Friend of the blog, Pol Plastino, joins the Modern Rock Countdown to help us get to know the Nanuqsaurus hoglundi.
Thanks Pol! – Go with yourself.
Posted in neat-O gang, tagged Dinosaur Jr, Dinosaurs, Get To Know a Dinosaur, Pol Plastino on March 14, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Friend of the blog, Pol Plastino, joins the Modern Rock Countdown to help us get to know the Nanuqsaurus hoglundi.
Thanks Pol! – Go with yourself.
Posted in music, tagged Dinosaur Jr, J Macis, Phoenix on March 19, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Phoenix is massive. Dinosaur Jr always sounded massive. It ,makes sense to have J Mascis wrap his guitar around “Entertainment.”
“What you want, what you do to me.”
Phoenix is in Vancouver on March 28th to perform at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.
“My brother David took me to see Dinosaur Jr. live in Paris around the time when [1991’s] Green Mind was released (…) I have been a fan since then.” Phoenix front guy Thomas Mars from SPIN.
And uhhh… J Mascis is putting out as purple shoe.
Go with yourself.
Posted in music, tagged 90s, Charlize Theron, Dinosaur Jr, movie soundtrack, Teenage Fanclub, The Replacements, Young Adult on March 15, 2012| 5 Comments »
Oh man, last night was terrible. I must have been experiencing a bout of anxiety or something, but I had the stresses and could not sleep. Hard to breathe, hot, tight chest…I couldn’t fall asleep till close to 4AM then Coral was waking me at 6:30 when she got up. Just a long, miserable, lonely night.
But I did do two things before this panic set in. I watched the film Young Adult and I downloaded Dinosaur Jr’s “Feel The Pain.”
The movie is about a 30-something writer (Charlize Theron) who comes back to the small Minnesota town where she grew up to try and win back her married high school sweetheart.
Tragic hilarity. I really enjoyed it.
The film is heavy on 90s nostalgia rock. The de facto theme song is 1991’s Teenage Fanclub single “The Concept.”
Teenage Fanclub – “The Concept”
The song comes from the record Bandwagonesque which in 1991, beat out Nirvana‘s Nevermind in Spin Magazine as “Album of the Year.” Neat.
The movie takes place in Minnesota, so that means a Replacements‘ song. “Achin To Be.” Good pick.
AND, Dinosaur Jr‘s “Feel The Pain” dials in as well.
Dinosaur Jr – “Feel The Pain”
“Feel The Pain” was Dinosaur Jr’s biggest modern rock hit…. peaking at #4 in ’94. It is also the only Dinosaur song we have on the playlist at The Zone!
What’s especially neat about these two songs… “The Concept” and “Feel The Pain” is that Teenage Fanclub is/was often compared to Dinosaur Jr… and with these two songs, I think you can really hear some similarities. Especially, when it comes to the guitar noodling.
OK, that’s all I got. Its like noon right now, and I am so tired. And still so much to do today and tonight.
Go with yourself.
Posted in music, tagged Burial, Canucks, Dinosaur Jr, Four Tet, Gerald Cosloy, Homestead Records, Matador Records, Mr. Dream, Red Wagon, Vancouver on March 7, 2012| Leave a Comment »
I am doing that #MarchPhotoADay thing on my twitter. Good times. Every day there is a theme and you take a picture about it. Fun!
I have a couple songs for you today… two very different styles.
Lets get started talking about one of my favourite chill beat mongers, Four Tet. The UK producer and DJ teamed up with Burial for a song called “Nova.” The song will likely show up on Four Tet’s Text Records.
Burial + Four Tet – “Nova”
Download MP3 (low quality) >> Burial and Four Tet
This song kind of reminds of the grey days leading up to spring. Spring is coming to Victoria, but ain’t here yet! (heck there was a light dusting of snow the other day).
You got that signature Four Tet beat and the ghostly samples and glitches of Burial. Basically everything about both performers I like, in one song. I remember when Four Tet toured to Vancouver… and I think played at The Biltmore? Oh man, it will forever be a shame that I didn’t rally to hit the show. In my defense… he played on a February 24th… Madelyn’s birthday. Just couldn’t do it.
I change gears for a record I read about the other day on Pitchfork.
The writer didn’t jive on the record, but in explaining their distaste they kinda sold me on the disc. The group is called Mr. Dream and their EP is Fatherland.
The critique is that band sounded a bit like a second-rate 80s vintage Homestead Records band. Sounds like my kind of band.
I started poking around the other day on Homestead because they are an important record label based out of New York for alternative music in the 80s. They feature prominently in the lore of the time in outsider music. Gerald Cosloy ran the label during a lot of important years and was instrumental in the early days of Dinosaur Jr. Awesome.
It was Dinosaur Jr that inspired me to try and learn guitar… and to hear a band that borrows heavily from that era but is modern sounds exceptionally intriguing to me.
Poking around more, and Colsoy’s story intersects again… as he is a part-owner of today’s influential indie record label, Matador Records. And then it just all makes sense. matador is home (or was home) to a lot of bands that I love. Namely Interpol (currently) and Spoon (formally). But click the link and you’ll see a pretty select roster of bands.
Very cool.
Back to Mr. Dream, the band out of Brooklyn NYC… are a couple Pitchfork writers (which is funny, because Pitchfork ripped them)… which goes to show, judging music is easier than making it (or at least a very different skill set).
I like Mr. Dream… but mostly because I like the style and era they are trying to replicate. And if I ever get half decent at guitar, might try for something similar (but with a Four Tet beat? haha)
Mr. Dream – “Fatherland”
Download MP3 >> Mr Dream – Fatherland
OK… Mr. Dream only has like a 1,000 something followers… so I need to get my band fired up fast so I can can offer SOMETHING and tour with them playing 80’s alt rock!
That’s all I got… I am off on a little holiday tomorrow and Friday… Coral is taking me to a Canucks game. We’ll eat street food, drink beers, maybe hit the Red Wagon… I might go for a soak in the hot tub at my sister’s place, and generally act like a tourist with 48 hours to cause trouble Vancouver friends… if you’re downtown Thursday night…look for Hurricane Coral, I’ll be holding onto a lamp post or sturdy hipster near that!
See you at Veneto on Friday night.
Go with yourself.