Titus Andronicus..and Tame Impala

While killing a very lazy day at work I have come to the conclusion that if Joe Strummer had somehow impregnated Bruce Springsteen the baby would be named Titus Andronicus.
I wish that would have happened....The sight of 'Bruce" preggers would be phenomenally entertaining and it would mean Joe had been resurrected.  Now that is a book I could get into...
Anyway, Titus Andronicus' recent album Local Business is half New Jersey bar stomp, half gritty 70's punk.  And by punk I mean PUNK.  Snotty, brash, not afraid to have a little swing and not afraid to keep the tempo at a sweaty, 2 a.m.  one night stand grind...let's make it 3 a.m. - it makes me sound younger.

Here are a few samples, the charmingly named "Hot Deuce on a Silver Platter"
"My Eating Disorder-Live" and the eponymously named, Libertines channeling, stand out from their debut LP, The Airing of Grievances, "Titus Andronicus" ...BY THE WAY, Lonerism by Tame Impala is just a fine album. It is psychedelic cotton candy at its best. If it didn't make me want to sit around, blissed out on drugs I would listen to it everyday. Instead I listen every other day.

Wow..Why didn't anyone tell me about Faces on Film.
It took hearing Vinny Cha$e and Kid Art's "Harlem Roses" to turn me onto this early My Morning Jacket facsimile.
I never expected to count on Harlem rappers to expose me to great new indie rock but that was the case here as their liberal sampling of Face to Film's standout track "Harlem Roses" on their identiaclly named track caught my ear and sent me searching for the source.
Lead singer Mike Fiore is a dead ringer for Jim James.  The music is not quite as spacy and jam driven as MMJ but the comparison is so easy it feels silly saying it.

Check out "Harlem Roses" by Faces to Film:

And by Vinny Cha$se and Kid Art:



and MMJ at their best:

Christopher Owens at the Magic Bag, Ferndale MI Jan 16, 2013

For my first live show of the year I was very excited to see Christopher Owens formerly of one of my favorite bands Girls.
He has a newly released solo record,  Lysander, and I assumed would be spreading his creative wings as a solo artist.
Well, as they say, that's what you get for assuming. Not only is Owens' studio album relatively monotone and boring. His show was so low key I nearly fell asleep. There were none of Girls signature rave ups or dramatic moments. Instead it was a tightly interwoven tale of a failed relationship played out in quiet tones.
I would not say that the new album or the live show were terrible. Rather, I would suggest that Owens would have been better served having this new music counterbalanced by the input of additional bandmates.
Let's hope this is a minor step backward for an artist I had such high hopes for.