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Ah, The “Good Old Days”

This has been sitting on my desktop forever courtesy of Billy.

I still think one of these days I’ll assemble a book of punk/noise/rawk flyers from the 90’s showing the progression of graphic design through the decade. In the meantime…..

Flower Travellin’ Band & Japrock: An Appreciation

So you don’t need to hear me say this again (because I’m sure it gets tedious) but I’ve been insanely busy. The new issue. The book. The 15th anniversary coming up. On top of it, my bestest buddy Garth came to town for the weekend and I was schlepping him around and Atlanta was lucky to get all the runoff from Gonerfest this last week (I got to see Tyvek, Psychedelic Horseshit, Eat Skull, Black Time and Vivian Girls in the course of 3 days!).

But I’ve been plowing through a stack of unwatched DVDs (I just finished the HBO series about John Adams which I strongly recommend for fellow history nerds) and a mountain of books as well.

One book that has more than kept me consumed here and there is Japrocksampler by Julian Cope. As many will remember, his book Krautrocksampler is an indispensible and enthusiastic study on music from Germany from the 60’s through the 70’s. Mr. Cope’s newest book is more of the same. However, whereas before I had a pretty solid knowledge of Can, Neu!, Faust and the lesser known K-rock bands like Witthüser & Westrupp and the Cosmic Jokers, from page 1 in Japrocksampler, I felt like I was being schooled in an as of yet discovered permutation of psych/noise rock that has eluded me. That is, until now….

The band that has stood out in the book has to be the Flower Travellin’ Band. You can read an in depth story here. What has always enamored me about Japanese rock is their ability to take an artform from the west and put it through a blender and bring it out the other end more extreme than anybody else. Give this video a listen. I think you’ll dig it. Rumor has it that they’ve reunited this year. Anybody got news on this?

As with with Julian Cope’s other books, I couldn’t reccommend this book more strongly. And while I’m at it, does anybody have a spare copy of Krautrocksampler? I  gave Jerry Fuchs my copy about 8 years ago. Stupid. Stupid Stupid.

I Gotta Party With This Guy

I’ve been thinking about the new AC/DC record and the fact that no indie record store in the country can sell it (sold exclusively through Wal-Mart), and then I get in my car with Sirius Radio that has (I shit you not) an AC/DC radio station promoting the new record. And listening to the band on their own, they’re untouchable. Dumbed down 12-bar boogie, but jesus christ. No peer comes close.

This video both made me happy, but also sad to know Jack White’s this desperate to get Meg outta the picture. Or isn’t he?

Day In The Life

I just got back from court in downtown Atlanta. Spent $10 on parking, but I successfully got a local hobo off the street for a week. Don’t say the justice system doesn’t work.

Anyway, there was another gentleman before the bench who was accused of being drunk and disorderly. Apparently he was arrested as he was loudly screaming at people in a liquor store parking lot and called 911 and asked them to "protect and serve his nuts."

I later saw this same gentleman out in the parking garage yelling at his girlfriend/wife about losing his parking receipt.

"Protect and serve his nuts." Priceless.

Top 20 US Hardcore….WTF?!

So I came across this article, and I was immediately taken aback by a number of really startling picks for the top 20 hardcore bands from America.

Now, I certainly don’t consider myself an authority, but to think that Mr. Sherburne does is a bit unnerving.

I sent this link to Billy from Shake It, and his response was:

For starters:
THE GERMS
Not HC and that album sucks (No. 1 !?).

POISON IDEA
RECORD COLLECTORS ARE PRENTIOUS ASSHOLES  – great band , lousy record. Everybody picks it for the title.

MINUTEMEN
DOUBLE NICKELS ON THE DIME – In NO WAY HC, not even close in any "intellectual" stretch…and one should not use intelligence and HC in the same sentence.

HÜSKER DÜ
ZEN ARCADE  – once gain not a HC album. Was this list made by some 24 year old putz? And if you’re going to play the Dü card you play Metal Circus anyway, duh.

RITES OF SPRING
Okay, this is getting OLD. Not a HC record, nor band. A great band, but NOT a hardcore punk band, no matter how many ‘zines this guy read.

BIG BLACK
SONGS ABOUT FUCKING – Now he/she is just being a dick?

EYEHATEGOD
TAKE AS NEEDED FOR PAIN – I shouldn’t even have to explain this to a Pitchfork writer? Plus everybody knows "Dope Sick" is the shit for EHG.

BIKINI KILL
THE CD VERSION OF THE FIRST TWO RECORDS – Obviously now we’re dealing with a Liberal Arts major, somewhere on the Western seaboard, dunce.

BORN AGAINST
BATTLE HYMNS OF THE RACE WAR – "Legendary" and "Virginia" in the same breath? That’s a big "NO" unless you’re talking about Thomas Jefferson.

HEROIN
HEROIN – Oh for Christ’s sake, I give up.

Die Kreuzen?! HELLO?????????????

And upon sending the link to the kids in Sex/Vid, RJ’s response was even more harsh:

That list is the WORST! Jesus Christ!
1) Bubba Dupree did NOT SING IN VOID! How can someone who does not even know the singer of a band feel qualified to make a "top ___" list of ANYTHING?! That would be like me saying "when Jimmy Page screams ‘I’ve been dazed and confused,’ it’s so powerful!!!"
2) Yes, the Negative Approach 7" was mega-influential and its importance cannot be understated, but NYHC would have happened without it. The Bad Brains were already there doing their work. It would have been better for him to say something like "good hardcore MIGHT not have happened without the FIX" aka best band ever.
3) NO BOSTON HARDCORE? XCLAIM! Released some of the the best records of the era. They did not have a bad release, SSD both 12" DYS brotherhood, FU’s both 12", JERRYS KIDS is this my world. Also, bands like Negative FX , Last Rights, fuck, I mean wtf?
4) That is the wrong Born Against album. He should have put the singles collection.
5) THE DEAD KENNEDYS  SUCK DICK.
6) MDC is good, but boring as fuck. And by ‘good’ I mean, play it once every year and be like "why am I jamming this when I could jamming…..(which leads me to lucky number 7)
7) DRI DEALING WITH IT IS THE BEST RECORD EVER!
8) COC dude. Where the fuck is Eye for an Eye? Not EYEHATEGOD. EYE FOR AN EYE.
9) I reiterate: BUBBA DUPREE DID NOT SING IN VOID. "Man, when Keith Richards screams ‘please allow me to introduce myself, I’m a man of wealth and fame" it just GETS ME EVERYTIME!!!
10) He picked the right Misfits album. THAT’S ALL HE HAS. He picked the best Misfits LP. Hooray for him.

Discuss.

An Endurance Challenge

I’m certainly not insensitive to this woman’s loss, but the context and her priorities are just…… I don’t know. Horrid? I dare you to make it the whole way through.

Bruuuuuuuuce!

In dress rehearsal.

New issue shows up today. Ever curious what 3 tons of magazines look like?

CHUNKLET 20 + Galifianakis + Ted Leo

Well, it took almost three years, but Chunklet 20 is ready to hit the streets!

That shore is purty, ain’t it?

In this, the 20th issue of Chunklet (20 issues, 15 years!), it promises to be the most brutal issue yet. Featuring interviews with Paul F. Tompkins, Zach Galifianakis, Jon Glaser and Sublime Frequencies. There are also features involving Whirlyball with Arcade Fire, The Shins, Queens of the Stone Age, Black Lips, Deerhunter, Death Cab for Cutie, Mogwai and countless others. Features also on music journalists, drug appreciation, good guys/bad bands and the usual array of Chunklet insanity (or inanity depending on your outlook).

The issue will be peppered all over the mom and pop shops from coast to coast. However, Chunklet.com always likes to treat people who frequent our website with a bit of "special" love and this issue is no exception.

Nobody thought it could be done, but it’s happening! Comedian Zach Galifianakis! Ted Leo! The Pharmacists! All on one seven inch single! Yes, you read correctly!

One of the world’s most innovative comedians, Zach Galifianakis, joined up with comedian AD Miles, record producer Jon Brion and Fiona Apple (yes, that Fiona Apple) to record the ultra-danceable track "Up In Them Guts". We guarantee that it’ll soon to outpace "You Look Mahvelous" by Billy Crystal but will only come close to touching anything off Joe Pesci’s solo album.

The flip is by Ted "Rockstar" Leo! Yes! Teddy went into the studio with his Pharmacists and recorded "Rock’n’Roll Dreams’ll Come Through" which is a song that was originally made popular on The Best Show on WFMU and featured on "New Hope For The Ape-Eared" CD by Tom Scharpling & Jon Wurster.

Both tracks are exclusive to this single. The first 500 are on picture disc!

And as with previous singles, it won’t be available in stores! It’s only available with purchase, and only chunklet.com has it!

Also! Due to vociferous international inquiries, the Rock Bible (ranked #1 in some truly silly categories at Amazon) is now for sale at Chunklet.com.

New issue! Whee! Get on it! Celebrate the new dark age with us!