Little Miss Chocolate Syrup

Howdy, again. Did everyone have a chance to celebrate Pride weekend this past...umm...weekend? Hope so. It was a blast here in Chicago, despite the heat.

Does the image above look like I stole it from Spread the Good Word? Well, not intentional, but call it a tribute to one of the best damn sites out there. Good Reverend, we are listening, sir.

And, real quick, thanks to all the well wishers who commented on my last post. Shucks, ya'll too kind to irritable little ole me.

Speaking of irritable.

Bought the new Dirtbombs singles collection, If You Don't Already Have a Look, a couple of weeks ago. It's taken me some time to really get through, as it's two discs of good good goodness. If any of you are unfamiliar with the Dirtbombs, it's possible you may know mainman Mick Collins from the legendary (and future Hall o' Famers) Gories, Blacktop, or as one of the prime movers, shakers, and fakirs on Andre Williams' (yes, him again) Silky. Despite other projects, and an apparent reluctance to be pinned down, The Dirtbombs seem to be a regular thing for him, for the time being.

Now, it's what The Dirtbombs sound like that causes a bit of confusion. To these ears, they're the perfect "garage" band, whatever that is. Dirty guitars distorted to hell and back, tribalsloppy drumming, shitty=warts recording technique, maybe an organ thrown in, and a vocal snotty and soulful. Garage, to me, always had it's roots in as much soul/r&b, as it had in the blues and rawk. Now, to be fair, there's quite a few overproduced little bands nowadays that call themselves (or are called by popular, taste-making ragazines) garage, that seem to miss the point, whatever the point may be. Which begs the question, what's in a label? I don't know, frankly. I know that Mr. Collins, in the liner notes to the new collection, seems to quite despise the "garage" label. He doesn't go so far as to give us a clue as to what type of music he plays, though. Which goes back to the "what's in a label" question a couple of sentences ago. Is rock just rock? Then blues is just Blues (not Country Blues, Chicago Blues, Mississippi Blues, etc.), jazz is just Jazz (Chick Corea is the same as Charlie Parker), country is just Country (Garth Brooks makes the same sound as The Carter Family), etc. Maybe Collins, rightly, doesn't want to be associated with corporate marginalizing. I can understand that. I wouldn't want to be associated with whatever the White Stripes are doing these days. And Spin, either.

Pause for breath.

So. I don't know how to compartmentalize The Dirtbombs. And that's probably a good thing. As soon as someone comes up with a tagline, it's going to get co-opted and watered down. Its definitely Rock. Soul, too. Maybe some R&B. Punk? Sure. Blues? You betcha. I'm pretty sure it's not Jazz. No on the Rap front too. Country? Nah, not really. Boy band? Well, there's boys in the band....so, I guess they're a Boy Band (plus ladies). A Boy Band that sounds like they were influenced by the Seeds, The Standells, Love, The Sonics, the Remains....bands that, erm....were Boy Bands (plus a lady or two), too! Alright!

Needless to say, I love The Dirtbombs! They're fab!(how was that for a fanzine sounding recommendation?).

Please enjoy the not-at-all-garage-sounding tones of America's greatest Boy Band(with the occasional female), The Dirtbombs!

The Dirtbombs: Little Miss Chocolate Syrup (mp3)

The Dirtbombs: Candyass (mp3)

And check out their cover of The Rolling Stones, with a built-in non-electronic "mash":

The Dirtbombs: No Expectations (mp3)

All of the above tunes can be found on The Dirtbombs double-disc release, "If You Don't Already Have a Look". It costs the same as a single disc by whoever's on the cover of Rolling Stone, but it has more songs. The songs are probably better too. Your local independent record store would be happy to sell it to you, and they'd probably be able to recommend similar artists, too. Artists they've actually listened to. Just sayin'.

If you disagree with any of the above, let me know. I can take it.