion date has tempered my excitement a bit)

I am McLovin

I watched the movie KIDS last night for, believe it or not, the first time ever. Aside from being totally depressing, I was struck by how much Telly from Kids looks and talks just like McLovin from Superbad. This only exacerbated the feeling in my mind that Telly looked like a total dweeb, so I couldn't understand why he was such a mack in the movie...

Afterward I felt validated (but still kind of depressed) when I did this search online and found this.

We Versus The Shark

Here's a cool interview that Carrie Brownstein did with We Versus the Shark. I saw them at SXSW as well (different show though) and they are truly good dudes.

June 19, 2008

Special Extended Show with guest DJ V-Dogg

Track Star - West Coast Weather
Stephen Malkmus - Phantasies
The Unicorns - Ghost Mountain
Television - See No Evil
The Hold Steady - Stevie Nix
---
Little Mercury - You're Not & I'm Not
Lemuria - Get Some Sleep
Alkaline Trio - Help Me
Underground Railroad to Candyland - Don't Expect For Me To Sleep
No Age - Cappo
The Thermals - I Know the Pattern
---
No Knife - Your Albatross
The New Trust - Absence Makes the Heart Go Wander
Sparta Locals - Ougon Wave
Minus Bear - Fine + 2 pts.
The Dismemberment Plan - The City
---
Just A Fire - Hot Export
Calling All Monsters - Western Style Town
Built to Spill - Sidewalk
Death Cab For Cutie - No Sunlight
Superchunk - Her Royal Fisticuffs
Superdrag - Carried
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My Korean Friends - Wait Outside These Walls
Magnetic Fields - California Girls
Frightened Rabbit - I Feel Better
Cursive - Some Red Handed Sleight of Hand
Unwound - No Tech!
Afrirampo - Akan Kono Mama Kaesanai
Molotov - Here We Kum
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NOFX - Linoleum
Going Steady - Kakenukete Seishun
Toys That Kill - Moon=Ghettobird
La Plebe - Runnin'
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Lawrence Arms - 100 Resolutions
Dillinger Four - Smells Like OK Soda
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Ging Nang Boyz - I Don't Wanna Die
The Muffs - Oh Nina
Leatherface - Dead Industrial Atmosphere
Reggie & The Full Effect - Food
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Where Have All the Rudeboys Gone?
Nerf Herder - Nosering Girl
The Crypt Keeper - The Crypt Jam
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Polysics - XCT
Operation Ivy - The Crowd

Reviews!!!

Here's a review I wrote of the S/T EP by Mass of the Fermenting Dregs (yes, that is a very weird name):
http://keikaku.net/reviews/178

I also reviewed Blotto for the same site a while back:
http://keikaku.net/reviews/176

Enjoy!

People

I think that Andrew Jackson Jihad are the bestest thing since the last thing in life that I thought was best (which means that they are super best, nahmahsay?). One thing that kills me, however, is how horribly they are misunderstood by the masses. Let's start off by checking out the lyrics to "Bad Bad Things" below:

Do you remember me?
I killed your family
And now I am going to kill you too
I made your brother bleed
I made your father scream
And I made your mother say those things that she said to me
She said, "Do with me what you want, but please don't hurt my family, don't hurt my family
Take my pride, take my life, take my body but don't take the ones that are close to me.
Oh, do with me what you want, but please don't hurt my family, don't hurt my family
Take my pride, take my life, take my body but don't take the ones that I love."
And I continued without mercy
So I looked into your eyes
And I saw a reflection
Of a coward that you and I both hate very much
And then I grabbed the knife
And I let the blood out of your throat
And I smashed those tiny mirrors inside of your skull
And I got to thinking
If I don't go to hell when I die I might go to heaven
If I don't go to hell when I die I might go to heaven
If I don't go to hell when I die I might go to heaven
If I don't go to hell when I die I might go to heaven
Might go to heaven, but probably not

Does this song promote murder? Is this song about something that AJJ want to do? NO NO NO NO!!! It's a song about a murderer with no soul, integrity, or shred of respect. I will admit that it's a shocking song, but it fits in with AJJ's overall lyrical scope, which will readily admit that the world is a horrible, nasty place at times, but that we should live life to the fullest and be nice to each other in spite of it! Though it may be of little solace to the victims, there is the notion in the song that the murderer has to live with his own self-hatred, and what is the ultimate goal in life but to be happy with oneself?

Some guy named Scientistrock reviewed the AJJ album for punknews and said this:

The simplicity of the music allows the vocals to come to forefront on this record. Bonnette’s nasally warble fits the music pretty perfectly. He passionately delivers lyrics that are sometimes disturbing, sometimes uplifting, but always clever and honest. On first listen, the songs are hysterical. But with repeated listens, laughter turns to contemplation. Bonnette explores motifs as varied as the duality of human nature, his own troubled past, the ethical implications of drug use and burning houses, all with a mix of sharp sarcasm and meaningful insight. Take, for instance, the following line from “People II: The Reckoning”: “There is someone in your head waiting to fucking strangle you.” That line is inherently funny (it almost always elicits a chuckle from me), but the song as a whole demands you pay serious attention to it. And that seems to be the trap that Andrew Jackson Jihad gets stuck in. Most listeners (at least, most people I’ve shown this to) have trouble getting past the humor.

Apparently his circle of acquaintances are equally dense as some of mine are as well (not all of you, sorry!). Overall, Scientistrock's review is pretty spot on about how clever and inspired AJJ are lyrically, but I will disagree with him when he refers to singer Sean Bonnette's "somewhat twisted world view" later on in the review. Is it twisted to acknowledge the inhumane and cruel elements of life but choose to remain optimistic and friendly in spite of said fact? Judging AJJ by the utter desperation of certain select songs is really irresponsible, since those songs fit in with their overall oeuvre of sad vs. happy songs as the temporary sadness that will ultimately be overcome by the human spirit, as this song below, "Jesus Saves", demonstrates:

There will come a day when our cells won't regenerate
and everyone you know will rot away, rot away
Your friends and enemies and all your family
we will all be buried in the ground, in the ground
So make the most of it.
Life's too short to fuck with.

Once an hour a day I get very sad
Once an hour a day I get depressed
When that hour is over I start to feel okay
because I'm reminded I'll rot away, rot away.

I don't have much time to hang out here and cry
and though that may feel nice I can't do that everyday

I've had a lot of friends and they've done a lot of drugs
and those drugs made my friends rot away, rot away
They say that Jesus saves but Jesus doesn't care
because he is in a grave, in a grave
Let's be our own God, take care of ourselves and the ones that we love

The ending lyrics are super shocking, totally bucking the Christian tradition so prevalent in our country, but more than the shock, the lyrics that follow are downright amazing when they suggest that we take the fate of humanity into our hands and that we love and care for our fellow man as if it were a mandate of some inate human code, not just some religious commandment.

Amen, brothers, AMEN!

Updatezors

Oh HEWWO!
I made a flickr account. You can see it here:
http://flickr.com/photos/bobbaloo5/

There you can see some photos I took of Bomb The Music Industry at the Asian Man Records tour stop in San Jose, June 6. What a tight show. I'll be posting video from the San Francisco and San Jose shows when I have some time. (I missed my radio show last week because I was at the San Francisco stop).

Which leads me to today: I'll be missing my radio show to see another show this week! Sooo... see you next week loyal fans! The online streaming is back online again at kscu.org.

Stupid stuff pt. 3,004,286,740

A few weeks ago there was a scare here in Japantown, as the firemen came and closed off 6th Street between Jackson and Taylor. It turns out there was a gas leak at the recently closed cuban restaurant. Now, with the demise of the restaurant there, that makes for three empty and decrepit buildings on 6th Street! The way I see it, either someone's going to come in and spend HELLZOF money to fix these places up, or the next earthquake is going to level them all. Hmm...



They've also been installing all these granite benches around Japantown commemorating all the historic buildings in the area with a little chiseled blurb. That's money well spent, eh...?



Also, I ventured up to the INVISIBLE BICYCLE mural in San Francisco, at the end of the alley on Quincy St. I highly suggest that everyone go check it out for themselves... AMAZING!

May 29, 2008

La Plebe - Plebe Por Vida
Molotov - Frijolero
The Night Marchers - In Dead Sleep (I Snore ZZZZ)
The Specials - Little Bitch
Bomb The Music Industry! - I Don't Love You Anymore
---
Lemuria - Buzz
Track Star - This Is Number Forty Two
Enon - Disposable Parts
Underground Railroad to Candyland - Yuppie Hip Hop Ad
The Briefs - Poor & Weird
Slow Gherkin - He's Gotta Go
Twinkle - The Candidate
---
The Queers - Teenage Bonehead
Hot Snakes - XOX
The Blue Hearts - Owaranai Uta
Spandecks - Paranoia
I Sing The Body Electric! - I Do
The Slackers - Please Decide
---
Billy Bragg - Mr. Love & Justice
Nate Kavanaugh & The Replacematts - Nightcap
Weezer - I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams
Guided By Voices - A Contest Featuring Human Beings
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - The Great Communicator
The Pharmacy - Five Five Five
Death Cab For Cutie - Cath...
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Islands - Rough Gem
Frightened Rabbit - I Feel Better
Supergrass - Alright
Subtle - The Crow
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Ben Kweller - Wasted & Ready
Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Alison
The Shins - Kissing the Lipless
The Owls - Isaac Bashevis Singer
---
The Magnetic Fields - Three-Way
Andrew WK - Get Ready to Die
Dillinger Four - Open and Shut
Gunmoll - Less Than You Hoped For
Alkaline Trio - Help Me
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Andrew Jackson Jihad - Let Us Get Murdered
Good Hustle - Pygar
Ging Nang Boyz - I Don't Wanna Die

May 22, 2008

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Real Emotional Trash
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The Weakerthans - Civil Twilight
Lemuria - Pants
Underground Railroad to Candyland - Over and O'er
Modest Mouse - Interstate
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The Pharmacy - Five Five Five
The Hold Steady - Cattle and the Creeping Things
Mission of Burma - Ballad of Johnny Burma
The Undertones - Teenage Kicks
Frightened Rabbit - Who'd You Kill Now?
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Slow Gherkin - Sally Boulevard
The Shins - So Says I
An Horse - Postcards
The Unicorns - Ghost Mountain
Death Cab For Cutie - Blacking Out the Friction
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Mates of State - Help Help
Billy Bragg - Mr. Love & Justice
Thurston Moore - FRI/END
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The New Trust - Wake Up, It's The Nineties
Alkaline Trio - Goodbye Forever
Boilermaker - Ladyfinger
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At The Drive In - Rolodex Propaganda
Jawbox - FF=66
Avail - New #2
Crimpshrine - Trying Too Hard
Dillinger Four - doublewhiskeycokenoice
This Is My Fist! - You Sank My Battleship
Dinosaur Jr. - The Wagon
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The Thermals - A Stare Like Yours
The Night Marchers - Panther In Crime
Hockey Night - Saturday Night Gallop
The HOLiDAYS - Friends
Imperial Teen - Butch
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Scared of Chaka - Wanna Make It Happen
Silworm - Wet Firecracker
Helium - I'll Get You, I Mean It
Jawbreaker - The Boat Dreams From the Hill
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Superchunk - Her Royal Fisticuffs
Screeching Weasel - My Brain Hurts
Weezer - Across the Sea

Frowning of a Lifetime

After posting up that lil' comic review a few days back, I just felt like I should hype up my boy BILL down in Lancaster, author of FROWNING OF A LIFETIME. He posts an online comics journal of sorts, and I really like how he captures the exciting moments in everyday life through his scatterbrained single panels masterpieces. Super good stuff, if I do say so myself.

This comic, below, was one that I thought was particularly goofy, and sort of unrepresentative of his normal stuff, but still very entertaining.

O HAI

Here's an amazing feature about a lolcat mural in San Francisco. GENIUS!!!

Also, peep this guy's awesome lolcat license plate!!! For those of you who know me, this license plate is the find of the millenium!!!

It's funny 'cause it's racist

Will You Still Love Me If I Wet the Bed?

I've made it through three comics in the last couple weeks by the established and up and coming greats of the autobiographical comics genre.


The first of these is SunDogs (parhelion) by Adam Pasion. The series of short strips within is a daily journal covering 2 months of his life living in Nagoya, Japan. There's plenty of funny anecdotes about his family, work-related stress, and just about getting old! I think that this comic is his first in which the art and storytelling are consistently great. His old Tales From The Sharpie series has it's own dashed-off charm, of course, and The Trouble With Change and Cattlebro both present good stories but they always felt like they were missing a little development or something... I'm not sure exactly what, but, regardless, Sundogs definitely shows Adam hitting his stride. He also avoids the "Japan is so wacky" trap that lots of foreigners fall into when documenting their experiences there, while still portraying in an honest way how he gets by in a setting that isn't 100% familiar yet.

Rumor has it that Sundogs part two is on the way soon!!!
You can order it and many other comics directly from him at BIGUGLYROBOT.



Next up is Delayed Replays by Liz Prince. This is her second book published by Top Shelf productions, her first having been 2005's Will You Still Love Me If I Wet the Bed?. This one continues to collect her strips about life's funnier, sadder, weirder and more poignant[er] moments. I think that Prince has a great knack for capturing the spirit of a moment in just 3 frames, but that the storytelling over the course of the entire book suffers a bit from the lack of a consistent narrative. Certainly, each individual strip alone doesn't shy away from sensitive topics, but seemingly important things seem to slip through the cracks between strips. I also got a little annoyed by the sloppiness of the art, and the visible pencil marks that weren't completely erased. The style of the art itself is great, but I just wish it was a little bit more cleaned up, I guess.

Nitpicking aside, I enjoyed reading the book very much, and I look forward to seeing her next book in which my friend Dave will be prominently featured, as so:

You can read her comics for free on her LIVEJOURNAL or buy them from here at her WEBSITE. NICE!


Finally, I'd like to talk about the newest book from Jeffrey Brown, Cat Getting Out of a Bag and Other Observations. This one appeared out of nowhere to me, even though I'm a big Jeffrey Brown fan. Why was this book at the local Japanese book store instead of at the local comic shop? Regardless, I managed to find it, and it was NICE! This book departs a bit from Brown's usual autobiographical material to become more of a sort of fringe-autobiography featuring the cats in his life as he observes them. Most noticeably, I thought that this comic was a HUGE step up for Brown artistically. His art style remains simple and cute, but with so much more incredible, yet subtle, detail, especially since 90% of the comic is without dialogue. The cat observations are the same sort of thing that every cat lover notices, with a particularly touching introduction about how Brown became a cat owner as a child.

You can order the book from the publisher, CHRONICLE BOOKS, or check out his OFFICIAL WEBSITE.

Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun

I'd like to see Mike Huckabee when he gets a gun held to his face.

CNN reports...

May 15, 2008

Television - Marquee Moon
---
The Weakerthans - Night Windows
Andrew Jackson Jihad - People II: The Reckoning
Track Star - Lifestyles...
Silver Jews - Pan-American Blues
---
Cub - Your Bed
Underground Railroad to Candyland - Square Ball
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Sons of Cain
Mission of Burma - Academy Fight Song
---
Slow Gherkin - Salsipuedes
Frightened Rabbit - Fast Blood
Built to Spill - Sidewalk
Thurston Moore - FRI/END
The Pharmacy - Adieu Adieu
---
Hi-Standard - My First Kiss
Alkaline Trio - She Took Him To the Lake
Silkworm - Wet Firecracker
Husker Du - Chartered Trips
---
Sleater Kinney - Burn, Don't Freeze
Creeper Lagoon - Empty Ships
Pavement - Gold Soundz
Jawbreaker - West Bay Invitational
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Guided By Voices - The Closets of Henry
The Weakerthans - Reunion Tour
The Unicorns - Ready to Die
Cat Power - Ramblin' (Wo)man
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The Aquabats - My Skateboard!
Skankin' Pickle - Thick Ass Stout
Bad Manners - Lip Up Fatty
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - The Unwanted Things
The Slackers - Mommy
---
Billy Bragg - I Almost Killed You
Pinhead Gunpowder - 2nd Street
Operation Ivy - Jaded
Crimpshrine - Pretty Mess
Armchair Martian - John Wayne

Your DMX News Leader

CNN reports on DMX's latest work of genius: getting himself arrested for cruelty to animals! This comes two days after he was arrested for speeding and driving recklessly! Genius!

Video Recap

SUP!!!!
As some of you loyal listeners (or rather, real-life friends actively engaged in online stalking with me) may have heard, I saw the band GOOD HUSTLE in downtown San Jo last weekend. Here's a video of the show that I took:


Also, here's a commercial that my dad appeared in, for a clinic that I ended up patronizing! Hooray!


A regular Univision superstar, no?

May 8, 2008

June of 44 - Arms Over Arteries
The Sea and Cake - Four Corners
The Big Sleep - Bad Blood
---
Mission of Burma - This Is Not A Photograph
The Pharmacy - Tropical Yeti
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Hopscotch Willie
Chris Walla - Sing Again
---
Kind of Like Spitting - Free advice
The Promise Ring - Skips A Beat (Over You)
Silkworm - (I hope u) don't survive
The Hold Steady - You Can Make Him Like You
Seam - Petty Thievery
---
Billy Bragg - Sing Their Souls Back Home
Jonathan Richman - When We Refuse to Suffer
Going Steady - The Bridge
Cat Power - I Believe In You
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J Mascis + The Fog - Same Day
Touch Committee - Blue Glass
Calling All Monsters - Wholesale Retail\
Supergrass - Caught By The Fuzz
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Andrew Jackson Jihad - Jesus Saves
Good Hustle - Dance Like You Mean It
The Slackers - Axes
Underground Railroad To Candyland - Over and O'er
Go!Go!7188 - Ukifune
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Shuri Eiko - AH SO!
Slow Gherkin - Get Some More
Weezer - Getchoo
Rival Schools - My Echo
Judy and Mary - Over Drive
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The Silver Jews - People
Ted Leo - Six Months In A Leaky Boat
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Guided By Voices - Cheyenne
Skankin' Pickle - Special Brew


Tonight's Background Music
Gorilla Seven - The Gorilla Seven's Theme