MEDICATION: A BUDDYHEAD BLOG

Darker My Love - "Helium Heels"

Darker My Love are sitting atop of my "best new bands from Los Angeles" list. These four dudes just finished their new record and wow, it's really fucking good! I hear some of The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Velvet Underground, Spacemen 3  and even a bit of The Stooges in these jams. But don't get me wrong, these cats got their own sound going on and it's loaded with shakers, tambourines, loud fuzzy guitars and droning vocals... all the necessary rock shit. This song "Helium Heels" is my favorite number, I especially like the breakdown with the solo in the middle. For some reason that part makes me feel all warm inside. Go see this band live and tell em Buddyhead sent you:
Sep 2nd 8:00P The Echo w/ Dead Meadow Los Angeles, CA
Sep 9th 8:00P Slims San Francisco, CA
Sep 15th 8:00P Bill's Bar w/ The Lot Six Boston, MA
Sep 16th 8:00P The Delancey NYC, NY

(Download - "Helium Heels")

Nightingale - "Last Leaf"

This is my new favorite band from Denver Colorado. Actually off the top of my head they are the only band I like that's from Denver Colorado. These guys make music with lots of fuzz, reverb and echo that sounds something along the lines of The Verve, Spacemen 3, Black Sabbath & Pink Floyd. I haven't seen them live yet but I really dig this six song EP. Steve Deluca told me that they make their own pedals, I guess they made some for Dead Meadow or something. I'd bet money these guys smoke tons of weed too. Check out their website here and download this song of their "Last Leaf" EP to dig on.

(Download - "Ezra's Ghost")

Tom Petty + Thunderclap Newman - "Something In The Air"

I went and saw The Black Crowes and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers play live this past weekend with my friend Sam Velde, who is hands down the biggest Black Crowes fan I know. It was a great show. There's just something about big concerts, maybe it's the whole act of having to stand in the middle of a few thousand stoned and drunk southern Californian rock n’ roll fans. Even if the bands suck, the people-watching is usually entertaining enough. The guy standing behind us kept shouting out "PETTYMEISTER!" at the top of his lungs. Plus we kept getting passed these funny smelling cigarettes. The bands were good too... I'm a pretty big Tom Petty fan, I even own his weird 80's records, but after seeing The Black Crowes it kinda seemed like old Tom was going through the motions a bit. Don't get me wrong, he was still good but after seeing Chris Robinson and company shake n' boogie for about an hour, Tom just seemed a little slow and robotic. He even repeated some stage banter he used on their last live dvd, which is always a bummer. But the bottom line is, no matter how loafy Tom gets, his tunes are always undeniably great. Sure he's a fake Dylan... but then again he was in a band with Zimmerman (The Traveling Wilburys) and no matter what he's still an amazing songwriter. In honor of last weekends concert and the good time had by us, here is "Something in The Air" for your downloading pleasure.  This was one of my favorite late-era Tom Petty songs.  That is until I realized that it’s actually cover of a Thunderclap Newmanoff song off of their lone album called "Hollywood Dream" (which Pete Townshend of The Who produced). Here's both versions of this song. Tom Petty's version can only be found on his "Greatest Hits" cd (same with "Mary Jane's Last Dance"), which is a great place to start is you don't own any albums by this old man. If you've already got that bad boy I recommend these three records: "Damn the Torpedoes", "Hard Promises" & "Into The Great Wide Open". I think I'm gonna check out The Crowes again in two weeks at the Long Beach Blues Festival with Sam and Mr. Joe "Popcorn" Burns.

(Thunderclap Newman - "Something In The Air")

(Tom Petty - "Something In The Air")

Claw Hammer - "Pablum"

The long, hot summer of 1993 was like any other in L.A. The only difference being the apparition of Claw Hammer's "Pablum", their fourth album and the first for Epitaph Records. Renowned for their intense live shows at dives like Al's Bar, Jon Wahl (possessor of one of the most unique vocal styles in rock) and his gang of henchmen ran roughshod over Angelenos for years. I always felt that their most appreciative audiences would be in Europe, but they never made it over - drag. "Pablum" is chock full of Claw Hammer's patented brand of twisted heavyrock/blues dementia. 'William Tell' recounts the story of Billy Burroughs failed attempt to shoot an apple off of the top of his wife's head. All this while Chris Bagarozzi's guitar spits fire all over the place. Very chewy stuff. Currently, Jon Wahl leads the Amadans; Bob Lee continues to pound the skins for local power trio Backbiter; Rob Walther is pursuing an equestrian future in the great expanses of Boise, ID; and Chris Bagarozzi is raising kittens while listening to Om's "Variations on a Theme".

(Download "Pablum On My Mind")

(Download "William Tell")

Adolescents - "Adolescents"

I love this first Adolescents record! Young, snotty, pissed, bratty, aggressive, and full of teenage angst! I mean, what's not to like? It's so Orange County/Los Angeles in the early 1980's that there's no way this record could have been made anywhere else or at any other moment in time. Yet these songs still sound relevant today... "L.A. Girl" and "Creatures" are the two jams I like the most. You can't really beat lyrics like... "I'm not accepted by my peers - so what! I could care less about the queers - they're fucked!" This record is hitsville! It makes me wanna start flipping the bird way more. If you dig on this record, also pick up their "The Complete Demos 1980-1986". Oh and get this... the dude who plays guitar on this, Rikk Agnew, went on to play on Christian Death's - "Only Theatre of Pain". Now I'm gonna go down the street and stuff my face with some killer fish tacos. Southern California rules!   

(Download - "L.A. Girl")

(Download - "Creatures")

Paul Simon - "The Paul Simon Songbook"

Ok, DON'T GET SCARED. It's ok to be down with Simon & Garfunkel... I promise. If you haven't already, go pick up the box set containing all of their studio albums. Essential stuff. ART GARFUNKEL SINGS LIKE A FUCKIN BIRD AND PAUL SIMON WRITES KILLER SONGS AND SHREDS THE FUCK OUT WITH HIS FINGERS! FUCK YOU AND YOUR SHOEGAZER, BRIT-POP, AND ART ROCK RECORDS. So if yer not familiar with the Simon & Garfunkel story, the dudes made their first record "Wednesday Morning, 3 AM" which is standard white-washed whiteboy folk typical of the era... even contained the pre-requisite Dylan cover (there are a few gems on that baby though, "He Was My Brother", "Sparrow" and the original version of "Sounds of Silence"). So the record tanks, Paul Simon quits the group and moves to London to pursue music as a solo folky, and rubs shoulders with Donovan, writes a ton of new music and performs it regularly, including a show with the earliest incarnation of Pink Floyd (Paul Simon playing his folky stuff, and The Floyd with Syd Barrett in full on freakout psychedelia mode, what a killer show!) He then makes a solo record of his own titled "The Paul Simon Songbook", and simultaneously, back home in the States, "Sounds of Silence" is given a rock facelift by being overdubbed with a full band and becomes a big hit. Paul comes home, and with the record label wanting another Simon & Garfunkel album, and his own solo album never being released anywhere but the UK, Simon and Garfunkel re-record a good portion of Paul's solo record for the "Sounds Of Silence" album. These newer versions of Paul's songs are more produced and contain a lot more instrumentation compared to the stripped down, guitar and vocal approach of the original recordings. From there on, Simon & Garfunkel are a huge success, and make some of the best records of the 60's. Paul Simon continued to make great solo records ("Graceland" is a fave of mine) and even married Princess Leia. Dude was kicking ass at the game of life! Nevertheless, check out Paul's first solo stuff here. Most noteworthy here would be a superior version of "Kathy's Song" than the later re-recorded version, and "April Come She Will" which would be re-recorded with Art Garfunkel handling the vocal duties, leaving this version the only existing with Paul singing. Interesting. Also, check out the transformation "I Am A Rock" made from Paul's record to Simon & Garfunkel's.

Paul Simon - "Kathy's Song"

Paul Simon - "April Come She Will"

Paul Simon - "I Am A Rock"

Simon & Garfunkel - "I Am A Rock"

Jaco Pastorius - "Jaco Pastorius"

When I start to think about all of the tragic figures in music, it's not long before the image of Jaco Pastorius begins to float on the horizon. Best known for his stint in Weather Report, even in death, Jaco continues to be the bellwether for all of those who crave exploring the outer limits of an electric bass guitar. Growing up in Florida, Jaco was originally a drummer, and a damn good one at that. However, after breaking the wrist of his snare hand playing football, he switched to bass. His immediate grasp of the instrument was unheard of at the time. Within a matter of weeks, he was turning heads with his ability on the four string. Eventually, he would straight out proclaim himself as "the world's greatest bass player." CBS execs heard about this phenom from the Sunshine State and signed him. The result was Jaco's debut, simply entitled "Jaco Pastorius". Listen to Jaco himself talk about some of the tracks on this record ('The Real Deal'). Yes he's cocky but homesqueeze can back it up. Check out the funky-ass, rapid-fire finger attack on the chorus of 'Come On, Come Over' (featuring the vocals of Sam & Dave - the dudes who sang 'Soul Man'). Lastly, his complete mastery of bass harmonics is displayed on the beautiful track 'Portrait Of Tracy', a tune written for his old lady (headphones recommended). This shit made my hair stand up the first time I heard it. In his 20's and at the peak of his powers, the ugly signs of mental illness began to appear. Combined with all the booze and blow of the Weather Report days, Jaco's sickness sent him into a downward spiral. He would be seen wandering the streets of Manhattan, disheveled and homeless, carrying a copy of Weather Report's "8:30" under his arm. One 4th of July, he set up his amp in the middle of a NYC park and blasted out a completely undecipherable version of 'The Star Spangled Banner'. Friends tried desperately to help him out but he kept them away with his completely unpredictable behavior. The end finally came on September 21, 1987 at the Midnight Bottle Club in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. Jaco was allegedly out of his mind drunk and in a real belligerent mood. An altercation with a bouncer at the club left Jaco in front of the joint with a fractured skull and lying in a pool of his own blood. Dead at 35. We miss you bruddah.

(Download - "Come On, Come Over")

(Download - "The Real Deal")

(Download - "Portrait of Tracy")

Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young

I'm not gonna try to throw any curves or attempt to win any hipster brownie points by rattling off about some obscure out of print psychedelic record from the 60's... I was looking at some of the previous blog posts, and thought it was about time to mention some obvious killer shit that might have flown over some of the buddyhead reader's heads cos it was maybe considered "not cool" by the scene police. Case in point, CSNY... Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young. Yeah, you heard me. Yes, your dad probably smoked a doobie or two to this shit while sportin' some kind of earth-tone corduroy, and yes some of the material is borderline tree-hugger bullshit (most usually from Nash) but these gacked out long hairs could kick some serious jams and harmonize like no motherfucker's business. The importance of CSNY isn't just the band itself, but the extended CSNY family tree, and the associated previous bands and later offshoots. Let's start with the important and obvious crap you should already, and need to know... Stephen Stills and Neil Young were both in Buffalo Springfield, one of the greatest L.A. bands of all time. From them, we here have "Mr. Soul", with a very young Neil Young handling the vocal duties (one of his first attempts doing so) and Stephen Stills shredding the fuck out. A couple of the dudes from Buffalo Springfield besides Stills and Young later also went on to form Poco, who have some stuff worth checking out as well. Another great L.A. band from this era, was The Byrds. Enter David Crosby. These dudes played 12 string guitars, slayed mad ho's, and jacked off thinking about what Bob Dylan ate for breakfast. In hindsight, some of the better moments from their extensive catalogue are their Dylan covers. You can even find all of their Dylan covers now collected on the "Byrds Play Dylan" album. Shit goes off. My favorite is their interpretation of "My Back Pages" from Dylan's "Another Side of Bob Dylan" record. An important snapshot in this whole circle of musicians would be the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. There's an expanded version of the original movie out on dvd now that includes sets from Buffalo Springfield and The Byrds. Funny enough, David Crosby pulls double duty playing with both bands at this concert. With the endless in-fighting of Buffalo Springfield, Neil Young was constantly leaving the group for periods of time. The Monterey concert was during one of these periods, and David Crosby of all people was who replaced Neil at the show. The Byrds set is also noteworthy, because it is one of the last shows Crosby played with them before leaving the group. There is obvious tension between the band members onstage, and an awkwardness stemming from their change in musical direction towards a more "country-rock" style. David Crosby's replacement in The Byrds would be none other than Gram Parsons who has a slew of his own material obviously worth checking out. The Byrds album with Parsons on guitar, "Sweetheart Of the Rodeo" is a classic and deserves it's own blog post, but I'm getting sidetracked here. Anywhoo... Then there's Graham Nash who was in the Hollies whom I'm not a super big fan of, and wrote the frutier hippy dippy songs of the lot ("Our House", "Teach Your Children Well") so we'll skip him cos I've been going off on too many tangents already, and there's more interesting stuff to tackle. Sooo... the most exciting part about CSN becoming CSNY by their second record, was the edge Neil Young added to the group, as well as his solo repertoire being added to the band's live arsenal. The secret weapon of CSNY were the two dudes who weren't cool enough or something to get their own letters in the band name, the rhythm section, Dallas Taylor and Greg Reeves. This lineup performing Neil's songs was seriously bad ass. I just got this SICK bootleg in Japan of them doing "Down By the River" from Neil's second solo record live in 1970. On record, the tune was performed with Crazy Horse, who at that time were barely competent musicians. But with CSNY, the shit smokes. Reeves, an ex-Motown bassist, brings a kick ass low end groove to the whole thing that is undeniable. (The bootleg I got also includes footage of Stills high as shit, beating the shit out of some hippy for heckling him, and then sitting down and playing the softest, sweetest version of "4+20") For another example of CSNY properly handling a song from one of Neil's solo records, check out the version of "Southern Man" from Neil's "After The Goldrush" record that appears on CSNY's "Four Way Street" live album. The interplay between Stills and Young's guitar playing is shit hot. Unfortunately, CSNY only produced one legit album during their classic era together, and don't let the naysayers fuck with you, "Deja Vu" is a classic. "Carry On" has to have the sickest breakdown ever laid down on tape. The groove is DEEP homey. The band prematurely disintegrated due to excessive ego tripping and out of control drug consumption. Funny, somehow, I can relate. In the end, it seemed easier for Neil and the others to go their own way, and through the years they'd come back to each other here and there. There are numerous solo albums and collaborations from the 70's and 80's from all these guys worth checking out. I'm pretty sure Crosby, Stills, and Nash are touring together this winter. I'm just hoping I'll be around and can get tickets. I will jack a man off to get into that show.

(Buffalo Springfield - "Mr. Soul")

(The Byrds - "My Back Pages")

(CSNY - "Southern Man" live)

(CSNY - "Carry On")

Neil Young - "After The Gold Rush"

Neil Young is one of my favorite song writers.  Sure he sings kinda weird, but he can write some wicked killer songs.  His record called "After The Goldrush" is probably my favorite of his and it's title track is one of my favorite songs.  If you don't own any Neil, start with "After The Goldrush", "Zuma", "On The Beach" & "Harvest", and be very cautious of his 80's records unless you're really sure you wanna go there.  Aaron's going there right now I think.  Here's the studio version of "After The Gold Rush" and a live version off of the album "Live Rust" of it as well.  I can't help but laugh when Neil sings "there was a band playing in my head and I felt like getting high" and the whole crowd cheers.  I love big cheesey rock shows!  Too bad the good ones are very rare these days.

(Download - "After The Gold Rush")

(Download - "After The Gold Rush" Live)

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - "Ain't No Easy Way"

"Ain't No Easy Way" is the new single (that came out in the uk today) from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's new album "Howl".  This three song single comes with another song from the record called "Still Suspicion Holds You Tight" as well as a non album track "Grind My Bones", both are pretty decent.  I've never been a huge fan of BRMC. To me they were always that band that sounded a lot like Spiritualized but were never quite as good.  Call me pleasantly surprised because I'm digging on these new jams.  Not that their old shit was that bad, but it was never really that good either.  Click here to check out their new video for "Ain't No Easy Way", which is pretty cool.  But then again I'm almost always down for any video that has fire, half naked chicks and harmonicas in it.  With that combo you can't really go wrong.

(Download - "Ain't No Easy Way")

(Download - "Still Suspicion Holds You Tight")