Chicken Grease

Ok.  Insane Holiday/Xmas/Whatever posts start tomorrow!  Daily posts from now 'til the end of the year!!  The very best of non-traditional Xmas music, designed to stir the soul and loins.  Followed by our world famous Best Of List.  The War on Christmas (tm) starts in less than 24 hours.  Can you handle the excitement????

But first,  let's take a few minutes to revel in the glory that is the new record, II,  from Mountain fave, Chicken Diamond!

Haulin' devil-boogie junk in an Ed Roth jalopy,straight outta France, this is a record that burns, deep hellfire blues and gasoline vapor trail.  Chicken Diamond, his very unrighteous self, kicking voodoo sleaze across a dirty horizon,  howling and gnashing for your soul, blurred bluespunk, one man prophet, the pedal goes down and it's straight to the cliff of damnation, jeering the whole way.

The record kicks off with two stoned fuzzed ravers, "Disappear" and "Gold Rush", where Diamond peels off layers of skull, deep amphetamine revved up geetar fuckery, the smashed gravel vocal and primordial rhythm busting transistor tubes, hallelujah!  "Rock 'n' Roll People" starts of with a blood curdling scream and proceeds to fuck yr innards to jelly, and we dare you to defy it!

What's most interesting is when Diamond slows the pace, the distorted yowl still there, but taking on an even nastier menace, like the man who has been in your bedroom, watching you sleep.  Tracks like "Highway", "Get Town", and, most particularly, "The Gone" are haunted, visceral lamentations, in the most biblical sense, a fatalistic sense of menace and dread filling closed, almost claustrophobic spaces, daring you to enter a chamber of bad dreams and regrets that tug at darkest thoughts.

To that end, "The Gone" is the most chilling track, with Chicken Diamond intoning, over and over, permutations of "Thrill is gone/its gone away from me/Girl you done me wrong/you'll be sorry someday".  This isn't a lament, it's a promise, and over a hypnotic, distorted, guitar line, with the sparest of thumping rhythm behind it, Diamond proceeds to shred the very nature of evil, and the roles we all play within.

Damn, it's a good record.

It's called II.  It's by Chicken Diamond.  It's put out by Beast Records (on cd (ick) and VINYL!).  You'll be challenged to hear a better record all year!


Chicken Diamond: Country Song (mp3)

Xmas tunes start tomorrow!  Come on back for a visit!

I Thought Turkeys Could Fly

Well, this year's been sort of a bust, hasn't it (posting-wise, at least)?

We'll try to make it up with the world famous Holiday posting coming up soon (to those not in the know...daily posting starting shortly after Thanksgiving...with tons of non-traditional xmas songs, followed by our "keen" insights (ahem) on the best rekkids of the year)! Got a few more artists we want to cover before then, so cross yr fingers that we can fit 'em all in before the Holiday Madness.

Some special Thanksgiving tunes down below, but first, a public service announcement...

One of the things we're most thankful for in life is Norton Records, keepers of the flame, label extraordinaire, rock'n'roll oasis.  One of the most essential labels out there (just look at their mind-boggling catalog), and one of our favorites (you'll see a few of their rekkids in our best-of list). Hell, Esquerita is on their home-page.  And Hurricane Sandy hit 'em, and hit 'em hard, with their Brooklyn warehouse suffering extensive damage, and a massive loss to their entire catalog.  Efforts are underway to recover what they can, but they need our help.  They are asking for donations to help preserve the massive level of rock'n'roll goodness that they have spent so much time and money preserving. 

If anyone has a few dollars to spare, to help preserve a national institution, please consider donating.  To sweeten the pot, I will make a personal mp3 mix for anyone who can donate whatever they can.  Just let us know you donated, what type of mix you want, and we'll get to work!

So, then, a few Thanksgiving tunes, though not very respectful, to help y'all through the most aggravating of Holidays.  Sometimes there really is too much of a "family" thing.  Cynical?  Who us? 

See y'all really soon!

William Burroughs: A Thanksgiving Prayer (mp3)

Loudon Wainwright III: Thanksgiving (mp3)

Mary Gauthier: Thanksgiving (mp3)

Fuck it, just donate to Norton Records, already!

Waiting For Nothing

Got to see the mighty River City Tanlines about a month ago, and it was a hell of a show.  So, let's talk about 'em, shall we?

Born from the ashes of, well, a hell of a lot of bands, it's interesting to note that lead singer/guitarist Alicja Trout has played with Lost Sounds (Jay Reatard's band, of course), Limes, Harlan T. Bobo, and Jack Oblivian (amongst many others), so her cred's already solid, for those who care about such things.

Stepping out on her own, Ms. Trout and her cronies have forged a killer new rekkid,  Coast to Coast (on fave rave label Big Legal Mess).  It's a corker, a round-house rawk 'n' roll slab. Backed by Terrence Bishop and John Bonds, Trout cranks out nervy Runaways meets AC/DC geetar sludge and sunshine vocals, sweetened with vinegar and honey pot buzz. Girl band candy melody (like short and spiky "Can You Handle This Heart")  collide with car-crash hot rod buzzsaw speed for demons rhythms and Flying V histrionics.  "Can't Stand You Anymore" is a 50's ode to the ultimate kiss-off, complete with hand-claps and raging pissed-off Ronettes-style go-go power.

In an alternative universe the tracks "Pretty Please" and "Stop My Heart"  would both reside at the top of the charts, all motorcycle rubber burned love and hate, high-school bad girl who kicks more ass than you could ever hope to do!  


River City Tanlines: Pretty Please (mp3)

Keep on Rawkin' in the free world!

Brokedown Everywhere

Hey everybody!  What's goin' on?

If y'all got a free weekend on September 22nd, come on out to Cleveland, Ohio for another iteration of the Deep Blues Festival (20 bucks...obscenely cheap!)!  One night (a Saturday), 9 bands, including headliner Bob Log III, Robert Belfour, Molly Gene, Ten Foot Polecats, The Scissormen, the mighty Husky Burnette, and more killer bands!  You can fly or train(our choice, naturally) it in on Saturday, head home on Sunday, no work lost, and a party all day and night!  We'll be there, of course.  So should you!

In that that tradition, let's talk about the new record from Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band, "Between the Ditches"!


Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band is, in actuality, not a big band in terms of personage.  It's 3 folks, Reverend Peyton his very self (and his awesome beard), Washboard Breezy Peyton, and Aaron "Cuz" Persinger.  A family affair? But Rev. Peyton himself...he's a big damn man, in terms of stature and talent, and the record is a party from start to finish.

Get yr grill a'goin', throw on some corn cob goodness, some greasy BBQ, line up yr guests and get ready to boogie yr ass southern fried. Summer's fading, and this record's gonna take y'all to the promised land, fading sunsets and moon-howled grind! 

You've got some serious slide geetar meet washboard rhythm (yes, "Breezy" indeed kicks out some killer washboard god-head), slinging a hollerin' hootenanny, with Rev. Peyton testifyin' over the top,  nasty and groovin' like hay bales alive, the dirty boards thumping and under-stompin', thwack a doodle on rhythm drumming, tribal and do-si-do...

That sometimes the band takes a break from sweat-inducing backyard rave-up, and allows for either slow, coleslaw-thick close-dancin', or well-traveled sense of place that demands a raised glass, only adds to the very nature of the vision of the record.  It's a travelin' record, primed for diesel and rooted to the very earth we walk.

Shake, sugaree, indeed!

Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band: Brokedown Everywhere (mp3)

Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band: Shut The Screen (mp3)

Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band: Clap Your Hands (mp3)



 Please keep buying independent artists! 

You Can't Make Me Doubt

Hey, now!  We're back!  No excuses.  Let's just start postin'!

Got a special treat for y'all today.  A mighty artist recently exhumed by the essential Mississippi Records.

To be fair, we know nothing about Boyd Rivers, other than the info given to us via the liner notes.  So, pardon us, but we're gonna briefly quote:

"Boyd Rivers was born on December 25th, 1934, in Madison County, Mississippi.  He was brought up in the Church by his Mother and was influenced by regional musicians such as Clyde Maxwell and others, as well as his uncle, the Gospel Legend, Reverend Cleophus Robinson.

"Rivers started out on two nails and a wire on wall, and played Blues guitar as early as 13, but changed to Spirituals around the age of 19.

"Axel Kustner and Siegfried Christmann recorded Rivers later in the same year for the L&R Records series "Living Country Blues" and he appears on "Living Country Blues Vol. 11". A chapter was also dedicated to Rivers in Alan Young's book, "Woke Up This Morning", published in 1997 by the University Press of Mississippi. "

It's a gospel-blues record, full of holy sanctified trance'n'testifyin', Rivers' guitar playing the deep mystery, Mississippi raw, rough and elegiac, a transcendent drone born in fire and mile-deep waters, never still but roiling on stranger guided by voices undercurrent.

Rivers' voice has all the yearning and rumble of a prophet, from darkened door to neon-lit houses of ill-repute to the cobwebbed corners of the shining mansion on the hill, when the choir has gone home, and he's left to sweep the ashes of sin shed and glory and grace floating like motes in the sun-dappled beams of light.  Like Papa Lightfoot, edged with a growl and fabled into myth, a shrouded prophet, with an eye toward hypnotic, hallelujah geetar glory, a mumbled swaybacked picked and wobbled ecclesiastical sex'n'sin'n' salvation wagon ride.  

Anyone interested in the very primal nature of American music should seek this record out.  It's a revival meeting hollerin' in a  jukejoint!

Boyd Rivers: That Fire Shed In My Bones (mp3)

Boyd Rivers: I Done Died One Time (mp3)


Nothin' to say here....just keep supportin' folks who are keepin' the flame against the darkness of generic crap!

Lowdown Monkey Blues

Let's quit monkeying around!

Gettin' our shit together, but just so all y'all know we haven't forgotten about ya (though you may have forgotten about us)!

Today, it's another in our world famous series of "Greatest Song Ever Written (at least for today)". 

Nuthin' much to say about this one, other than it's Tom Waits and The Replacements, two of 'Merica's greatest treasures.  From a bootleg of the  the session that gave us "Date To Church", which we assume y'all have heard by now.  Man, to have been a fly on the wall for this span of recording...


Tom Waits and Paul Westerberg tradin' verses?...heaven!


Tom Waits and The Replacements: Lowdown Monkey Blues (mp3)


There's a bit of a kerfuffle at the end of the track...it's a bootleg, whaddya want?  Support yr local whatever, man!

Soon All This Will Be Gone

Well, hi there!  Where y'all been?

Special treat for y'all today.

Big news is that the Deep Blues Festival is returning to it's roots, taking place this summer at Bayport BBQ (owned and operated by Deep Blues Fest honcho, Chris Johnson) June 29th through July 1st!  Gonna be 27-28 bands including James Leg, Left Lane Cruiser, Reverend Deadeye, Molly Gene One Whoaman Band, Brian Olive (of the Dan Auerbach-produced Dr. John record), Possessed By Paul James, The Speaking Tongues, Danny Kroha (of The Gories and Demolition Doll Rods!!!!!!), and a host of others we're pretty keen on!  Y'all really want to make the trek, cuz, besides the fact that I'll be there, it's FREE BBQ for the entire weekend.  That just about pays for yr ticket right there.  We've got our tix already, and hope to see ya there.  No bitching about lame-ass fests like Pitchfork, Lollalapaovercrowded, or Cokesnortin'-cacchella, when y'all could be gettin' sweaty and kicking it jukejoint-style at Deep Blues Fest, where punk and blues have a two-headed fork-tongued baby, and call it rawk'n'roll, baby!

Oh, and there's another band playin' the Fest (in their 'Merican debut)....see below.

We've been howling in the wind and pouring rain for awhile now about Toronto's very own catl.  And they've got some great things in the works, including a new rekkid, "Soon All This Will Be Gone" (out tomorrow,April 14th) and a foray into the U.S. for some shows (Deep Blues Fest 2012 at Bayport BBQ, and if I do my job right, a Chicago date). You may also remember that we named their last rekkid, "With the Lord For Cowards..." the best record of the year a couple of years back.  So we aint messing around when it comes to this band.

The first thing you notice about catl's new rekkid, "Soon All This Will Be Gone" is that they've gotten louder and nastier... no generic "maturity" for this band, by which we mean they haven't gotten fancy, tedious, or embraced a mainstream attempt at gentrified blandness. No, quite the opposite.  This is a band, and a record, that wants you to fuck, drink, and get got-damn lowdown.

The next thing you notice is how brilliantly Sarah K ( Percussion, Organ, Vocals & Shakin' Around) is worked into the proceedings, moving from yelps, call and response, and occasional tambourine and keys on previous records that were more 2-man band-focused, and now moved to the forefront, taking lead vocals on several songs with her wildcat whoop carrying us further up and further into the promised land, and her organ and rhythmic shimmy infuse the entire record.

The rekkid starts off with a field recording-sounding joint, a quick burst of country blues courtesy of Furry Lewis, and ends with a similarly recorded take on "Goodnight Irene", drenched in church lady organ.   Both are brief snippets, and suggest a backwoods, muddy sound.  They're foolin' ya.  The second song, "Gold Tooth Shine" kicks y'all outta the shack and into the burning fields.  And it ramps up from there.

Tracks "Gotta Thing For You" (featuring Sarah K. on lead vocals), "Cinderblocks", "5 Miles", and "Get Outta My Car" (a Hasil Adkins cover, if y'all need a killer signifier) are blown-out tire, voodoo-kissed, burn the white-trash porch down ravers, all organ-drenched, harmonica blistered, geetar-fucked, rhythmic groovers, hollerin' and scuzzed, bleeding sweat and kerosene, white lightning and mad dog cocktail. Main man catl his very own self rakes the unholy coals of hell with his mud-stained voice a prophet. 

"Talk Too Much Blues"  is a kudzu blistered hillbilly stomper, "He'll Make a Way" is a slow burning call and response duet  full of, dare we say, hope, a late night country blues built on god and song, salvation and belief.  A stunner that demands a slow drunken waltz with yr loved one. 

The record, "Soon All This Will Be Gone" is a trashy glory of of an album, full of strange back road ramble, bruised, bloody, and anglin' for a fight.  Nasty, filthy gutter blues, ready to move yr ass and shoot you busted and broken into the night. 

"Soon All This Will Be Gone" goes on sale tomorrow, April 14th.  You owe it to yrself to get a copy.  Just follow the linky link above!


catl: Gold Tooth Shine (mp3)

Please support yr local, independent hollering mad men!

Moonshine and Mud

Hey now!  Exciting news!  There's a new Ten Foot Polecats record on the horizon (late spring/early summer), and we've got a sneak peak!

We've covered the band several times over the years, and we make no apologies.  An unholy holler of mud encrusted Howlin' Wolf  revival punkblues godhead, featuring some of the nastiest shards of dirty geetar crashing the levee's and destroying everything in it's path.

The following tune is a tribute to the seminal Muddy Roots Festival.  Damn, Sam, but this makes us wish we had been there!

More on all this later, but for now, enjoy! (yeah, it's a stream, but we'll have plenty of mp3 stuff coming up, so relax...all will be well, and the song kicks ass!)

Blue When it Rains

Hey, what's new?

Our computer died, so we lost all our playlists.  Sadness!  But...all music was saved on an external hard drive, and we got a shiny new machine, so we only have 145 days of saved music to troll through (not counting all the vinyl and new stuff) and re-catalouge/ re-visit!  Good times, and who knows what hidden treasures we've forgotten that'll get a new listening, so there's that!

Working on a big post, and we've got some other stuff in the pipeline, but here's a little something to hold y'all off!

Another tune in our series of "Best songs ever written (at least for today)", wherein we just post a song with little or no exposition, and allow said tune to stand by itelf!

Today, it's a nifty little N'Awlins holler from Blind James Campbell!  A glorious and joyful shouter, perfect for killing the blues, wipin' the tears from yr eyes, and sending y'all shimmying down the street!  But don't take our word for it...listen for yrselves!  Our favorite song of all time, at least for today!



Blind James Campbell: I Am So Blue When It Rains (mp3)


Please support yr local, independent street musician!

Desperate Hopefuls

Enough time off recovering from our December blowout and Best Of lists...let's kick the New Year off proper, with the first in our series of Killer Records that we we'd never heard before until a pal shared it with us, and we can't stop playing it because it kick our ass all over the schoolyard!  (yeah, not sure how long this series will last under its current name).

Today's superstar is Brijitte West and the Desperate Hopefuls! 

Straight outta New York (and England?), a mix of The Sweet, the New York Dolls, Wanda Jackson, Lucinda Williams, The Runaways, Nico, The Donnas, and, oh, let's say Kitty Wells. 

Dirty, dirty candy-smeared gum-poppin' snarl geetar, with honey-dripped wasted alley vocals tossed off like Phil Spector girl-groop on amphetamines, loud and punk rawk in the sunshine blinking out between tall buildings, with the night coming on, and bad thoughts and bad deeds awaiting. Filthy and glammed up, with a touch of honky tonk, even referencing "Fox on the Run" on the tune "Bleeding Heart", it's a record that demands the volume at 11, blasting  from yr speakers and hopping up yr Camaro on the streets of yr town.

This record is a must-have for all Big Rock Candy Mountain visitors...have we ever steered you wrong?  You can hear more tunes here.  And you can buy the record here.  Do yrself a favor...grab the rekkid and rock the sleazy night away!

Brijitte West and the Desperate Hopefuls: Hard To Believe (mp3) 

As always, keep on rawkin' in the free world...support yr local independent before Newt or Mitt take it away from you!