The Brian Jonestown Massacre "The Future Is Your Past" 2023****

I recently saw The Brian Jonestown massacre at 013 Pop podium, in Tilburg. Coincidentally, this was only three months after seeing their old frenemies (as presented in the famous Dig! documentary), Dandy Warhols. Since the two concerts weren't so far apart, the similarities and differences between  the two bands became more pronounced: musically, both bands seem to derive inspiration from the psychedelic 60s. The DW include more funk and electronic elements while The BJM have a more classicist approach. Both bands veer into experimental psychedelia, but not too far. Both have catchy songs, but only one found success, and the reason is probably their stage presence: The DW have a very energetic live act, while BJM singer/bandleader Anton Newcomb just stood on the side of the stage, facing the band rather than the audience, barely bothering to interact with anyone. Who was front and center, at the position of the frontman? the maracas player - no kidding, the band has a full-time maracas player! (OK, he occasionally also plays the tambourine). Not to mention 3 guitarists, including Anton himself. At some point, the keyboard player also took up a guitar, which brought us to a total of 46 strings: three 12-string guitars, a 6-string, and a bass playing onstage. A new record among concerts I have witnessed; the previous one belonged to Joanna Newsom and her band: Joanna Newsom plays the harp, which is a 34-string instrument, yet she comes second in this weird contest. In the end, Anton had a few angry words with his guitarist, and left without playing an encore. "Classic Anton" was the remark of the girl standing next to me. Now I know why he he needs so many guitarists in the touring band - they must quit on him all the time! 

Anyway, from the abundance of goodies at the merchandise stand (everything except vinyl, which they had run out of) I chose two CDs at random: this (because it was their latest) and an older one, because it contained the biggest amount of songs. It sounds about how I expected it to: as always, quality songwriting with nods to 60's garage and psychedelia, especially The Velvet Underground but also The Yardbirds, Stones, Doors, and early Pink Floyd. Also many similarities to the indie/shoegaze scene, but probably weren't influenced by them as they are contemporaries - The BJM have been around for 35 years now! The Future Is Your Past is their 20th LP; it was written along with its predecessor during the COVID-19 lockdown. Supposedly this ended a period of writers' block for him. Writers' block? the guy had released one album per year in the six years that preceded the pandemic! Anyway, during the pandemic Newcomb locked himself in the studio and came out with two virtually finished albums. Fire Doesn’t Grow on Trees was released first, and got slightly superior reviews, but the songs on The Future Is Your Past are no leftovers. Indeed it is a consistently good and varied collection, which makes me think that there's probably much more where it came from, left behind on the cutting room floor. Opener "Do Rainbows Have Ends" is a catchy melodic song with jangly guitars sporting a somewhat drawling vocal. This is followed by "Nothing Can Stop the Sound" another mid-tempo song with swirling Doors-y organ. I love the consistent and emphatic repetition of the title, which also makes for a great slogan. My girlfriend said it reminded her of Joy Division, which I wouldn't have thought of myself, but yes; the keyboards and vocal are similar - of course Joy Division were also massively influenced by The Velvet Underground and The Doors. "The Light Is About to Change" is a boogie with a heavy groove, while "Fudge"s dreamy intro gives way to hazy shoegaze psychedelia. These are followed by a bunch of slower, more experimental, tunes: "Cross Eyed Gods" (atmospheric, almost gothic) and "As the Carousel Swings" (strongly reminiscent of VU, of the John Cale period). "The Mother of All Fuckers" is a bit more drony/noisy, while "All the Feels" sounds like a Syd Barrett tune. The album picks up speed with a short and fast garage rocker ("Your Mind Is My Cafe"), and closes with "Stuck to Yous", a plaintive ballad slowly gathering steam to bring the album to a turbulent finale. I haven't listened to BJM's full discography, but this may be one of their best, and certainly most accessible, albums. The band included two songs from it in their setlist in the Tilburg concert, so these are the ones I chose as sample videos for this post. Enjoy!

**** for Do Rainbows Have Ends, Nothing Can Stop the Sound, Fudge, As the Carousel Swings, Your Mind Is My Cafe, Stuck to Yous

*** for The Light Is About to Change, Cross Eyed Gods, The Mother of All Fuckers, All the Feels

The Black Angels "Clear Lake Forest" 2014***

Yesterday I was at The Paard van Troje in The Hague, and had a great time at the double bill concert of The Black Angels and Dandy Warhols (plus a short support slot by Miranda Lee Richards). It was a great pairing, as evidenced by the warm reception The Black Angels got by The Dandys' crowd and vice versa, as well as by the two groups' camaraderie and their coexistence onstage during the finale. As for the Black Angels' live performance, it would be fair to say that The Angels are not natural showmen. They reminded me of those 90's shoegaze bands, both with their stage presence and soundwise - albeit with a sixties psychedelic flavor.

The first listen of this record took me by surprise: the opening song wasn't so much reminscent of 60's garage and psychedelia, but rather of the gothic blues of Gun Club. The next track was even slower, like Jim Morrison on barbiturates fronting a similarly medicated Black Sabbath. Then, halfway through, the song graduated from bluesy sludge to Saucerful of Secrets-era Pink Floyd played at the wrong speed - at which point, it dawned on me: Indeed, had been listening to the record at wrong speed. Not only that, I was quite enjoying it, too. So I switched to 45RPM and went at it again: "An Occurrence at 4507 South Third Street" retains that folky element, but the most attention-grabbing element is its frantic organ. "The Executioner" starts off a bit like the middle section of live Doors songs, when the musicians play a vague psychedelic thing as background while the singer lazily adlibs some improvised lyric; then goes into that early Pink Floyd vibe. "Linda's Gone" closes this short EP with some Velvet Underground-inspired drone music. Back on Side 1 proper, "Sunday Evening" is mid-tempo 60's psychedelia with a bright pop chorus, probably influenced by thοse other infamous Austinites, The 13th Floor Elevators. "Tired Eyes" is a catchy fuzzfest more similar to 90's shoegaze, and "Diamond Eyes" another woozy psychedelic tune wrapped in distorted guitars. Closing Side 1, "The Flop" is a frantic piece of garage rock revival with groovy organ a la ? And The Mysterians. By submerging everything in guitar distortion, the band manage to create an atmospheric album, but on the other hand they risk sounding monotonous. Here, its short duration (well under 30 minutes) works to its favor: they employ just enough style variation, hooks, and tempo changes to avoid repetition, but that may not have been possible if the record dragged on. In my opinion, Clear Lake Forest is a good representation of The Black Angels' talents. Nevertheless, it's probably telling that they didn't play a single track from this EP during last night's concert; apparently the band themselves consider it a minor work. On the plus side, it's a gorgeous piece of clear vinyl, with typical for The Black Angels psychedelic design.

**** for Sunday Evening, Tired Eyes, The Flop, An Occurrence at 4507 South Third Street

*** for Diamond Eyes, The Executioner, Linda's Gone

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club "B.R.M.C." 2001****

B.R.M.C., now on their 7th release, never quite managed to repeat the success of this debut of theirs. By which success I don't just mean sales (we all know how actual physical sales have dwindled during the last couple of decades) but reviews and radio play. For those of you too young to remember, radio was something we had before YouTube and Spotify. People called radio DJ's would play records and cd's in a studio, and the sound would be transmitted in the form of electromagnetic waves on the air to be caught by devices called radio receivers or tuners. No digital conversion to little 0's and 1's, no subscription and no internet necessary. But if you missed the broadcast at the moment it happened, there was no way you could listen to it at your own leisure. Crazy times!

Well those rock radio DJ's went crazy for B.R.M.C. for a while. How could they not? They were the epitome of cool: named after a bikers gang in a young Marlon Brando movie, dressed in black leather, making a noisy racket but never appearing to break a sweat. Except probably in "Whatever Happened To My Rock'N'Roll (Punk Song)", which is a supercharged Stooges-inspired hymn to the pioneers of punk rock. Most of the rest is simultaneously noisy and drowned in feedback, but curiously laid-back. The music press of the time painted these Californians as staunch anglophiles, highlighting the obvious similarities with Jesus And Mary Chain, as well as name-checking other Brit rock groups: Ride, Stone Roses, Spiritualized etc. Curiously not so much the other obvious reference, Irish shoegaze paragons My Bloody Valentine. It's possible that these were BRMC's direct influences (after all, the original trio did contain a Brit expat) but the basis of their music is, as with all good rock'n'roll, American: Iggy & The Stooges, Velvet Underground, and Suicide. In the opener "Love Burns", a melody and infectious chorus emerge slowly from a swamp of feedback, "Red Eyes And Tears" is a mid-tempo piece with a monotonous riff, "Awake" a hypnotic ballad, and "White Palms" a groovy rocker while the album's hit "Spread Your Love" is a contrasting mix: a repetitive riff out of 70's boogie rock and a cocky vocal a la Primal Scream, all drowned in muddily produced indie sludge. "As Sure As The Sun", "Rifles", "Too Real" are droney psychedelia and closer "Salvation" a kind of drugged-out gospel reminiscent of Spiritualized's Ladies And Gentlemen... Never less than cool, this album is one of those rare cases where you can believe the hype.

***** for Love Burns, Whatever Happened to My Rock 'n' Roll (Punk Song), Spread Your Love

**** for Red Eyes and Tears, Awake, White Palms

*** for As Sure as the Sun, Rifles, Too Real, Head Up High, Salvation

Toyen "Malír Smutnej" 1993***

I bought this CD on a whim, just because it was cheap and I liked the cover. I was familiar with Czechoslovakian 60's Beat music but this one was my first contact with the modern Czech indie scene - if such a scene even exists. It's difficult to tell, as there's little relevant information out there. One might blame the Czech language: even speaking it seems like an arduous task to non-natives, imagine trying to sing in it. But one listen to Toyen disproves this theory: their songs are easy on the ear, lyrical and melodic. In fact this album sounds a lot like early U2 - in an alternative world where English hasn't dominated popular culture, Toyen might also be international superstars. As it is, a googlesearch brings up mostly entries on the painter whose name they adopted. Which is just as well, otherwise I may never have heard of her/him: born Marie Čermínova, she/he adopted the name Toyen (from the French "citoyen") and often switched gender identities (usually preferring the male one). She/he was one of the founders and main representatives of the Czech surrealist movement since the 20's, leaned politically towards anarchism,  and saw her/his art championed by André Breton and other surrealist leaders. It's a story well worth reading and her/his paintings are equally worth of attention, so I'm glad this CD led me to the discovery of Toyen the painter. Back to the same-named band, they started as a punk group with the name Letadlo during the Communist era but kept getting marginalized by the government and eventually quit, only to reform with another name after the regime change. They got some international attention thanks to fan Scott Murphy from ABC-TV, but quickly quit any ambitions for an international career - as is evident in this, their second, album being exclusively sung in the Czech language whereas their debut was divided between Czech and English. Opener "Po Stopách Zmizelých Železnic" immediately catches the ear, a radio friendly tune reminiscent of REM circa "Green". It's followed by the lyrical new wave "Ten Druhý" inviting comparisons with early U2 and melodic ballad "Srdcerváč". "Myji Si Ruce" is guitar-driven rock  while "Fotky"'s indie pop carries echoes of The Smiths. "Byl Tu Chvíli" and "Příběh Lásky" are closer to 80's Goth (the former reminded me of Mission) and "Sv. Jan" is another epic U2 soundalike with a "heroic" guitar solo. The last two tracks are a couple of dance mixes that made me drop one star in the rating. They'd be OK as a standalone single (especially "Bestie") but tucked at the end of an atmospheric new wave album, they ruin the mood with their attempt to imitate the British rave scene of the time. That mis-step aside, this CD is another potent reminder that great music continues to grow away from the Anglocentric pop mainstream - if we only open up our ears to it...

**** for Po Stopách Zmizelých Železnic, Ten Druhý, Srdcerváč, Fotky, Byl Tu Chvíli

*** for Myji Si Ruce, Příběh Lásky, Sv. Jan, Bestie (Dancing Groovie Mix)

** for Železnice (N.Y.C. Summer Mix)

The Vaselines "Enter the Vaselines" 1987-89(orig) 2009(comp)****

The Vaselines were a band formed by real-life couple Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee in Glasgow, Scotland. In their short lifespan (1987-89) they released one album and a couple of singles of idiosyncratic indie-pop, taking their cue from The Velvet Underground, fellow Scots The Pastels and shoegazers like My Bloody Valentine and the Jesus And Mary Chain. Their music was characterized by charming pop compositions, innocent-sounding boy-girl vocals with humorous and sexual lyrics, distorted guitars and hazy lo-fi production. Although superior to most of their peers they would have vanished in obscurity had they not had a famous fan: Nirvana's Kurt Cobain kept singing their praises in his interviews and has covered no less than 3 of their compositions (amazing when you think that their entire oeuvre consists of about 20 songs): "Molly's Lips" and "Son of a Gun" are available as part of the odds-and-sods collection "Incesticide" and "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" is one of the highlights of Nirvana's immortal "MTV Unplugged". The Vaseline's version is lighter and less dramatic, but still the highlight of this album, basically a simple acoustic ballad transformed by the addition of a stunning melody played by a viola. Thanks to Cobain's support, The Vaselines' entire output was re-released in 1992, while in 2009 "Enter The Vaselines" gathered all the previously released studio cuts and added a few demos and live recordings. It starts off with their debut single: "Son of a Gun" is a garage-y song with urgent male and sweet female vocals, "Rory Rides Me Raw" folk with naughty sexual lyrics and "You Think You're a Man" a disco cover of the Divine song (yes, John Water's freaky overweight transvestite protagonist), complete with orgasmic moans. Tracks from the 2nd single include the aforementioned "...Sunbeam" and "Molly's Lips" (the latter sounds like a Velvet Underground song with Moe Tucker on lead vocals and features something that sounds like a bicycle horn). The two other songs ("Dying for It" and "Teenage Superstars") are much rockier and betray a certain Sonic Youth fascination. By this time, The Vaselines had already become a proper group with the addition of a bassist and drummer. "Dum Dum" from the same-named album is a garage rocker a la Stooges, just like "Sex Sux (Amen)" and "Monsterpussy". "Slushy" is like a Nancy & Lee duet with a noisy wall of sound background and "Bitch" a 60's pop song drowned in distortion. The rest of the albums moves along the same lines: Influences from the Byrds,Velvet Underground, Suicide, Jesus & Mary Chain abound in an album that mixes equal amounts of pop and noise. The second CD adds a bunch of demos and live songs. The unreleased "Red Poppy" and Gary Glitter cover "I Didn't Know I Loved You ('Til I Saw You Rock 'N' Roll)" are among the best of them, while the progress from the DIY amateurism of the older demos to the professionalism of the second gig (Live In London) is evident. The dissolution of the pair's romantic relationship brought the group to a premature end but they've recently reformed and even made a new album. As is evident from the video attached here, the band hasn't lost much of its vitality in the last 20 years (unlike with Eugene's hair). 

**** for Son of a Gun, You Think You're a Man, Molly's Lips, Teenage Superstars, Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam, Bitch, Dum-Dum

*** for Dying for It, Sex Sux (Amen), Slushy, Monsterpussy, No Hope, Oliver Twisted, Dying for It (The Blues), Let's Get Ugly, Red Poppy (Live in Bristol), Dying For It (Live in London), Molly's Lips (Live in London), The Day I Was a Horse (Live in London), Sex Sux (Amen) (Live in London), I Didn't Know I Loved You ('Til I Saw You Rock 'N' Roll) (Live in London)

** for Rory Rides Me Raw, The Day I Was a Horse, Hairy, Lovecraft, Son of a Gun(Demo) , Rosary Job(Demo), Red Poppy(Demo),Son of a Gun(Live in Bristol), Rosary Job(Live in Bristol), Rory Rides Me Raw(Live in Bristol), You Think You're a Man(Live in Bristol), Monsterpussy(Live in London),Let's Get Ugly(Live in London), The Day I Was a Horse (Again)(Live in London), Teenage Superstars(Live in London)