After a few minutes, the lights dimmed and everyone cheered as Lykke Li took the stage. She exudes confidence and dominates the stage, singing song after song like it’s her first time performing them, dancing and jumping around when needed, and standing still and holding herself during the more melancholy parts. The set included fan favorite “Little Bit” as well and it appeared The Independent was just one huge gigantic dance floor for the rest of that song.

One of the more touching moments occurred during the first song of the encore. It was perhaps the slowest song in the set, and the only time when Lykke Li showed her ability to sing on a rhythmic and danceable song but to also bring tears to those touched by her openness on stage. The contrast between her confidence and her vulnerability during the song “Tonight” was most definitely felt and it made the heart wrenching song all the more greater. It made the night.

What other blogs are saying about Lykke Li @ The Independent

Dorks and Losers Blog

Click here to play game or the image above.

I heard about Grampall Jookabox this summer when I was on tour with City Harvest Black. He told me that there was this guy named Grampall Jookabox touring around and playing some disgusting shows.

When I got home I found out my friend Bizzart got signed to Joyful Noise. One of the artists on the label just happened to be Grampall Jookabox. I decided to check him out and see what he’s all about. Here’s what I found.

David Moose Adamson, otherwise known as Grampall Jookabox has made a game out of his song, “The Girl Ain’t Preggers!”

This quirky tune is off of his second album called Ropechain. Ropechain is available at Joyful Noise Recordings on cd and vinyl. The game itself is on a different site, the Asthmatic Kitty website, which I was happily surprised to see. Asthmatic Kitty is Sufjan Stevens record label and has a lot of interesting weird music.

The premise of the game is to jump over babies without touching them or landing on them. Simple enough, right? The only controls are the arrow keys and this can prove to make it a bit awkward to control Grampall Jookabox. If you are successful in jumping over the babies they turn into Skrilla, if you can’t do this you lose your skrilla and you have the guilt of jumping on a baby looming over your head. This is all while you listen to Grampall Jookabox sing “don’t it make you feel good when the girl ain’t preggers?” In the second round you throw milk bottles to the babies. The amount of milk bottles you have depends on how much money you’ve gotten in the first round. Grampall sings “don’t it make you feel sad when the girl ain’t preggers?” while you do your best to feed all of these babies, where are they coming from?

While writing this article I accidently stumbled upon this experiment. Click on this link –> (check it out) <– and come back to this page and click it two more times. This should open up the game 3 times. Go back and forth from each window refreshing the pages and the layers of will go in start at different times creating different rhythms and lots of fun! Good luck and take care of those babies!

p.s. when I did spellcheck, the only logical option it gives for jookabox is kookaburra.

Links:
Grampall Jookabox’s myspace
Joyful Noise
Asthmatic Kitty
Bizzart’s myspace
City Harvest Blacks myspace
Urban Dictionary
Sufjan Stevens website

Chrome was formed in San Francisco in 1976 by drummer/multi-instrumentalist Damon Edge and bassist/guitarist Gary Spain. Not much is known about Spain, due his gradual departure from the band after playing on the first album. Damon Edge managed to leave behind something resembling a paper trail: he was a former Cal Arts student from L.A. who had worked briefly for MGM recording B-movie and porno soundtracks. In a 1979 New Music Express interview, Edge is quoted as saying, “I wanted to make something which would be a foundation for a unit to abstract from” in answer to questions about the band’s origins. This abstract rhetoric seems to be the norm in all of his interviews.

John Lambdin (formerly of The Flower Travelin’ Band) and Mike Low joined Chrome just prior to the recording of the first LP, The Visitation (1977). Although not exactly a masterpiece, Visitation served as a good indication of things to come. Influences of early 70’s proto-punk were mixed with a distinctly west-coast latin funk fixation, an obvious obsession with sci-fi themes, and some early tinkering with samples and various types of noise making devices.

After Visitation, Low left the project and was replaced by Helios Creed, who showed up for his first audition dressed as a pirate. Creed would eventually form the core of the band alongside Edge as Chrome quickly blossomed into a garish musical mutant. In 1978 Alien Soundtracks was released, and the following year brought Half Machine Lip Moves. Both were originally self-released on Damon Edge’s own label, as was Visitation, because Edge felt that no record company would appreciate Chrome’s bizarre sound, let alone see any commercial potential in it.

During the Soundtracks/Lip Moves period, Chrome’s disregard for glossy production values and musical tradition was very much in keeping with punk, but unlike the minimalism of punk, they were experimenting with every sort of sound-producing gadget they could get their hands on. Guitars were often saw-like and fuzzed out beyond recognition, tape loops and electronic sounds became a key element, and there was even some unorthodox use of orchestral instrumentation. The overall sound of these early records is that of a chaotic, abrasive sound collage, and is regarded by most die-hard fans to be the definitive Chrome sound. Edge and Creed would go on to release eight more LP’s and several singles as Chrome from 1979 to 1983, and helped to sow the seeds of what would later become American industrial rock. Nonetheless, fellow music nerds usually offer nothing but blank stares when I mention the band.

Chrome never gained much attention during their most prolific period, despite a cult following of devoted fans. One reason for this may very well have been the issue of playing live. The only known public performances during the original Chrome period were in 1981: once in San Francisco and once in Bologne, Italy. Most of the original members of the band had dropped out of the picture after Alien Soundtracks. Although brothers John and Hillary Stench apparently contributed to the recording of Blood On The Moon (1981) and Third From The Sun (1982), Edge and Creed were the only constant members, and it seems the pair had somewhat disparate personalities. Despite being the primary spokesperson for the band, Edge was something of a recluse, with little interest in performing. He felt that the standard formula of recording an album with the intention of touring live was outmoded and artistically limiting. In contrast, Creed was outgoing and had ambitions of touring extensively. This clash of opposites seems to have doomed the project almost from the start, and after a few years it led to a messy breakup.

After the final meltdown in 1983, Damon Edge ran off to Germany, perhaps hoping to find a more supportive environment in Europe for his high-brow artistic ideas. He monopolized the rights to the old name and formed a new band, but the sound of the resurrected Chrome was less experimental, and somewhat stale overall. The sci-fi lyrical themes were still there, but the music had lost its luster. Creed, finally free to pursue his own vision of a touring rock band, stayed in San Francisco and formed a new group. He proceeded to tour constantly, and is still active today.

Damon Edge eventually returned to California, and died alone in his apartment in 1996, where his corpse lay undiscovered for roughly one month. A dismal end for the visionary who had exhibited such enthusiasm for the future of music two decades before. Creed reclaimed the Chrome name almost immediately, and has organized several short “reunion” tours with various supporting musicians since (most recently in September 2008), as well as releasing new material under Chrome.

The Chrome history is a storybook example of the volatility of creative collaboration. Two radically different artistic ideals managed to collide for a brief time with amazing results, but ultimately the dialectic was a destructive one. Edge’s esoteric aesthetic ideas and Helios Creed’s steadfast loyalty to rock n’ roll just didn’t jive in the long run. Sadly, after going their separate ways, neither of them managed to create anything on par with their past accomplishments together.

Chrome discography (from www.staticwhitesound.com the official Chrome information site)

Chrome on Lastfm

Additional sources:

The Secret History Of Rock

Search And Destroy, Vol. 8, 1978

New Musical Express, Nov. 1979

New Musical Express, Jan. 1980

Sounds, May 10, 1980

Music From The Empty Quarter, 1991

The Wire Vol. 178, Sept. 1998

I tried to picture what the people playing it must have looked like while they were recording it, and I just couldn’t picture real people. It’s just too bizarre of a performance.

I started doing research trying to find a picture, a video, anything, a glimpse of the real composers.

Amazon has the soundtrack for sale and the name Tom Weir is listed next to the theme song. I was shocked to see how much it’s going for. New starting $88.83 dollars and used starting at $27.99.

At the top of the page were the names of the composers. The user reviews were written by people talking about how much they loved the show, but unfortunately there was no more information leading to the composers, except for one comment which states Mark Paul Gosselaar a.k.a. Zack Morris, the main character on Saved by the Bell, as the mastermind behind the music. This was super funny considering the names of the composers were on the same page. The reviewer, Wretched Jonah(scroll down to the 4th comment), mentioned that these songs are a representation of a “departure from the song structure….” they lead to a “more ethereal, minimalistic approach to sound.” This was hilarious, and I encourage you to read his full review.

The composers of the theme were Rich Eames, Scott Gale, Michael Damian (whose birth name was Weir), and Jonathan Wolff. What do these names mean? They are some of Hollywoods elite composers. Hit movies and tv shows, these are the names you would see on the credits and never think twice about them. For example, Michael Damian is responsible for the soundtrack to “Dream a Little Dream.” 3 out of 4 of these composers have been found to be the rightful heirs to “Saved by The Bell”, but there is no information that stating that Jonathan Wolff was actually involved in this theme song.

As for Scott Gale, he is recluse. I couldn’t find one picture of him.

So no luck for me, but I still have the image in my head of these guys playing this song and it’s freaking hilarious.

One last thing. I found this video on youtube. If you play the theme song backwards, it’s another one of those “satanic message” songs.

Here is a video of The Get Up Kids playing their classic “I’ll Catch You” that concluded their reunion set.

What other blogs are saying:

• Back to Rockville
• Switchblade Comb
• grahamregarding.com
• AbsolutePunk.net
• Seanreid
• Tommy Digital
• World Moves Fast

Tour Dates

How’d you end up playing in Neanderthal with Matt Domino from Infest?

We had played shows together and just knew each other. You have to remember that at that time there was a very small group of people involved in that kind of music. The night Pissed Happy Children and Infest played Gilman Street in San Francisco to record the split flexi-disc for Slap a Ham Records, there were nine people in the room.

Is it true that you guys actually coined the term “powerviolence”?

Matt did. We were practicing one day and talking about how we had to give what we were doing an identity and Matt came up with it on the spot. He was really good at that: great, quick, perfect ideas.

You can check out the rest of the interview here.

Other blog posts about Man is the Bastard:

• Mad Decent
• Zen and the Art of Face Punching
• Flying Teapot
• Grind Your Mind
• The Fader
• Kick to Kill
• Sick Music for Sick Minds
• Seeing Red
• The Dust Bowl
• Pull the Deathcore

Feral Kid Records: I had toyed with thoughts of starting up a label for a good amount of time before the first release became a reality. I’ve been steadily touring in and with bands since i was 17 years old. The amount of bands you see traveling this extensively is kind of mind-boggling, many of them are quite forgettable, but every now and then I would see a band and just wish I could do something to make others notice them. When my band-mate at the time (who runs Punks Before Profits records) called me up mentioning the idea of putting out a Skate Korpse discography LP I jumped at the chance to hop on board. This band had it all! Having been a supporter of the band since their start and being good friends with all 3 of them it just made so much sense for me to be a part of it. After I put out that first record it became a bit of an addiction. The next thing I knew it became all I thought about and I had almost 10 releases under my belt within my first year of existence.

Rapid Transit: What do you look for when deciding what records to put out?

Feral Kid: It’s quite difficult to describe what it is that I look for in a band. As can be seen from my labels output I’m pretty all over the spectrum within the all encompassing “PUNK” genre. I’ve released records from pop-punk to 80s-style hardcore to grindcore to ambient instrumental to who the hell knows what else. A lot of labels in this day and age seem to focus on just one specific sub-genre of music, which to me doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. I am equally into so many different forms of hardcore/punk. If the passion is there, then I’m into it.

Rapid Transit: Would you ever consider releasing something by a band that does not fall under the punk/hardcore umbrella?

Feral Kid: Some would argue that i already have. As stated before I am into a bunch of different genres of music, though hardcore punk is what I am most passionate about. I guess time will tell what potential releases fall into my lap.

Rapid Transit: All of your releases thus far have only been on vinyl. Why do you think vinyl is still a strong medium in the age of iTunes and mp3’s?

Feral Kid: Actually, FK10 was a cassette-tape release of a short-lived female-fronted pop-punk band that I played bass in called Stupid Routines. Everything else though has been on vinyl. I do think that mp3’s are a very useful tool. I’ve discovered a ton of weird/obscure bands though blogspot downloads and soulseek that I would otherwise have had no idea of their existence. It’s all in how things are used. If people are downloading mp3’s of a record that they could easily walk to their local record store and pick up, or downloading the record of a band they just went to see rather than buying it from them, then that can be a problem. I think that although that does happen quite a bit, people who are really into music very much enjoy having an actual physical copy of the things that they care about. There’s just nothing like having the vinyl release of an album exactly as the band/label intended for it to be.

I was at a rather strange show just the other day and there was a DJ listed on the bill. The DJ did not have a single slab of vinyl behind the table with them. It was them with their Apple Macbook plugged into the venues PA clicking on songs from their iTunes. I was extremely taken aback that this is the point we have reached. It just didn’t make any sense to me and it furthered my disdain for the digital age. Like I said, I use mp3’s and download a ton of music, but I don’t pretend that is at all an acceptable replacement for buying records from and supporting bands/labels/local shops.

Rapid Transit: Do you have any plans to release something on CD or any other format besides vinyl?

Feral Kid: I personally hate CDs as a musical format. To me they just seem like clutter, they don’t feel real. With the vinyl resurgence and mp3’s becoming so insanely popular i think CDs are going to start being forgotten and become a thing of the past.  The only plans that I have to release a CD is something of a special case. Myself and Earth Vehicle Records are joining forces to release a 7″ by an old San Jose band called Death Trap. They recorded 4 studio tracks but have a ton of live stuff that they want to exist. We’re still deciding exactly what route to take with it but it seems that it will be a 7″ of the studio tracks with a CD included with all the live stuff on it.

Rapid Transit: With the declining state of the U.S. economy, record stores and labels are folding left and right. Have you noticed a decrease in record sales in recent months? Are you taking any precautions to ensure Feral Kid Records won’t face the same financial problems that labels such as Sound Idea have faced?

Feral Kid: First off, I want to say that Sound Idea has been an amazing stop in my travels since I went on my first tour. Bob Suren is a die-hard individual that ran quite the tight ship and I was absolutely floored when I heard he was having to shut down. That shop and his label (Burrito Records) will surely be missed.
I haven’t directly noticed much of a decrease in record sales recently. I’m not really sure just how much the recession that the country is supposedly in will affect small labels such as myself. The way I run things is that whatever funds comes in to the label stay with it and go out with the next release. These funds are not always enough to cover the full release but thats where my personal funds take over. I think not trying to be fully self-sufficient as a label will keep me going for quite some time. At least as long as I keep being privy to the caliber of bands that I’ve been lucky enough to work with thus far.

Rapid Transit: What releases do you have planned for the future?

Feral Kid: I’ve got a lot of ideas in the works. The next few are pretty much solidified but most of them are in the planning stages.
Upcoming Feral Kid Records releases are as follows;
FK13 - Plates EP
FK14 - Able Danger “…Wing It!” EP
FK15 - Insubordinates “1968″ EP
FK16 - Death Trap “No Hicks” EP

Other things in the talking stages include the new Verbal Abuse 7″, an I Object 7″ single, a new In Disgust LP, a Bleach Boys discography LP, a Bad Taste 7″, and another 7″ from both Rational Animals and Brown Sugar. I’m also toying with the idea of doing a series of releases where I would put out recordings by western new york bands that are now defunct. This may or may not be limited to Buffalo but I’ve got a few pretty cool bands that I listen to SO often and would love people to be able to appreciate them as I do. Some of these would potentially be discography collections or even a few bands that recorded demos or comp tracks that just never saw the light of day. I could continue for way too long on things that are upcoming as the future of Feral Kid, but most of them after all of that is just a jumbled mess within my head.

Rapid Transit: I’ve always hoped someone would release records of some of the amazing Buffalo bands that never got a proper release like Towpath, Exposure to Ignorance, and Assinine. Are you in talk with anyone or you have any specific bands in mind?

Feral Kid: It seems like it could be a damn good idea. As I said, it’s mostly all just in my head right now but I am sitting here talking to the Goatloard himself about the Towpath triple-6″ release. Ha. No, there’s been very little contact with bands about this idea as of yet, my first responsibility is to the active bands I’ve already committed myself to releases for.

Rapid Transit: Any last comments/thoughts?

Feral Kid: First off, thanks very much for caring enough about what I’m doing to want to hear about my label.  Secondly, shameless plugs;
Check out www.feralkidrecords.com for more info on any of the already existing releases as well as upcoming info as it transpires. There you can listen to songs from most releases, check out cover art and all the ordering details are contained as well.

If you like the look of my releases, a number of them are screen-printed at the shop I co-run. Check out www.pedalprinting.com for examples of our work and rough breakdowns of prices.

VISIT IF YOU MAKE IT

Breasts is not a band that will make it big. They are not the type to make it to Billboards top ten in the college market. They will probably sell the albums they have made to the minor contingency of people who don’t relate with the trend flood that seems so unavoidable. This is an album made by musicians that like to make music to listen to themselves. They are not creating an image or trying to get on MTV.

It’s a recording full of long psyche lingering. It’s repetitive and well recorded. It’s not something that you would bring to a dance party. It’s not hype. It’s the kind of music you would find backing an obscure sci-fi, possibly a thriller.

They are band filled with imagery. They have a great amount of photos on their Flickr page showing a studio filled with guitar treasure, amplifier gold, and beautiful Frankenstein drum sets.

This is a band that appreciates those records you can find at junk stores with World War girl chorus’ and the forgotten jazz ensembles. It’s relaxing, nothing to shock you, but you may be impressed by their ability to create something so chill and obscure.

Breasts have no intention of pushing this music on you in hopes of you getting it. If you find it and it works for you than you’ve found yourself a solid album.

Along with the album’s release they have made a music video that says all and nothing about Breasts. You decide. The video is directed by band member Troy Kooper.

Quadroon Video

Official Websites:
The Sound of Breasts - Breasts official website
Breasts myspace page
Breasts Flickr page

Label:
The Static Cult

What others are saying:
Review at Adequacy.net by David Smith
Review at Aversion.com by Mark Morrison