Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Episode 77: Boo

Happy Halloween Dear Listener,

And nothing screams Halloween more than Glenn Danzig buying kitty litter.


As Halloween is upon us and Christmas decorations are already in the stores, this episode will serve as our salute to all things sweet and evil.  This episode was a great deal of fun to put together so I hope you enjoy it.

Joyous news came earlier this week.  Sleater-Kinney will be putting out a new record in January and touring this winter.  No Cities To Love is available to pre-order in multiple formats over at Sub Pop.  The first single is Bury Our Friends and was included as a one-sided 45 in the Stay Together box set that was released this week.  Here's the video for it:

J Mascis came through town last week and completely crippled my brain.  I never thought that one man with an acoustic guitar could give a PA such a hard time.  Denny The Sound Guy had one helluva time keeping it from reaching meltdown.  I skipped dinner to get to the venue early for a good seat and a cup of coffee.  My efforts paid off two-fold because I got to meet the man and thank him for taking years off of my hearing.  Here's a picture that I took from my table:
The opening act was a band from Australia called Luluc.  They were great except for the fact that my 15 year old brain could not get over the fact that they looked like Cate Blanchett and Russell Brand gave up acting to become Australia's fourth most popular folk duo.  I crack me up.

The Gaslight Anthem played last week as well and they brought Against Me! with them.  Other than the shitty venue and excessive lights, it was a great show.  Going on after Against Me! every night has got to be a great challenge.

And of course, every time I say that I'll never go back to that venue someone gets booked there.  Sleater-Kinney will be playing that beer filled toilet bowl in March.  Something tells me they will break that shitty PA that was designed for electronic music.

Last week, Iggy Pop gave a lecture on the state of music and other such topics at an event dedicated to the BBC's John Peel.  The man dropped the science for about an hour.  You can go here to download it.

A few months ago, Sleep released The Clarity as a free digital download through Adult Swim.  I thought a 12-inch single with an etched b-side would have been a great idea.  Apparently Sleep did too.  They pressed up 1,000 of them back in August and I missed it.  I had to get mine from a record flipper on the ebays.  Savages.  Here's what the b-side looks like:

And it seems that there will be a cartoon involving Mike Tyson and mystery solving.  Here's the first episode:

In more bizarre news, there was an online petition demanding that Toys R Us stop selling Breaking Bad themed toys.  The woman who started the petition ended up on the Today Show saying that it sets a bad example for children to sell toys that come with tiny bags of plastic meth.  Maybe she should stop complaining about the toys and just ignore them.  If she's not going to buy the toys for her children then what's the problem?  The lady also failed to notice that these toys are sold in Wal-Marts and other retailers but did not mention them in her petition.  Maybe the example we should show our children is how a well crafted a story and following through on that idea as far as they possibly can, regardless of how goofy it might be, could end up with action figures being made of that idea.  People are assholes with nothing better to do.  And doesn't every G.I. Joe and Transformer come with a gun?

Thanks for listening.

Rock over London.  Rock on Chicago.

Cazart.

Here's the download link:

Out of Step Music Hour Episode 77

Here's the playlist:

Many treats and a few tricks.

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Episode 76: Hangin' With Zorak

Greetings Dear Listener,

When I got home from day job today, this fine creature was sitting on my porch so I used a picture of it as the episode artwork.  It doesn't look that evil.

This episode is a bit heavy with Mind Cure releases but it's not my fault that the store keeps putting out quality releases.

Walter from Gorilla Biscuits/Quicksand/Rival Schools is in a new band called Vanishing Life.  It's considered a "super-group" because there are members of ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead and Rise Against in the band.  Although, no one in the band has lasers coming out of their eyes so I fail to see how they are "super" but I do like their music.

And another Hard Traveling Heroes type band is Moral Mazes.  It's got J. Robbins (Jawbox) and Jonah Matranga (Far) in it.  Their single is titled Magic Tommy Jackson and has the best artwork ever.

Deerhoof has released another track from their forthcoming album La Isla Bonita.  This one's called Paradise Girls.

On November 24th, the Velvet Underground's third album, The Velvet Underground, is getting the 6-disc hard bound book/box set treatment.  There will be remastered stereo and mono versions and an alternate Lou Reed mix.  Hooray.  My ears can't wait.

Iceage put out a new record this week, Plowing Into The Field Of Love.  I gave it a few listens today and I'm enjoying it but I'm still waiting for it to grab me.  The band may be falling into the trap of over complicating their records.

Whirr has been busy of late.  They put out a new record called Sway, they are reissuing Pipe Dreams and they've got a split 12-inch EP coming out in November with nothing.

The new Weezer record, Everything Will Be Alright In The End, came out this week as well and my goodness is it a fun 42 minutes.

J Mascis and the Gaslight Anthem will be in town next week.  Wednesday and Friday, respectively.  The Gaslight Anthem show is sold out and there may still be tickets available for J.

There's a movie about Fela Kuti floating about from town to town.  Get out to see it if you can.  Music is the weapon, indeed.

Gotham has forever endeared itself to my heart.  Or at least their music director anyway.  They played the Stooges during a fight scene.  There's nothing better than mixing Iggy with Batman.

The Flash started last night.  It looks like it will be lighter and a lot more fun than most modern comic treatments.  Arrow started tonight and hopefully it stops looking like a soap opera and maybe they'll let the male actors start wearing shirts more often.

ComiCon was a few weeks ago.  Here's a picture of the Batmobile:
They wanted $10.00 to sit in it.  I almost laughed at the guy when he told me that.

I did get to meet Chris Yambar.  He's an artist for the Simpsons comics put out by Bongo Comics.  Here's a picture of a drawing he made:

I made it out to see Tusk.  Funniest horror movie ever.

Thanks for listening.

Don't make me feel like a prize asshole and not mention my casserole.

Rock over London.  Rock on Chicago.

Cazart.

Here's the download link:

Out Of Step Music Hour Episode 76

Here's the playlist:
1.  Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros~Coma Girl~Streetcore
2.  Submachine~Small Fires~Submachine/Kicker Split
3.  Portishead~Cowboys~Portishead
4.  The Ramones~Glad To See You Go~Leave Home
5.  Ty Segall~Manipulator~Manipulator
6.  The Gotobeds~Fast Trash~Poor People Are Revolting
7.  Sebadoh~Imminent Emergency~Defend Yourself
8.  Heather McEntire~The Sycophant~The Monsters In My Bed
9.  Flight Of The Conchords~Hurt Feelings~I Told You I Was Freaky
10. The Living End~Problem~It's For Your Own Good
11.  Bad Brains~We Will Not~Rock For Light
12.  New Amsterdams~When We Two Parted~Never You Mind
13.  The Bats~Wild West~Demo 5:26:84
14.  Little Red, Hard Hair, Tangle Eye & 22~Early In The Mornin'~Blues From The Big House
15.  Generation X~Gimme Some Truth~Generation X
16.  Joey Ramone~Don't Worry About Me~Don't Worry About Me
17.  Dinosaur Jr.~Nothins Goin' On~Hand It Over
18.  The Beatles~Help!~Help! (Mono)
19.  Dax Riggs~Strange Television~If This Is Hell Then I'm Lucky
20.  Eel~Pacifism Won't Win Fight~Eel/Pissbath Split
21.  Vivian Girls~Damaged~Vivian Girls
22.  Code Orange~Thinners Of The Herd~I Am King
23.  Rachel Jacobs~The Bunny Song~Rachel Jacobs/Liza Kate Split
24.  The Velvet Underground~Beginning To See The Light~The Velvet Underground
25.  The Stains~Violent Children~Stains