NewDad is one of my favorite bands in recent years. I first heard of the Irish band when Johnny Marr championed them in Uncut magazine.
That Marr would like the band (and the band would listen to Marr) is pretty obvious.
I do admit that I was a bit afraid to see if the band would survive that initial excitement. 2021s six song Waves EP was followed by 2022s five song Banshee EP but nothing came out in 2023 except three songs released to streaming.
Reaction to the new debut album Madra is mixed at best and I am not quite certain why. Perhaps because the novelty is gone three years later (or the hype was too much to overcome). Perhaps the spot-the-influence shoegaze tinged dream pop that pulls from New Order and the Breeders doesn’t exactly turn the critics on.
Madra may not be a perfect album and one could argue that changing out a few songs from the two EPs would make it a stronger debut, but I can’t imagine anyone who loves this kind of music would find any disappointment at all.
I loved New Model Army from my first listen in the 90s. They had already released their masterpiece album (1989s Thunder and Consolation) and a signature song (1986s “51st State”).
Their music was rare to find in American record stores. Their tales legendary. The American Musicians’ Union banned them from touring the US due to “no artistic merit” (though likely to the sentiment of the aforementioned single). Diehard fans attended concerts wooden clog footwear.
They are easy to categorize into the post-Clash political punk movement though stylistically Justin Sullivan’s goth style vocals and the bands anthemic hard rock/ near metal presented a sound that seemed like a commercial breakthrough was possible. (No shock that the people I knew who loved the band were also big fans of Sisters of Mercy). Even to the point that Sony/ Epic Records signed them for 1992s Love of Hopeless Causes record.
It wasn’t to happen (Apparently, the first single “Here Comes the War” came packaged with instructions on how to build a nuclear device). The band (mostly Sullivan and the same supporting cast since 2007) has remained consistently good.
While they remain to exist outside mainstream media, they are much loved by the punk community and their recently finished trilogy of albums- 2013s Between Dog and Wolf 2016s Winter and 2019s From Here are highly venerated in the fans’ and critics’ circles.
The band finished 2023 with Sinfonia- a live album that builds on the bands anthemic hymns by pairing up with the Sinfonia Leipzig Orchestra and a deep dive into the bands catalog - featuring a few of their standards and some unexpected selections.
2024s Unbroken doesn’t change the formula (no one would expect otherwise) but it does double down on some of the bands harder rock and more epic speaker booming sounds. For new fans of the band, it’s probably a better introduction than From Here.
The Production is a little more aggressive. Advancing Age suits Sullivan’s voice as a positive. I haven’t found that takeaway late career song on here as I have throughout - 2000s Orange Tree Roads and Autumn and You Weren’t There (both from 1999) are songs that rank to me with decades now old favorites like “Vagabonds” but they definitely have some in that mood here like “Language”
One of my favorite bands of the last 20 years is the Thermals.
I loved them from pretty much the first listen off of their 2003 debut More Parts Per Million. They made 7 studio album through their tenure ending in 2016. The band comparison that probably showed up the most in reviews was the Ramones but I would say more accurately- They are in the lineage of Lo fi heroes Eric’s Trip and peers Mountain Goats and of course, if we must, the Ramones simplicity but with a mix of Buzzcocks Pop punk and Talking Heads art rock.
The Portland band spent much of its life as a trio with singer guitarist Hutch Harris and bassist/drummer Kathy Foster as the core of the band with six other people in service of the band (of these, most notably original drummer Jordan Hudson and Westin Glass, their drummer for the last decade).
I don’t think any of their albums are bad. 2006s The Body, the Blood and the Machine perhaps their epic work. I was lucky that even though my concert going slowed, I did see the band live.
The band took to social media in 2018 to announce their break up- their last album - the well received and appropriately named We Disappear.
I haven’t heard from them since.
At some point, recently I was in a Facebook group and lamenting and celebrating the band, when someone asked me if I was following Hutch’s solo career.
Wait, what?
I find out not only Harris has a solo career but a pretty prolific one at that.
Harris has two solo albums since the Thermals broke up. One is 2018s Only Water- the other a compilation of pre- Thermals songs called Old Lost Days. Additionally, 2015 saw a wide release for Hutch and Kathy - a pre Thermals album recorded by Harris and Foster and more early Harris recordings are available under the band name Urban Legends
Foster has also been busy. Spotify lists Roseblood as a project that may be ongoing that has been listed as being primarily her work but only lists a single . She had been playing drums for twee poppers All Girl Summer Fun Band while working concurrently in the Thermals
Hurry Up is a trio with Foster and Glass that have a 2022 album. Wiki lists even another Foster project called Butterfly Transformation Service but info is pretty limited to a small comment on Discogs.
The biggest Post- Thermals project might be Clear Rivers - Harris fronted trio (with Hudson on drums). The band self released their debut self titled album in April of 2023.
Best Coast frontwoman Bethany Cosentino went viral last December for a TikTok video that spoke to many things but calls out that the media tends towards the new thing and the established thing and hurts veteran performers.
For sure, Spotify shows the Thermals have 98,000 listeners a month but all of the other acts I have mentioned seem to top out at around 300.
To be fair, Clear Rivers is missing Foster’s energy but is still a decent album - a bit closer to the more introspective moments of the late Thermals career.
Also I did see that Harris has embraced the post-Cameo world of social media and will perform requested songs on Instagram for $25 (he has done 150 cover songs and counting)
I haven’t written about Van Morrison, so here goes. When I was coming of age, music critics were male and white and usually so were their favorite records. Moondance and Astral Weeks were considered some of the best albums ever, and I have to admit that the moment I listened to them, I had to concur.
Morrison like many of his peers was having a bit of renaissance in the late 80s/early 90s. Rolling Stone and everyone else feted 1988s Irish Heartbeat (his collaboration with the Chieftans) and my local radio station played the heck out of “Real Real Gone” (a # 18 placing on the US Rock Chart) from 1990s Enlightenment.
The 90s were good for his songs. Rod Stewart and John Mellencamp had big US hits with “Have I Told You Lately” ( # 5) and “Wild Night” (# 3)
Morrison’s records have always been events even with the weird misstep of 2021s “Latest Record Project Vol 1” with an “old man yelling at clouds” kind of song titles like “Why Are You on Facebook” and “They Own the Media”
Now when it comes to listening to music, I get my ideas from different places but friends’ references are still near the top. Which is where I first heard of the Bang Collection.
It contains recordings of Morrison that had become Van’s 1967 solo debut Blowin Your Mind- that album contains perhaps the most evergreen of pop songs “Brown Eyed Girl”, and a second disc of outtakes from the same sessions. Now, Van says he didn’t expect these recordings to be released as his solo record and because they did without his knowledge, he felt he couldn't trust producer Bert Berns and Bang Records.
It is the third album of the Bang Collection, though that is the part most people talk about. Morrison recorded an album worth of songs to fulfill his contractual obligation. The songs are mostly fragments pulled off the top of Van’s head and played on an out of tune guitar.
There are songs that only seem to consist of silly noises (Chickie Coo) silly lyrics (Scream and Holler and a half dozen of its variations) and just silly (Blowin Your Nose, You Say France and I Whistle, Want a Danish?, Ring Worm). If Van didn’t want anyone to make money off his record, he was trying his darnedest to make sure of that. (Morrison biographer Ryan Walsh compares the album to the lo-f simple music commonly made by outsider artist Jandek)
And now of course, almost 60 years ago, the audience says “Jokes on you. We are into that”.
And lest we think that Van was just being contrary, Neil Diamond had the same issues with Berns and as the story goes after Bern’s’ untimely death, the Bang label was ran by mobsters.
But these often bootlegged recordings of Van banging out 32 songs in an hour- are now part of a 2017 official release.
If you want a nice story and sample check out the episode of Bizarre Albums podcast that focuses on the record.
It also explains some of the inside jokes of how Van felt about an album being released (Blowing Your Nose" a riff on "Blowing your Mind") the silly dance songs (reference to Berns hit “Twist and Shout”) and the saga of George who goes to Boston to record (as sang by George Ivan “Van” Morrison)
I am not a huge fan of podcasts, but I often check out the Bizarre Records podcast (the brainchild of Emo band Motion City Soundtrack drummer Tony Thaxton) - it isn't perfect, usually skimming the surface of its topics- but it can’t beat it for the fascinating content and a brief listening time (usually 15-20 minutes an episode)
Anyway, thanks to the friend who turned me onto the album. I have got a real kick out of listening to it.
As a teen in a rural area, instead of cable, we had satellite television. Because of this, I was often watching MuchMusic- the lower budget higher fun Canadian version of MTV
The thing about watching Canadian programming and their content rules was finding some very talented Canadian artists. Equally, it was often puzzling to see a band be huge in their home country and have negligible impact in the US.
There are dozens of bands that I loved at this time that fall on the spectrum of breaking big in the States to moderate success to almost no breakthrough.
I can list off a whole string: Barenaked Ladies, Cowboy Junkies, TPOH, Moist, Tragically Hip, Blue Rodeo, Grapes of Wrath, Moxie Fruvous, Northern Pikes and many others.
My stock in trade is alt-rock but it extends to Canadian only jewels from pop rapper Maestro Fresh Wes to glam metal bands like Haywire and Slik Toxik to blues rocker Colin James to legendary Canadian icons like Kim Mitchell and Stompin Tom Conners.
Fast forward to the 21st Century and I am discussing Sirius Satellite Radio with a friend and he says I have to check the Canadian alternative rock station. It’s a Canadian heavy version of Alt Nation called the Verge. And I am taken aback.
Again, some very talented bands dominate, they are radio friendly and yet, unknown here in the States. I have three favorites- Black Pistol Fire- alt rock a la Black Keys or Queens of the Stone Age, quirky songwriter Dan Mangan and female Toronto based four piece the Beaches.
The Beaches (like Black Pistol Fire) are definitely trying as they seem to be consistently touring in the US and grabbing spots on big name musical Festivals.
The Beaches played Lollapalooza last year and while at Applebee's ( don’t judge) I heard “Blame Brett” on an alt station in a batch of songs on a playlist with the new U2 single.
I have to acknowledge that the Beaches are probably the last band in the world that I think I would like.
I totally hate pop-punk (in the post-90s definition of the term) and that seems to be their stock in trade. It’s a “TikTok” record. Its a breakup record (Brett is Emmons of another one of those Verge bands Glorious Sons)
Yet maybe I am miscategorizing them which is why reviews tend to mention 90s buzz bands like Veruca Salt and Hole instead of say, Paramore or Fall Out Boy (or they instead reference 80s New Wave or the early 00s NYC scene)- y'know, the stuff that I like
Anyway, they are infectious and I can’t believe they have not blown up in the US.
Even with an earworm like the (near) title track of second album Blame My Ex (or equally catchy 2019 hit “Want What You Got”), I think you need to listen to the records to see how talented they really are.
This is my book review for
Mississippi Nights: A History of The Music Club in St. Louis
by Garrett and Stacey Enloe
(The musical selection is from They Might Be Giants compilation Venue Songs which is pretty much what the title says- and appropriately enough, TMBG was the penultimate concert I saw at Mississippi Nights)
Mississippi Nights was a nightclub in St Louis that closed this month 17 years ago.
Because it’s the nightclub I most associate with youth as well as probably the one where I saw the most bands, it is my ideal layout for seeing live music. Having been to many venues now, though I still stand by that
Then perhaps it just was, it entertained every genre of music and was both intimate and big enough for most national bands. Its parking lot the only place I can think of where I got into a fistfight as an adult.
I was shocked when the place was closed down to make room for a riverfront Casino space. I mean I understand, and even now, I am a bit shocked and disappointed all these years later.
The Enloes’ book is the tribute the club needed. A colorful coffee table book filled with anecdotes and ticket stubs. It is near perfect in that its main issue is that it could just go on forever with stories.
As it stands, it’s probably the perfect size. The story of the St Louis music scene is woven throughout in a fair amount of detail. Author Garrett Enloe has a very vanilla taste of FM Rock bands, but is smart enough to fill in some of the other genres with guest contributors
You will find unique stories throughout about Michael Stipe, Nirvana, Melissa Ethridge, Public Enemy, the Police and others. It is the nostalgia rush I needed. There’s also a reference of bands who played (I am pedantic so I noticed a couple of misses but it’s still nice to have).
I saw a wide variety of bands there - Cramps, Ramones, Gwar, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, Type O Negative and it was nice to see some of those names referenced.
My prime concert going years were 1993 to 2002 but the club ran from 1976 to 2007. The scope of a book like this is it likely won’t appeal outside of the St Louis area (I know there is probably a small secondary audience of people who just love musical venue history) but the club surely had the kind of impact that if you lived in the region and went there, this book will be meaningful
And if you do fine the club meaningful then this book nails that memory. I would love to see a sequel though it would be pointless (this is the book to own) though there’s still probably enough St Louis history, the Enloes could find other routes to explore
