Upcoming Shows: Walt Mink, Screaming Females + more!

Tonight!! Thursday, July 28

Walt Mink @ Bell House * Gowanus, Brooklyn * $12
Walt Mink were a band in the 90's who were good at making music but had bad luck with record labels so nobody has ever heard of them. It's kind of like Husker Du (who shared their alma mater) or Smashing Pumpkins or Archers of Loaf - basically, fast-paced 90's alternative/indie rock but towards the pop punk end of the spectrum. ::details::

Controlled Bleeding, David Grubbs, Ryan Sawyer (Stars Like Fleas)+C Spencer Yeh+Nate Wooley @ Death By Audio * Williamsburg, Brooklyn * $7
This is an amazing line-up of experimental musicians. David Grubbs was in Squirrel Bait, Gastr Del Sol and Red Krayola so he basically rules 80's and 90's experimental rock. Controlled Bleeding are perhaps a little more straightforwardly punky and the trio of Ryan Sawyer, C Spencer Yeh and Nate Wooley is an avant-garde supergroup. [controlled video] [grubbs video] [rs+csy+nw video] ::details::

Shilpa Ray (solo) @ Shea Stadium * Bushwick, Brooklyn
Shilpa Ray is one badass lady. She sings like a very drunk Janis Joplin and dances like an overly excited four year old and hates everyone but most of all, herself (or so her lyrics and stage banter would have you believe). [video] ::details::


Tomorrow!! Friday, July 29

Fucked Up, Cro-Mags, Screaming Females, Pissed Jeans @ House of Vans * Greenpoint, Brooklyn * Free with RSVP, currently at capacity!
How can I possibly explain how good this line-up is? Even major music festivals rarely boast four bands of this caliber. Fucked Up are a band of punk superheros who have reinvented the entire genre of hardcore. Cro-Mags are old school. Screaming Females may be the best rock and roll band on earth right now, with legendary guitar hero and screaming female Marissa Paternoster at the helm. Pissed Jeans are a vitrolic, self-destructive punk/noise band. Their frontman is one of the better, and more captivating, self-debasing performer (in the vein of Iggy Pop) to emerge in recent years. [fucked up video] [cro-video] [screaming video] [pissed video] ::details::

Other Shows
Black Lips @ Bowery Ballroom (sold out!) [deets]
Dez Cadena (Black Flag, Misfits) @ South Paw (West Memphis Three benefit!) [deets]
Eels @ Music Hall of Williamsburg ($30) [deets]


Saturday, July 30

Gang Gang Dance @ South Street Seaport * Financial District, Manhattan * Free!
Gang Gang Dance's experimental dub, pan-ethnic tribal trance music is amazing. Yeah, that description maybe sounds a little horrible, but they've got club dance smarts and mystique and their "world music" elements are genuine and tasteful and never about co-opting shit. [video] ::details::

Bells @ Bruar Falls * Williamsburg, Brooklyn * $10
Bells are a post-rock/math-rock sort of instrumental band who know how to be loud and aggressive but also sometimes ecstatic. They are ex-Jawbox and ex-Oxford Collapse and they are as good as that sort of family tree would have you believe. ::details::

Other Shows
Gary War @ Cake Shop ($8) [deets]
Ill Fits (mems Amazing Baby, MGMT), Sundelles @ Cameo Gallery ($10) [deets]
So So Glos @ Knitting Factory ($10) [deets]
Eels @ Music Hall of Williamsburg ($30) [deets]


Sunday, July 31

Jeff the Brotherhood @ Rockaway Beach * Rockaway, Queens * Free!
You gotta go to Rockaway for this (the farthestest reaches of New York, out past JFK) but it's JEFF for FREE. Jeff are bringing rock and roll back. [video] ::details::

Yvette, Liquor Store, Dinowalrus, So So Glos (DJ Set) @ Shea Stadium * Bushwick, Brooklyn
Yvette are a heavy band I heard some time ago, kind of experimental and screaming and lots of rhythm-led stuff, if I recall correctly. Liquor Store are a blue color punk/rock band who kind of look like they're on meth (but they play too well for that to be true, probably) and put on a goddamn show. They're most like the proto-punk garage rockers (e.g. MC5) but a little lighter on their feet. Dinowalrus play experimental, psychedelic, baggy rock that you can dance to. They will make you want to do drugs, but in a fun way. [yvideo] [liquor video] [dinovideo] ::details::


Tuesday, August 2

Sugarhill Gang @ Tappan Park * Staten Island * Free!
Even Sugarhill Gang are not worth the trek to Staten Island. Sugarhill Gang are rap's first real breakthrough act, one of the first rap acts to be put on vinyl and receive proper, national distribution. They stole a bunch of shit from legit MCs and got credit because no one else had recorded it yet. But for all they're plagiarizing wannabes, you can't deny their importance in the history of contemporary pop. ::details::

Other Shows
Ettes, Heavy Cream @ Mercury Lounge ($10) [deets]
Sufjan Stevens @ Prospect Park (sold out!) [deets]
Death Cab for Cutie, Frightened Rabbit @ Williamsburg Waterfront (sold out!) [deets]
C Spencer Yeh @ The Stone [deets]


Wednesday, August 3

Big Audio Dynamite (Mick Jones of the Clash), HR (Bad Brains), Andy Rourke (The Smiths) (DJ set) @ Brooklyn Bowl * Williamsburg, Brooklyn * Sold out!
It's the dude from the Clash, the dude from Bad Brains and the dude from the Smiths. If you don't know who those bands are, you are beyond my help. [bad video] [hr video] ::details::

Other Shows
Ettes, Heavy Cream @ Knitting Factory ($10) [deets]
Sufjan Stevens @ Prospect Park ($45) [deets]
Andrew W.K. @ Santos Party House ($13/$15) [deets]
Frightened Rabbit @ Music Hall of Williamsburg ($25) [deets]


The long view...

August
4
Pygmy Shrews, So So Glos @ Shea Stadium
Anni Rossi, Dinowalrus @ Bruar Falls ($7)

5
Vaz @ Death By Audio ($7)

6
Cold Cave @ Bowery Ballroom
Crystal Antlers @ Glasslands ($10)
Total Slacker, Darlings, Beets @ Shea Stadium

7
Mission of Burma @ South Street Seaport (free!)
Friendly Fires, Cults @ Central Park (free!)

8
The Kills, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, A Place to Bury Strangers @ Terminal 5

9
The Kills, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, A Place to Bury Strangers @ Terminal 5

11
Memory Tapes, Bell @ Glasslands ($12)
MV+EE @ Shea Stadium
Nas, Damian Marley @ Central Park ($45)

12
Sonic Youth, Wild Flag (ex-Sleater-Kinney), Kurt Vile @ Williamsburg Waterfront ($40)

21
Rakim, EPMD @ Central Park (free!)
Jeff the Brotherhood (not headlining) @ Le Poisson Rouge ($18)

22
Deerhunter, Eleanor Friedberger (Fiery Furnaces) @ Webster Hall

23
Deerhunter, Eleanor Friedberger (Fiery Furnaces) @ Webster Hall

24
Cold Crush Brothers @ East River Park (free!)

25
Wavves @ East River Park (free!)

27
Male Bonding @ Glasslands ($10/$12)
John Zorn @ The Stone

29
Male Bonding @ Mercury Lounge


September
3
Weekend, Talk Normal, Brown Recluse @ Glasslands ($10/$12)

6
Les Savy Fav @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

8
TV on the Radio @ Williamsburg Waterfront ($48)

12
Blondie @ Highline Ballroom

13
Blondie @ Highline Ballroom
Peter Hook (Joy Division) @ Irving Plaza

20
Deerhoof, White Suns @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

23
The Descendents @ Roseland Ballroom

27
Swans @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

29
Marnie Stern, No Joy @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Ty Segall, The Babies @ Bowery Ballroom

30
X @ Irving Plaza


October
1
X @ Irving Plaza

3
Shellac @ Bell House ($17/$19)

4
The Horrors @ Webster Hall

15
Wild Flag (ex-Sleater-Kinney) @ Bell House

18
Wild Flag (ex-Sleater-Kinney) @ Bowery Ballroom

21
Dum Dum Girls, Crocodiles @ Bowery Ballroom
Jonathan Richmond (Modern Lovers) @ Bell House ($15)

22
The Damned @ Irving Plaza
CSS, The Men @ Webster Hall
Jonathan Richmond (Modern Lovers) @ Bell House ($15)

29
Jeff Mangum (Neutral Milk Hotel) @ Town Hall (sold out!)

Dust It Off: Walt Mink - El Producto

Album: El Producto (Walt Mink)
Atlantic, 1996

This album's biggest claim to fame is that it is one of fewer than a dozen albums to receive a 10/10 from Pitchfork Media upon its initial release, a rating even the band's own mothers must have known was undeserved. But despite it not being a 10/10 sort of record, it is a great record. And it would have been known as one if it weren't for a serious of crappy twists of fate (mostly caused by the messy internal politics at Atlantic) that kept it under most listeners' radars .

Walt Mink is quintessentially 90's and quintessentially American indie, equally because of its clear post-Nirvana wussiness and because of its heavy-handed alt-rock production. The band's catchy pop is delivered at lightspeed in ever-changing time signatures and with a healthy sheen of distortion. It sounds like the poppiest of Husker Du or Mudhoney, but about twice as fast.

Though Walt Mink's line-up changed several times, it always featured John Kimbrough, and only John Kimbrough, on guitar. Backed only by a rhythm section, Kimbrough developed a quick half finger-picking, half strumming technique that allowed him to be both lead and rhythm guitarist, churning out quick riffs while holding down a steady chord with a few fingers. It's not that this approach is revolutionary, but it's surprisingly effective and on El Producto, it's at its best.

Kimbrough's high-ish voice can be a bit whiny and annoying at times, and his lyrics are often, well, dumb. But that doesn't stop songs like "Stood Up" and "Overgrown" from being some of the rockin'est moments of the 90's. And in what was often a heavy decade for rock music, Walt Mink's lightness - achieved through sheer speed and an unswerving refusal to hit weighty, low-register chords on the guitar - makes it a fresh voice among its contemporaries.

From punk-inspired underground pop tracks to a handful of sweet acoustic numbers, El Producto shines because of its superb (if simple) songwriting. The complex hooks are irresistible while the veering time signatures hold a more intellectual appeal. This album didn't shake the foundations of rock'n'roll, but it's solid and smart and it doesn't sound like anyone except Walt Mink.

Radio Flyer's Desert Island List

I've been working really hard over the last few weeks to get caught up on all the notable music of 2008 so I can give you a kick-ass Best of 2008 list (oh, do I love lists!) but I have a lot I still need to get through. So, to speed things along, I cleared everything off my 4GB iPod, and filled it with all the 2008 albums I have. I had 1 GB left over and a few minutes to fill it with all of the "old" music I didn't want to leave home without.

And after I finished, I realized I had essentially created my "desert island" list, the music I would take into exile with me if I were only allowed 1 GB (how 21st century is that?!) for the rest of my life. And I think the list is rather different than what it would have been if I had been consciously creating a "desert island" list for others to read. Here's what made the cut:

- Electrelane - The Power Out, The Greater Times
- Guided by Voices - Bee Thousand, Alien Lanes
- Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures and thirteen miscellaneous songs
- My Bloody Valentine - Loveless, Tremolo
- Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over the Sea and seven miscellaneous songs
- The Pixies - Come On Pilgrim, Doolittle, and eight songs from Surfer Rosa
- Skip James - four miscellaneous songs
- Slint - three songs from Spiderland
- The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream and fifteen songs from Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
- Sonic Youth - twenty miscellaneous songs
- Stone Roses - "Don't Stop" and "I Am The Resurrection"
- The Stooges - four miscellaneous songs
- Walt Mink - twenty miscellaneous songs
- Yo La Tengo - thirteen miscellaneous songs

I'm pretty surprised at some of the things on there, like Stone Roses and Yo La Tengo, and I'm also surprised I'm now OK leaving home without the Velvet Underground.

If I had time to weed some of the dud songs out of that list to make more room (or if I actually got 1.2 GB on my desert island), here's what would have been next:

- Big Star - fifteen miscellaneous songs
- Company Flow - six songs from Funcrusher Plus
- Echo & the Bunnymen - "Thorn of Crowns"
- Jawbreaker - nine miscellaneous songs
- Mercury Rev - "Meth of a Rockette's Kick" and "Coney Island Cyclone"
- Minor Threat - three miscellaneous songs
- Mississippi John Hurt - three miscellaneous songs
- Nick Drake - "Road" and "Which Will"
- Ride - "Leave Them All Behind"
- The Velvet Underground - three songs from The Velvet Underground and Nico

Well, there you have it.