The Biggest Badass

I would like to point everyones attention toward a very good friend and teacher of mine, Mario Cipollina. He is the former bassist of Huey Lewis and the News and has been in various other bands recently but is working on his solo bass album. Mario has been immersed in music all his life, with his mother refusing to let him play in one of his brothers, Johnny Cipollina (of Quicksilver Messenger Service) growing band. He recently finished his website, www.mariocipollina.com
His website includes some samples of his soon (hopefully) to be released solo album and also some videos. This post is titled The Biggest Badass because honestly, Mario is one big badass, sporting a leather suit, slicked back hair, shades, and a cigarette for every performance. If you don't believe me, just watch the video below.

Newspapers+ More at the Interstate/Brass Monkey + Winter Relocation

Last Saturday the Newspapers played at the Brass Monkey (or is it the Interstate?) along with a couple of other bands.

First off was Please Step Out of the Vehicle, a fun little poppish/almost ska-ish (without the horns etc) band that played fun pop songs to move your ass to. Their myspace says they're a psychedelic pop group, but the pop was way more apparent than the psychedelia. They had a strong political slant, which was refreshing to see in a small band like them.

Next up was Sukey Tawdry, a great synth-pop, riot grrl-esque band. I know its lame, but the fact that the guitarist + bassist were girls just made me think of girl bands to compare them to, so here we go! I felt a strong Stereolab vibe coming with the soft vocals and synths, but the strong rhythm section rose above Stereolab's straight-forward 1-2 beats. They had a great dynamic, building swelling soundscapes with the voice and synth, and then rocking out straight-ahead with the six string. They're playing a show at Backspace, where the Pony caught The Thermals & Yacht a few weeks ago, on January 17th. I would go see them, not only are they a great band but Backspace is a fun place to go, but I'm going to be out of town(more on that later). I recommend seeing these guys live, real firecrackers. Also, they are mighty fine girls.

Then Pony-faves The Newspapers took the stage, playing their usual amazing pop-punk-dance-funk-ass-fuck that got the crowd to moving. I was impressed by the fact there was a gaggle of high-school looking girls jumping and singing along with every single line of each song. Sorry, guys, I took pictures, but like an idiot(again), I left my camera in Portland with the memory card inside. Well, I guess there will be a post-Christmas present waiting for you readers at the end of January.

Although I didn't see Reporter, I heard they were flat out amazing, and now that I'm listening to their myspace page, I'm wishing I hadn't left. Goddamn bus leaving so early. They opened for The Thermals on tour earlier this year. Mark your calendars, they're playing January 21st at The Tube and the 31st at Holocene. I'll try and squeeze a full live review of them out of John, who was there.


Please Step Out of the Vehicle
Sukey Tawdry
The Newspapers
Reporter

ALSO:

Dear Portland, we will miss you. For the next month the Pony will be relocated to the beautiful Bay Area, which I can't say is better than the PDX but is amazing in its own way. We've got year-end lists comin' atcha, to pass the time, and a New-Years planner for any Yay-Area Pomegranates looking for something to do.

TT2: Muslces, The Avlanches, Diplo

Contrary to popular belief, Australia has some awesome music acts. Lets take the recent hit by the newly established electronic Muscles- Guns Babes and Lemonade. I really can't say enough about this album. It is sure to a) make you happy b) make you dance and there's nothing wrong with that. Another group hailing from Melbourne that has an incredible, and incredibly overlooked, debut record is The Avalanches. Since I Left You is comprised of thousands of record and movie samples. The album hit at the dawn of the willennium, but I think most need to take a step back and appreciate this fantastic pieces of work. Last up is the dj god Diplo. He has collaborated with artists, namely M.I.A., all across the globe and has a plethora of stunning mash-ups and dance sets. I'll possibly post some of his more lengthy efforts in the future, but in the mean time here are two superb mixes of the Black Lips and Peter Bjorn and John. I just broke my toe, so I can't dance, so dance for me please-Enjoy:

I need to escape~

Sometimes I really wish I could just live on my own in nature. I want to move out into the middle of a prairie or forest and be able to live on my own for an extended period of time. I feel there is so much I could learn from that experience-- maybe I will be able to experience that one of these summers. In the mean time, I wrote another poem yesterday -- actually I wrote seven, but this one I actually really like. I hope you enjoy it as well.

That day was beautiful
As the snow glided down from the clouds
Like a leaf meanders to the ground.

It built up until the clouds ran dry,
And a new coating replaced the cement and the grass.
Daydreaming into the olden days,
To an uninhabited region
Where everything is of nature
And everything can change your perspective,
Your mood,
Your soul.

And everything is all your need,
Because all you need is to remember.

Weihnachtsmann

I wrote a silly Christmas poem in German~

Die Kinder sind sehr gut
Weihnachtsmann besucht
Weihnachtsmann ist sehr hungrig
Und isst meinen Kekse
Mein Milch ist leer
Und Weihnachtsmann tret mich met den Schuhen ein
Ich bin Traurig
Und gibt Weihnachtsmann in einen Kafig.

***

The kids are very good
Santa visits
Santa is very hungry
And eats my cookies
My milk is empty
And Santa kicks me with his shoes
I am sad
And put Santa in a cage

EDIT
**Also: There is a show at the Co-op on Wednesday night (at 9 (or 9:30)) that you should attend! Yeah!

Tripple Threat- Annuals, Alaska in Winter, Sta

The Annuals have been lying around in the depths of my music library for some time. A friend finally spun some tracks for me the other day and I was damn impressed. The Annuals, hailing from North Carolina, dropped a new EP as a follow up to their Be He Me LP titled Big Zeus in the UK only. I was able to get my paws on a copy, which contains some solid songs.

If you’re a fan of Beirut’s style then you should be very pleased with the Alaska in Winter’s debut Dance Party in the Balkans. Zach Condon of Beirut lends his skills to Alaska’s rep. with horns and ukulele. This overlooked cd has been out for quite a while, and yes, Pitchfork just so happened to recently review the record a couple of days back. Anyways, the cd is a hit among my circle of friends so with no further ado here are some of the highlight tracks.

On the frontier of party music madness remixer Sta is making a big splash on the dance floor. The Toronto based dj cuts up pop and dance hits with chopped vocals and fiery base/synth that are each a treat to hear. You can also check them out at http://www.myspace.com/stafree. Here are three of my favorites if you’re in the mood to get down.

Silhouette

I found a silhouette cut out of my Grandmother in a photo album after her funeral this past weekend. This is my best attempt of recreating it with a really neat background. (although the silhouette is on a transparency in this pic)

Just a new logo I made, should be a T soon once I redraw it. I've also recently realized how popular Pomegranates are becoming, which is pretty darn cool.

"Don't break off a piece of my kit-kat heart" - - KLC Show

I'm beginning to fall in love with Portland. Last night was the big KLC Show, with a fat line-up of 5 LC bands. First off was Laps I Swim, a noise-folk duo (or rather, trio?) consisting of a drummer/percussionist, singer/percussionist, and a karaoke machine with pre-taped guitar/keys. With the bare-bones set up of a few drums, a few glockenspiels, a tambourine and various liquor bottles to hit, these guys had to work pretty hard to keep it interesting -- and they did. Their myspace says they're a blend of Jaymee Martin (upon further investigation I found nothing about Jaymee Martin--is this the singer?), Microphones and Pavement, which sounds like an excellent mix to me. Their shambling liquor-bottle gamelan orchestra proved to be more than a gimmick, and something I recommend seeing if you have the chance.

After a blue-grass-ish trio that I didnt catch much of, Cream-of-Wheatasaurus Rex (nee Bloom) came on, the recently-birthed project of Pomegranate friends Owen, Wyatt and Ben. With two guitars, drums and no bassist, they simply turned the distortion up real loud, creating a wall of sound with layered melodies and impressive texture. And then they played "Pizza Day, Fuck Yeah!". Hopefully they'll take this project past its infancy into something full-borne, I'd pay to see them.

The last band I saw, Booze Howl was something special. Before the show, I had heard rumblings of the name around campus, but nothing really substantial, and nothing hinting on what I was about to see. When they took the stage (space? there wasn't really a stage, just an area where the band played) they let the guitars feedback, filling the room with a single ominous tone, only an inkling of what was next. Then, the lights went out, and they proceeded to gouge the room with the most piercing noise of any live band I have ever seen. It was majestic, pure unabashed fucking sound, consuming the body and working its way past your ears into your head. On stage they had guitars in their hands and they were projecting their voices, but these weren't the sounds that we were hearing. They twisted and fucked their six-strings through an array of pedals, making sounds you couldn't imagine and wouldn't want to. The sound was violent, cathartic, and the best part was, they got the crowd moving. They truly were howling into the microphones, translating their physical energy into noise. It was amazing to see such an atonal, harsh, ugly sound move the people in the audience so much.

After further inquiry, I couldn't find any recordings of actual Booze Howl online, but there is Ghosts & Mysteries on myspace, the side project of the second, noisier guitarist. He creates poppish psychedelia more reminiscent of 60's bands warped through effects pedals, barely hinting at the spectacle that was Booze Howl.

Although the guitarist for Booze Howl said if I didn't stay for Snake Plissken, I'd die, but I could only hear one song and I'm just fine right now. Owen stayed for more and he ended up bleeding from the head, if that's any indication of how good they were.

Here's songs from Ghosts and Laps, if you guys are too lazy to go over to their myspaces and check them out.




Laps I Swim

Ghosts & Mysteries

p.s. Sorry for the lack of pictures, like a dumbshit I brought my camera but not the memory card.

hardly art/hardly garbage -- Thermals and YACHT at Backspace

The Thermals and YACHT played a free show at Backspace last night. With effort and courage I forced my way into the previously-at-capacity show and proceeded to see one of the better shows of my time. I didn't get in time to see all of YACHT, but Jonas Bechtolt had a bumping set while I was in there. He had some odd multimedia set-up with a projector that he controlled with a little Apple remote control.
While I've never really dug the Blow, Jonas on his own knows how to play. His cut-up and reworked hand-drums and guitars work well in the live setting, although he didn't do much more than just play over recorded versions of the songs.
After YACHT left, a dance-freak-out started on the stage, and the crowd didn't even notice the Thermals had taken the stage until Hutch asked kids nicely to get off. What followed was a rush of power-chords and one-two drum beats, their raw power translating perfectly from the record. Without a second guitarist, some of the solos proved a little thin, but their breakneck momentum made up for it. There was little time between songs, and the songs were short and plenty -- they often only played half a song to maintain their speed and squeeze as many hooks into their time.

Shouting along about a future fascist-Christian America gone wrong was never so fun.