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I had UFO’s Phenomenon put into my hand when I was a young man. I wasn’t ready for it. It was too hippy-dippy, too “Doctor, Doctor please” for me.
But I was too absentminded to switch out the tape in my Walkman, so it got a few more listens. That was all it took for Phil [...]

The day after an election can be tough. There might be cause for celebration (serious celebration!), but things might not have all gone your way.
Maybe you’re one of the 46% who watched the other guy win.
Or maybe you’re a newlywed who’s finding it hard to have hope when five million of your neighbors just took [...]

It seems to me that a lot of my posts are like, “This guy never got his due,” or “People talk about her style, but never her voice,” or the like. Like I’m trying to right some wrongs. Remind me about this when I go back into therapy.
Anyways, the Ramones are certainly lauded for all [...]

Before I bayl-aread earlier this month, I managed to drag my saggy ass to get it kicked by Deerhoof at the Great American Music Hall. Locals can catch them again in a couple weeks at Mezzanine.
They’re a four-piece again, which brings them back from the prog-band ledge — now it’s a 2-2 tie, with the [...]

Plush’s Fed (the work of Chicago fella Liam Hayes and associates) is one of those albums where the story of the music’s creation is inseparable from the music itself.
Wait, no it’s not! Enjoy!
Plush - Whose Blues from Fed

http://www.liamhayesandplush.com
http://www.myspace.com/liamhayesandplushmusic

Hello, Vegetables! I’ve returned safely from the land of the Silver Queen, and may I say, Indonesia has it goin’ on!
My quest for Indonesian pop went differently than I expected — being in places that catered to international tourists meant lots of American and British music. But if there’s one thing in Indonesia more ubiquitous [...]

Hello Vegetables Returns October 29
Well, dear hearts, it’s time to say au revoir for a few weeks — I’m taking Mrs. Vegetables far away.
I’ve got a soft spot for this song because it’s right on that dividing line between early heavy-rock Scorpions and later hard-rock SCORPIONS!
Lovedrive was their first album without our beloved Uli, and [...]

I can’t even begin to describe my love for these tipi-loving hippies.
Vielleicht you have to be in just the right mood, but once that mood and this music come together, dear hearts, I will see you later.
Locals will find them at the Du Nord in a week or so. I’ll be on the other side [...]

Ohhhh reverb-drenched heavy psych, you knock me out.
I cut my teeth on the Buttholes (you heard me), so pour it on, Crystal Antlers, pour it on. (Younger cats who cut their teeth on Comets On Fire might want to have it poured on as well.)
Crystal Antlers - A Thousand Eyes from EP (insound / amazon [...]

My favorite songs on Blitzen Trapper’s first album Wild Mountain Nation had that feel like they weren’t brand-new songs — they felt like they’d always been around, and Blitzen Trapper had just helped them to surface.
Furr has that sound start-to-finish. Like when you finally get around to listening to a “classic” album — familiar, new, [...]