Damn straight I'm back again junky, where'd ya think I w's gonna go?An' I gotta'notha windfall fer ya too! Yup, jus' a few days afta I drowned ya wit' one hundrit pieces o' SWAG ta send ya inta shock, here I am wit anotha thirty or so. Whaddaya t'ink o' them apples? Not thit I held anything bsck las' time, but I gotta few gems'is week too. Some o' da pics o' dis week's litta as far as I'm concerned...
Many of us probably became acquainted with My Darkest Days thanks to their single "Porn Star Dancing," a silly little novelty song about one fellow who can't talk any of his girls into doing nasty things. No big deal, though, because he can head down to his local strip club – where the ladies will do anything for money. It's a song that would have been easily forgotten and off my radar if not for some fancy guitar work that...
Curse you, the Wild Flags! Of course you will live in the shadow of Sleater-Kinney for your entire existence. Fans have all accepted that and sort of understand that the band has come to terms with it too, but what positively irks me is that Wild Flag released a damned fine album last year – which didn’t quite sink in until just a couple of months ago. Must you write such subtly complex music that it takes such attention to...
Sex. As W.C. Fields once said, “Some things are better than sex and some are worse, but there's nothing exactly like it.” It's true – sex has tremendous power; after that fateful first time, the perpetual desire common to every person on Earth is to find ways of getting more first, and then getting as much as possible after that. Sex has toppled entire empires and led to complete societal ruin (some of the biggest stories which exemplify that fact...
Ever heard a song and known on the first play that it was going to mean something, be important and/or be the one that people point to and talk about years later? Records like that do exist and, at least occasionally, it is possible to know them when they arrive – that's why those with a clue are already singing the praises of On The Impossible Past by The Menzingers. Listeners will know they're hearing something which may change their...
Domino is excited to announce Dirty Projectors highly anticipated sixth album, Swing Lo Magellan on July 10th (North America) / July 9th (rest of the world). With Swing Lo Magellan, David Longstreth shows he really doesn't know how to do the same thing twice. This time, beyond the aughts-era duality of retromania and neophilia, and beyond his band’s reputation for dizzying, heady innovation, Longstreth has found the beautiful, generous simplicity of the heart and soul. Same as it ever was. And this must be...
Awright, here's one for alla da punks,Well, not jus' da punks junky – don' worry, I ain't gonna spike my hair on ya or nuttin' – but dis week's SWAG Report owes a lot ta dat sound an' spiky personality, dat's fer shoor. Right off da top, I gotcha some real gold! I nabbed the firs' tune from da new OFF! reckid what comes out in May. Dis time, the guys inna band know what ther doin' is gonna work,...
As tends to be the case around every big holiday, the countdown to Record Store Day 2012 has officially begun. Since its foundation in 2007 (and maybe longer), the third Saturday of April has been marked by the music fans of all stripes but especially those who favor vinyl recordings above all else flock to their much-loved independent record stores to see what special new releases conceived specifically for the day line the shelves. The first group of new releases...
Can you listen to a familiar artist without evoking their previous work in your mind? Even if it is an artist you have not listened to in quite a while? Or maybe especially if it is an artist you have not heard in a while? These two recent releases forced me to confront this question. The Cranberries and Sinead O’Connor have new CDs out. For the Cranberries, it is their first release since 2001; for O’Connor, it has been five...
I have often professed my love of cover songs. There are various reasons for this. One is what they reveal about an artist’s influences and tastes but another, more important reason may seem like a contradiction: I love cover songs because I love originality. "How does that work?" I hear you asking. I appreciate the challenge of taking someone’s song and owning it yourself; making it sound new. An artist’s ability to do this is a strong indication of how...