Video: Soundgarden "By Crooked Steps" Directed By Dave Grohl

Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters (duh) directed the new Soundgarden video for "By Crooked Steps". In the video, Soundgarden are a grizzled old Segway gang who take over the local bar where some hipster is DJing on his computer. They take to the stage and rock n' roll mayhem transpires. It ends with them being arrested by deadmau5, who is a protector of DJs worldwide. Don't you think someone would have killed them off by now otherwise? It all makes sense.

By Crooked Steps from mgy1980 on Vimeo.

Buzzed Bands Podcast, Episode 2 (Cold Blood Club)

A few days ago I sat down with my friends in Cold Blood Club for the second installment of Buzzed Bands. We drank a bunch of cheap beer and cheaper whiskey (Evan Williams) and talked about white boys, Mary's little lamb, working at Tower Records, how to join the Cold Blood Club and other random bullshit. Take a listen and pay close attention to Tom's downward spiral into Incoherentville. Good times! Stay tuned for more episodes (I have 3 lined up already!). Oh, and please follow Buzzed Bands on Twitter.

Download:

Buzzed Bands on iTunes

Tonight: Wild Yaks, Unstoppable Death Machines, Violent Bullshit at 285 Kent

Great fucking show in Williamsburg tonight! Wild Yaks, Unstoppable Death Machines, Habibi, Violent Bullshit play live and Dirtyfinger is on the wheels of steel. This will be fucking madness. 

RSVP:

https://www.facebook.com/events/531231320221347/

Soundgarden Set List

I wasn't at last night's Soundgarden show at Hammerstein Ballroom but a couple of friends were there. The set included some of my favorite tracks ("Flower", "Beyond The Wheel", "4th of July", etc.), which were absent from last week's show. Hopefully, tonight's set list will be just as good. Now I just need someone to hook me up with tickets (they start at $80 on StubHub).

*Photo by Zach Timm.

Video: The Black Angels "Don't Play With Guns"

The Black Angels have a new album coming out and here's a little taste of what you can expect. Not surprisingly, it's awesome! This band never disappoints.

Video: Heems "Soup Boys"

Himanshu, formerly of Das Racist, released a video for his solo track "Soup Boys".

Buzzed Bands, Episode 1 with Raccoon Fighter (BSC Podcast)

I've been working on a video show where I interview bands. We did a test shoot with Gabe and Zac from Raccoon Fighter just to see how it would look and feel. The director wasn't there so I shot it myself which, of course, means the video sucks. But the audio was salvageable so I turned it into a podcast. This is my very first band interview ever so please give me your feedback.

As mentioned in the podcast, Raccoon Fighter is running a Kickstarter campaign raising money to release the album they're currently upstate recording. Please take a minute to donate a couple of bucks. 

Soundgarden Played Terminal 5

On on Wednesday I went to Terminal 5 for the American Express concert featuring Soundgarden. Some people are acting weird because AMEX sponsored the show but if that means $15 tickets for Soundgarden then I don't give two flying fucks who sponsors it. Soundgarden is one of my all-time favorite bands and I've only seen them once before a couple summers ago in Philly. That was one of the best shows I've seen in years so I had high hopes for this one.

The show started a little after 8pm with the band jumping into "Been Away For Too Long" which is a decent track from their new album. From there they went to "My Wave," which is a track I love so things were looking up but the band never really picked up steam. The Philly show was chock full of harder and heavier songs from the early years but this set was mostly the singles. It's still great music but that's not what I want to see at a show. I'm sure AMEX had something to do with the lackluster set list. Check it out after the jump, you'll notice songs like, "Slaves and Bulldozers" "Beyond The Wheel" "Mailman" "4th of July" "Superunknown" and so forth are absent, all of which they played in Philly.

Video: My Education "Mister 1986"

Despite being an instrumental track and rather repetitive I really dig this track. The drumming is very aggressive which is a nice counterpoint to the mellow violin part. The distortion on guitar is a bit to processed sounding to me but it's buried deep enough in the mix that I can get past it. I wasn't even going to post this originally but it grew on me quick so I figured I'd share.

Video: Dinosaur Jr. "Pierce The Morning Rain"

I've never been much of a DJ fan but I know some of you old stoners are so I figured I'd post this. Also, Henry Rollins beats the shit out of some nerd in the video and then gets beaten by said nerd, so that's something.

NYC Tonight: Soundgarden, Heliotrope, Mountain Goats

Bored? No friends? Drinking on the couch... again? Don't fret, Chet. It's a big city full of fun people looking to hang out with schlubs just like you! Here are a few suggestions on radical happenings in the city tonight.

• Soundgarden at Terminal 5, 7pm (Sold Out): This will be awesome and I will be there. Try and get in somehow. 
• Heliotropes, Gang Signs, Blackout at Union Pool, 9pm (Cover???): I haven't heard much by Heliotropes but what I have heard is fucking awesome. Never seen them live. If I wasn't going to see one of my all-time favorite bands tonight I would be here. 

• John from Mountain Goats at Studio X, 6:30pm (RSVP): Don't know what this is but John is cool in my book. It's a GQ event so it might be heavy on the douchery. Worth a shot though. 

5 Random Songs (1/14/13)

Round 3 of "5 Random Songs"

I was in the gym the other day and threw my iPod on full random. All 12,000+ songs randomly jarbled together coming at me like a shit cannon. As someone who's worked in music for a long time I have tons of albums I've never listened to that random people have given me to listen to. At one point I put everything on my iPod. That is until it filled up. It's been a couple years since that happened and my taste has changed dramatically since I started collecting the albums on my iPod (going back to the early 90's).

So I decided to go back and review the first 5 songs that popped up when I hit random. Some might be new(ish) and some might be old. Some might be shitty pop and some might be shitty metal. Who knows? Here we go...

Track 1: "Dead Embryonic Cells" Sepultura, Under Siege (Live In Barcelona)

• When I was a young headbanger Sepultura was my favorite band. I had two BC Rich Warlock guitars because Max Cavalera played one. I had Brazilian soccer jerseys because they were from Brazil and wore them on stage. I vowed to name my first born son, Max. So yes, I liked Sepultura a little. This is one of the best songs from their 80's material. This is the live version, which honestly I didn't even know I had. It's a quality recording for a live track but the original version is better. Sepultura is no longer my favorite band but this is still something I'd listen to, no doubt. 

Track 2: "Lapdance" NERD, In Search Of...

• I dug this track when it came out but it sounds a bit dated. I also just remembered that this track used to bug me because the main riff is the same as Marilyn Manson's "Angel With the Scabbed Wings". I always thought that was a bit sketchy. The white dude rapping on this sucks too, which kills the mood. That said Pharrell is great on this track and the stripped down production is classic early Pharrell, like what he did for Clipse. 

Give Raccoon Fighter Your Money

Raccoon Fighter needs $10,000 to fund their next album. They have a Kickstarter campaign up and running in which you can donate up to $5,000. It's not listed on the page but if you donate the full $10,000 Zac will give you one of his signature hand jobs. Just something to think about.

So next time you're at the bar and want to do a bump of Columbian don't call Tiny Lou (that's your coke dealers name, pay more attention - he has feelings too). Instead take that money and give it to Raccoon Fighter. Cool? Sorry Lou.

In other news I'm kicking off a video show in which I drink and bullshit with bands. Raccoon Fighter will be the first band on the show. So stay tuned for that too.

Link:

Raccoon Fighter Kickstarter

5 Random Songs (1/8/13)

Round 2 of "5 Random Songs"


I was in the gym the other day and threw my iPod on full random. All 12,000+ songs randomly jarbled together coming at me like a shit cannon. As someone who's worked in music for a long time I have tons of albums I've never listened to that random people have given me to listen to. At one point I put everything on my iPod. That is until it filled up. It's been a couple years since that happened and my taste has changed dramatically since I started collecting the albums on my iPod (going back to the early 90's).

So I decided to go back and review the first 5 songs that popped up when I hit random. Some might be new(ish) and some might be old. Some might be shitty pop and some might be shitty metal. Who knows? Here we go...

Track 1: "Anthem" Cerebral Ballzy, You're Idle

• The homies from Brooklyn! I love this band and I've seen them many times. Hell, they even played my birthday party. This is their signature track, as you may gather from the chorus which is "Cerebral Balllzy" shouted over and over again. It's a very raw sound and could easy have existed in 1982 and none would be the wiser that it's a bunch of skate punks from Brooklyn circa 2010. 

***This is NOT the version from You're Idle, this is way more produced. It's all I could find.

Track 2: "One Evening" The Jesus Lizard, Head/Pure

• While I certainly appreciate The Jesus Lizard I've never really been a fan. I saw them at the VICE Halloween party a few years ago and they fucking kill it live. But back to the track, the bass line reminds me of "Kerosene" by Big Black but that's about all I love about it. It's not bad at all but I don't love it, which is exactly how I feel about this band as a whole. I have no fucking clue where I got this album from.

5 Random Songs

I was in the gym the other day and threw my iPod on full random. All 12,000+ songs randomly jarbled together coming at me like a shit cannon. As someone who's worked in music for a long time I have tons of albums I've never listened to that random people have given me to listen to. At one point I put everything on my iPod. That is until it filled up. It's been a couple years since that happened and my taste has changed dramatically since I started collecting the albums on my iPod (going back to the early 90's).

So I decided to go back and review the first 5 songs that popped up when I hit random. Some might be new(ish) and some might be old. Some might be shitty pop and some might be shitty metal. Who knows? Here we go...

Track 1: "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" Nirvana, MTV Unplugged In New York

• One of my all-time favorite covers, ever. I got into Nirvana right around the same time I started listening to old blues and roots music. I was watching the Unplugged episode when it first aired and remember recognizing the song but not being sure what it was exactly. Anyway, I fucking love this song and I will always love this song. It only gets better with age. Kurt just pours his heart out on it and you have to appreciate that. 

Track 2: "My Love Is A Gentle Thing" Crosby Stills & Nash Stephen Stills

• My girlfriend had the entire CSN collection on a couple of burned discs, which I dumped on my iPod, so I'm not sure what album this is from but I don't really know this song. It's okay, I guess, but far from their best stuff. Sounds like they were strung out when they made this. The vocals, of course, are fucking beautiful - even if they're not up to par for CSN. ***Update: Apparently this is a Stephen Stills solo track included in the CSN box set.