MUGGSY'S ROCK PICK: Parquet Courts @ High Noon Saloon

SATURDAY, JUNE 22
Parquet Courts, Cowboy Winter, Dharma Dogs @ High Noon Saloon, 701 E. Washington, Madison, WI

Parquet Courts breath new life into the genre of rock and roll music. Not just indie rock or college rock or nerd rock, but slacker, pre-hardcore spunk rock, not to mention retro post-punk and stoner wave. Everyone wins on this court!

Read Joey Germ's review of Light Up Gold.

Pop Skoole, Inc.: TORONTO ELECTRO DUB HOP TRIO, ABSTRACT RANDOM, TO ...

Pop Skoole, Inc.: TORONTO ELECTRO DUB HOP TRIO, ABSTRACT RANDOM, TO ...: From the Desks of WiFi PR Group, Los Angeles, CA Abstract Random is ready to take their multicultural, multimedia show back to Europe ...

BOOK REVIEW: Maps to the Other Side

MAPS TO THE OTHER SIDE
Sascha Altman DuBrul [microcosm]

Sascha Altman DuBrul is a writer, wanderer, punk, farmer, squatter, musician, activist and the founder of The Icarus Project — the radical mental health network that seeks to redefine the public's preception of mental illness. Sascha is himself bipolar. Instead of viewing his condition as an affliction or disease, Altman views it as a “dangerous gift,” something that can be used as a tool to create.

Maps to the Other Side is a collection of Sascha's writings over the years. Whether this was evident to him at the time or not, Sascha now recognizes these stories as guideposts in a lifelong journey. Some of these writings appeared in zines, like Slug and Lettuce and The Secret Lives of White People, some are from the column “Bipolar World” that he wrote for the San Francisco Bay Guardian, and some are simply pieces Sascha wrote for himself.

The book is subtitled "The Adventures of a Bipolar Cartographer." In his understanding of how is own brain works, Sascha sees his mind as a map that requires navigation and time to figure out. This makes Sascha a mental mapmaker. Like most people living with bipolarism, Sascha veers off course from time to time. This is alarming and alienating to those around him when it happens and this book seeks to help people understand the unpredictable nature of mental disorders. Part memoir, part travel diary, part "how-to," Maps to the Other Side should be all parts inspirational to those charting the same course, informative to those who are not and enlightening to all—Chris Auman

SONG OF THE DAY: The Memories, "En Espanol"

VIDEO: Bronze Radio, "Further On"

Bronze Radio Return

From the Desks of Stunt Stunt Company:

 Bronze Radio Return Announce New Full-Length Studio Album Up, On & Over – Out June 25^th

 

NEW YORK, NY – Hartford, CT’s own Bronze Radio Return is thrilled to announce their brand new full-length studio album Up, On & Over, due out on June 25^th, 2013.  For the new album, the sextet headed down to White Star Sound studios in Louisa, Virginia where they worked with producer Chad Copelin (Ivan & Alyosha, Ben Rector) and tapped 7-time Grammy© Award Winning F. Reid Shippen (Cage The Elephant, Deathcab for Cutie, Mat Kearney) to mix.  The result is a polished collection of Bronze Radio Return’s signature sing-alongable, hand-clappable brand of country-tinged folk-pop.

Fans can already hear the first single from Up, On & Over, “Further On,” thanks to the PGA Tour who picked the track for their national TV ad campaign.  The spot has been so successful since starting to air earlier this year that  it has made “Further On” the band’s best-selling single to date. On the heels of the ad and the single’s success, “Further On” will impact AAA radio on June 3^rd via a partnership with DigSin. In addition, Up, On & Over marks the band’s first full-length release since 2011’s breakthrough album Shake! Shake! Shake! – which debuted at #4 on Billboard’s Northeast Regional Heatseekers Chart.  The songs on Shake! Shake! Shake! went on to be synced more than 50 times, with each track on the record being synced at least once.  The album’s title track, “Shake, Shake, Shake,” garnered over 10 syncs of its own, including a worldwide Nissan Leaf ad, an American Idol placement, and more.  Furthermore, the song made waves at AAA radio after being the #2 most added last November, and NPR’s “All Songs Considered” highlighted Bronze Radio Return ahead of this year’s SXSW, dubbing the band “…this year’s fun.,” and earmarked them as one of 20 acts not to miss in Austin.

Bronze Radio Return has spent a majority of time since the release of Shake! Shake! Shake! touring nationally.  To celebrate the release of Up, On & Over, the band will headline a special record release show on June 27^th at New York City’s Bowery Ballroom.  Keep your eyes peeled for additional summer appearances, and see below for a full list of confirmed dates.

Visit www.bronzeradioreturn.com now for an exclusive album per-order, including a limited edition vinyl pressing of the album. 

May    16^th, King’s, Raleigh, NC
           17^th CutBait Music Festival, Columbus, GA
           18^th Draft on Taft Festival, Atlanta, GA
Jun      8^th  Kekoka Music Festival, Kilmarnock, VA
           13^th Three Rivers Arts Fest, Pittsburgh, PA

           22^nd Cupola Music Festival, Stowe, VT

           27^th Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY
           28^th  The Hamilton, Washington, DC

           29^th   Rams Head On Stage, Annapolis, MD
           30^th  World Café Live Downstairs, Philadelphia, PA         
Jul        3^rd  Inside Out Gallery, Traverse City, MI
            4^th  Founders Brewing Company, Grand Rapids, MI
            5^th  Summerfest, Milwaukee, WI
            6^th   Space, Evanston, IL
            18^th  Firebird, St. Louis, MO
            19^th  Czar Bar, Kansas City, MO
            20^th  Center of the Universe Festival, Tulsa, OK

                23^rd  High Watt, Nashville, TN
            26-27^th  FloydFest at Blue Cow Pavilion, Floyd, VA
Sept.   21-22^nd   Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion, Bristol, VA

VIDEO: Blues Control, "Open Air"

ON TOUR: Blues Control, Europe

From the Desks of Drag City:

BLUES CONTROL RELEASE NEW VID AND HEAD TO EUROPE THIS SUMMER

 

Blues Control released Valley Tangents nearly a year ago, during the summer of our end-of-times, 2012. Luckily for all, the end-of-times proved to be a new age of enlightenment more than anything, with Blues Control at the forefront, extending the meadows of their Valley Tangents with no signs of straying into slate, porous rock, ocean or mountain. Valley Tangents provide lush and lively excursions for all who graze on its grasses, and recent torrential downpours yield a fresh new organism on which to feast - the official music video for 'Tangents tune, "Open Air." Directed by Tara Sinn (who also directed "Love's A Rondo"), the video creates a pastoral-like terrain, communicating the song's ambient qualities, which slowly builds aurally and visually with footage that becomes progressively more experimental as it approaches its denouement.

"Open Air" also celebrates the official Valley Tangents tour of Europe!  Make sure to catch them during this tour, which marks the first time they will set foot on the European continent for Valley Tangents.

 

6/7/13: Le Bourg- Lausanne, Switzerland
6/8/13: Kraspek- Myzik Lyon, France
6/9/13: Cave 12- Geneva, Switzerland
6/10/13: Miscelanea- Barcelona, Spain
6/12/13: La Limera- Valencia, Spain
6/13/13: El Perro Club- Madrid, Spain
6/14/13: Ibu Hots- Vitoria, Spain
6/15/13: Festival West Side- Nantes, France
6/16/13: Espace En Cours- Paris, France
6/17/13: Slowboy- Dusseldorf, Germany
6/19/13: Les Ateliers Claus- Brussels, Belgium
6/20/13: Occii- Amsterdam, Netherlands
6/22/13: Power Lunches- London, United Kingdom
6/23/13: All Tomorrow's Parties Festival- Camber Sands, United Kingdom w/ Laraaji
6/24/13: Echnum- Antwerp, Belgium
6/25/13: Oberdeck- Hanover, Germany
6/29/13: Drone Bar- Copenhagen, Denmark
6/30/13: Fusion Festival- Larz, Germany
7/2/13: The Circus- Helsinki, Finland
7/3/13: Sing Sang- Studio Malmö, Sweden
7/4/13: Festsaal Kreuzberg- Berlin, Germany
7/5/13: Urban Spree- Berlin, Germany

 

Blues Control Online

Order Valley Tangents

REGLAR WIGLAR 2OTH ANNIVERSARY 1993-2013

Some more B.S. from P.C. Jones in the form of a review (RW#2 1994) of a record that (along with GBV's Bee Thousand and Archers of Loaf's Icky Mettle), I would listen to many, many, many times in 1994.

GRIFTERS
One Sock Missing (Shangri-La, Inc)
I talked to a friend of mine the other day on the telephone, and he said if you see this Grifters CD, buy it! It was a pretty firm command. He also advised me to look for the Archers of Loaf as well, but I don't know, something about the name puts me off somehow. I think I would be a little embarrassed walking up to the cute girl at the checkout counter at Reckless Records and asking for the Archers of Loaf record, the same way that I would be more than a little embarrassed asking her if the new Poo Sticks record was in. Just can't do it. But anyway, I had a big wad of cash laid on me from Santa (or at least I think it was Santa. Some red nosed, fat dude with an even fatter wallet was puking in the alley behind the Metro on Xmas Eve so I figured, I'd been a good boy in '93, might as well see what old St. Nick had for the kid this year). Two hundred bucks in cash—I was a good boy, and as a result, among other things not entirely legal, I bought this CD. So, the review part: One Sock Missing, it's this band called Grifters, it's got fourteen songs on it and it's one second short of being 45 minutes long. Oh yeah, it's pretty cool as well. I think these guys are from Memphis proper or' round thereabouts. I really don't know. What I do kind of know is, this is their second full-length (the first one, by their very own admission wasn't that good) and they've had a handful of 7 inches since their inception as a three piece called, Band Called Bud, circa 1989. Most of these releases, by their own admission, weren't that good either, but what are you gonna do?

Stank, Tripp, Diamond Dave and Slim do manage to pull off a good record this time around and I really don't think they should be that down on themselves, unless of course they're just trying to keep their egos in check, which is cool, but false modesty doesn't always get the bills paid. "She Blows Static" and "Shark" are good tunes, as is the haunting "#1" and "Corolla Hoist" (a remake of an earlier single). Their tune "Tupelo Moan" sounds like what the Black Crows' Robinson Brothers might have done in high school. Not to say that this is an amateurish attempt to rip off the Black Crows very professional rip off of Muddy Waters and the like, on the contrary, what I meant by that comment was that this whole album was recorded off a four-track in some flower shop and mixed in some really cheap Memphis studio, that's all I meant. This disc is low-fi, man, but it's cool like an early Replacements record, kind of got a Sebadoh feel to it, you know? This shit ain't slick and it ain't produced but it's for real, baby. Kind of reminds me of my old band...

(What followed was one of the writer's suppressed desires to be a rock'n'roll star surfacing in the form of a comparison/anecdote/analogy of when he used to be in a band, a band that most likely sucked, but which he thought was way ahead of its time making them unappreciated, overlooked and frustrated, which forced him to break up the group and write records reviews. This whole mess has been deleted for your reading please-ED)

Those were the days. Thank you for letting me share my feelings and my memories–PC Jones

REGLAR WIGLAR 2OTH ANNIVERSARY 1993-2013

So, here is a review of Chaos A.D. by the Brazilian metal band, Sepultura (RW#2, 1994). The review is silly enough, of course, but for some reason "Malcolm Tent" also included a review of two made-up bands. This sort of thing was probably the reason nobody really liked or read the Reglar Wiglar when it showed up on the floors of record stores around Chicago in the early 90s. "Cyberpunk" was a thing for a minute back then, so I guess that might explain some of the 3Jane stuff, that and the fact that I had just read William Gibson's Neuromancer book. Who knows. Please, try to enjoy it.

SEPULTURA
Chaos A.D. (Roadrunner)
INSYNUATOR
Industrial Espionage (Metalli-Sized)
3JANE
The Sprawl (Virtual)
 

I got the shits, dude, so I ain't in the best of moods right now. Never mix Milwaukee's Best with PBR, man. It just ain't worth it. Two fine brews should be savored independently of each other. See, I knew that already but when I was at the liquor store apparently a couple of cases of MB got fucked up and busted and so did a case of Blue Ribbon so, George, the liquor store dude, who I don't think his real name is George because he's got this really fucked up accent and I just don't think they name people George where he comes from, but anyway, he like had this grab bag thing goin' where he just threw 12 cans of brew into a box and it cost $4.99 for whatever the hell was in the box (there was one can of Lite beer in there too, which I have no clue whatsoever on how that puppy got in thee, but the old lady was spendin' the night so I didn't even have to deal with it, that's chick beer). So, don't mix yer pilsners, man, or else you'll be writtin' your record reviews from the toilet like yours truly here. I don't know though, sometimes I think this is where I think best, right here on the John Crapper. What a name, imagine the odds of the man that invented the toilet was not only named John but John Crapper, that's fucked up.

Anyway, the review; I actually have several records to review. The first one is Chaos AD by those godhead, Sepultura, Chaos AD is a really good record. It's got some songs on it that are better than some of the others, for example "Territory" (cool video) is better than "Biotech is Godzilla" and "Slave New World" is cooler than "Propaganda", but all the songs are good and you should definitely buy this CD or the album or cassette, depending on what kind of stereo you own. If you ride out the CD there is some maniacal cackling recorded at the very tail end that will be sure to freak your neighbors' shit

Another record I would like to review is Insynuator, whom I believe will have an interview with Muggsy McMuphy running in this same issue, which is why I was asked to review their last record which actually came out three or four years ago. This is a good record. It has some really super awesome songs on it and some fairly good tunes as well. Some songs on this record, titled Industrial Espionage, that rock are songs like "We Who Rock Harder Than Others" and "War Zone 91." You should get this one too

A band called 3Jane, from somewhere in California have a debut record called the Sprawl. It's cool Cyberpunk, better than Billy Idol's new tunes. There's tunes on it called "Sally Shears," "Jack In" and "Ice Breaker," just to give you an idea of what this record is all about.

Wow, they ask for one record review, didn't think I could meet their deadline, and then I crank out three reviews, hah! 'Til later on kids. Bye–Malcolm Tent