BAD INDIANS -- October's First Mixtape...

More Mixtape! for October... "BAD INDIANS"

01 John D Loudermilk - Tobacco Road -- In honor of smoking less. From Texas, most of his stuff is smooth pop, although apparently there's some OK rockabilly stuff. This one of course was remade by the Nashville Teens, part of the British Invasion, the heaviest single of 1965. A year later the Blues Magoos (NY) took it on and made the classic garage version..

02 Central High School Cafetaria Band - First Rhapsody for Knives, Forks & Spoons Part 1 -- Apparently an actual high school band playing percussion with eating utensils!

03 Neil Young - Are You Ready for the Country -- from Harvest.

04 West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band - Truck Stop -- From their last album, "Markley, A Group", kind of redneck proto-prog.

05 Rolling Stones - 2000 Light Years From Home -- The psychedelic record.

06 Curtis Mayfield - Shake It -- Sounds a lot like "Kung Fu", but who cares?

07 Black Merda - Cynthy-Ruth -- Newly rediscovered underground funk gem. Detroit.

08 Chambers Brothers - In The Midnight Hour -- Maybe the best version, longer but great.

09 Act-Ups - I Bet You Love Me Too -- From the first album. Riff!

10 The Gun Club - Bad Indian -- From "Miami" -- maybe the production isn't great, but still a great song.

11 The Reigning Sound - You're So Strange -- Last track from "Time Bomb High School", my favorite.

12 Supergrass - Caught by the Fuzz -- Big hit UK single from around 94/95 or so.

13 Afghan Whigs - Somethin' Hot -- From a 1996 album, surprisingly with some gospel going on...

14 The Fall - Telephone Thing -- from Extricate, one of the 90's albums. Pretty poppy, actually.

15 The Insect Trust - Hoboken Saturday Night -- From their second album. I like this kind of drumming and bass-playing. And it's about having very little, or maybe just enough, to do in New Jersey.

16 Esquires - Heat -- Great instro.

17 The Uncalled For - Do Like Me -- A classic. Very cryptic lyrics...

18 The Nickel Bag - The Woods -- Excellent cheap organ/keyboard sounds. Chicago?

19 The Peanut Butter Conspiracy - It's a Happening Thing -- Psych/pop classic.

20 The Wolfgang Dauner Quintet - Take Off Your Clothes to Feel The Rising Sun -- From a Sitar compilation. Germans pretending to be from South America ?

21 Orange Juice - Poor Old Soul (Part Two) -- Scottish postpunk. Before the Smiths. Also great melodies.

22 Radio Birdman - New Race -- The original version of this. Absolutely brutal rhythm section.

23 Sonic Youth - Teenage Riot - An obvious classic.

Barreiro Rocks Festival (Portugal) -- Garage Rock Mania ! PART THREE

Here's the last part of my roundup of Barreiro Rocks 2006 (see below for parts one and two) ...

October 7 was the final day (and night) of this festival but it looked like the whole event was in trouble when first it was rumored that headliners Gallon Drunk (UK) had cancelled their appearance and later that The Drones (AUS) had gotten lost on their way from Bilbao...

Los Ass-Draggers (Spain) had already cancelled their appearance a few days before the shows so that night's after-party band were moved up to the main stage (more on them in a second!)

First we were treated (subjected?) to the Fatals (France), who are, apparently, noise-garage-punkers. I wish I could find something positive to say about this band. Let's see. The drummer made some funny faces and could do some impressive jumps above the drums. OK. That's about all I got. Under all the distortion and noise there seemed to be very little in the way of songs or melodies or anything. Still, it woke us up with its ear-drum-destroying maelstrom of feedback...

Deliverance came in the form of Wau y Los Arrrghs!!! from Valencia, who had previously been scheduled as an after-party band. They filled the second spot with a perfect combo of Nuggets/Back from the Grave/Pebbles covers en Espanol and a stage presence (particularly of Mr. Wau) that takes the cake this year-- almost Devo-like, with his big glasses and mentally-challenged hand motions, you just couldn't take your eyes off this guy or stop laughing. And the tunes were good and well-played. This was the one t-shirt I bought this year (of course it doesn't fit). See this band and you won't be disappointed !

Next up should have been the Drones but they were still lost somewhere in the Spanish/Portuguese hinterlands, so we got some dead time with just my mix CDs to fill the space (not a very good substitution!). Thankfully Gallon Drunk came on as promised in a few minutes and began a terrific set-- and then stopped, after 2 or 3 songs, when the bass drum went kaputt... The crowd was beginning to despair when, after a few minutes, a new bass drum appeared-- it turned out to be that of the Drones, who had just managed to reach Barreiro. Gallon Drunk returned and played a blistering set, which found James Johnston practising the tried-and-true Bad Seeds method of play guitar-hit keyboard-play-guitar-moan vocals-and repeat. This really works and the band was tight and experienced. The highlight for me was the saxophone playing of one member who stepped bravely to center stage to bring it. Excellent!

Finally the Drones, of Australia, visibly rattled by the long drive and last-second arrival at the festival, rushed on stage and set up.. This was their first time in continental Europe and they really delivered on the promise of such songs as "Shark Fin Blues" which has an interesting Neil Young/70's Rock meets Punk aura to it. In fact it quickly became clear that the lineup of the festival, now changed to make the Drones the last band, was a masterstroke as they delivered the kind of epic, night-affirming tunes that you would expect from a big band like the Arcade Fire. I only got to see 4 songs but it was wonderful and I bought the album. Proof positive.

I quickly rushed over to meet up with fellow DJ K-Gone and crowd at Carvoaria Club, one or two hours after we were supposed to start the after-party. Los Santeros, legendary Mexican(Portuguese) band from Hey!Pachuco were setting up and K-Gone was delivering the music to a hungry (and already large) audience.

When the show finally started, I can only guess at around 3:30 AM or so, the place was packed and Los Santeros kicked out their brand of surf/punk, lead by a remarkably sober Chicken Birdie Joey. There was surprisingly little talk this time as the band ran through covers of Link Wray, tales of death, alcohol & religion (that sums up all of the songs I think), a bizarre but crowd-rousing version of Joy Division's She Lost Control (in Portuguese and lead by mysterious guest Ian Curto) and for me, climaxing with the punkiest and most hardcore version of Hasel Adkins' "She Said" -- it seemed like half the crowd was moshing at that point. I must have cut my hand at this point... although I'm not too sure...

I didn't think I could possibly hold a crowd dancing after this, given that it was 5:15 in the morning or so, but I whipped out the big guns and started blasting away-- I distinctly remember playing Undertones' "Teenage Kicks", the Misfits "Where Eagles Dare", the Outsiders "Time Won't Let Me", a great track from Madrid's Los Chicos (who where present!), James Brown, Eddie Cochran, Turbonegro, that great Mexican version of "These Boots are Made for Walkin'" and closing with the Chambers Brothers doing "People Get Ready" (live) and of course the Animals' "House of the Rising Sun".

When I was finally told to stop, I saw that it was 9:15 in the morning and we still had 20 people left! Breakfast followed (Galao de MAQUINA and Bola de Manteiga, porra!) and finally sleep around 11...

(thanks for the photos, el puto de xangai & big mamma d!)

See you fellas next year!!! Ate Ja !

Barreiro Rocks Festival (Portugal) -- Garage Rock Mania ! PART TWO

PART TWO of my coverage of Barreiro Rocks (scroll down for Part One) ...

After Thursday afternoon's roster of local unknowns, it was time for the Main Event--

6.October -- GD Ferroviarios, Barreiro -- The events kicked off at the Main Stage of the Festival this year with Lisbon's Vicious Five, a pop/postpunk band in the new Brooklyn/NY rock vein. That is, the vein of 2002, when this band would've sounded much more edgy and different. But the energy was there, the records were well reproduced, the band was tight. The frontman's crowd/festival organizer-baiting gestures aside, this wasn't a bad show at all, and certainly it brought the late teen/college student crowd from Lisbon (no small feat!). The sound is sort of a melange of early Liars (circa 2002) and At the Drive In (especially the vocalist who is a screamer of sorts). In the end this band didn't fit the festival particularly well but they certainly played a decent show.

The Black Time (UK) followed and were something of a disappointment-- their records sound like the Fall meets the Gories, but instead we got a somewhat tepid rockabilly/garage trio who seemed to have the same beat on every song (and NOT in a good way). Saving grace was the bassist's hot look and high backing vocals and the last two songs in which they finally let rip some energy. Maybe we caught them on a bad night ?

Expectations were indeed somewhat low when the Blood Safari (UK) bounded onto the stage because the band shares its drummer with The Black Time. All expectations were shattered however when Portugal's most famous garage guitarist, Vitor Torpedo, lead an amazing rockabilly instrumental as introduction for the lead singer, who bounded out in wife beater, gold button down and gold chain combo. The band then launched into a set which could best be described as that moment when you're incredibly drunk but you haven't felt any of the bad effects yet-- giddy, dizzy, jumping up and down, howling and being absolutely ridiculous. I didn't know Mark E Smith could be turned into a redneck, but apparently it's true! This band has songs, melodies, and musicians so we're hopefully in for a good record...

Atom Rhumba, of Valencia, Spain, ended the Main Stage activities for the night, their second trip to the festival. They put on quite a show, sort of a funk rock style, with all kinds of instruments but I was a bit too distracted by the previous band to notice much. According to a friend they played an obscure Art Ensemble of Chicago (feat. Fontella Bass on vocals) track. That is pretty cool...

AFTER the Main Stage, the crowd headed over to the after-party space at Carvoaria club where we were blown away by another Portuguese band, the Green Machine from Barcelos. This band's record comes off as a sort of updated Stooges pop/rock but the live show was a perfect amalgam of Strokes meets Stooges... The lead singer careened into the crowd, using one of those oldstyle radio/boxing match announcer mikes; baiting the females, he was eventually carried by the crowd back and forth around the room. It was an explosion of energy but on the other hand an incredibly tight performance. This is definitely a band to watch.

Guest DJ K-Gone (USA via Prague/CZ) helped me carry the night home with DJing that went until about 6:30 in the morning, when we cut it off to make sure we could see the next night of shows! Highlights of what I DJed included "You Can't Sit Down" by Phil Upchurch, a mod organ classic that people really danced to. I have to pull that one out more often!

(see next post for PART THREE !)

Barreiro Rocks Festival (Portugal) -- Garage Rock Mania ! PART ONE

Last week was time for the annual Barreiro Rocks Festival, Portugal's garage rock celebration!

For the second year in a row I served as Festival DJ, but first a look at the shows...

1.October -- Club Mercado, Lisbon -- This promo party kicked off the week with Paco y Esposa Fruta from Spain, a primitive two man guitar & drums combo from Spain that had its charm but a lack of tunes.

Next up was Nicotine's Orchestra, a one-man band created by Nick Nicotine, head of Hey!Pachuco records and one of the organizers of the festival. This was my first time seeing the Orchestra, and it was very impressive-- snare, kick-drum, harmonica, guitar, vocals-- when the Orchestra tackled the Gun Club's Sex Beat the sound was so complete you couldn't remember the original had a bass player! Other highlights included a terrific Rollin' & Tumblin', and a great cover of Psychotic Reaction, in which the somewhat silly original solo sections have been replaced by some simple but effectively distorted chord-strangling. The overall tone of this Pachuco project is bluesy and the originals aren't bad either!

Finally we had Juanita y Los Feos, from Madrid. They played the festival last year and since then have replaced their drummer and have refined their sound considerably. Juanita is a punk screamer in the Siouxsie Sioux mold while the Feos (Uglies) play a garage/punk hybrid with off-kilter guitar and some memorable Farfisa melodies. Now I need to hear an ALBUM ! Vaminos!

4.October -- Carvoaria, Barreiro -- This party in the official festival after-party space kicked off with another performance by Nicotine's Orchestra, and the songs, especially the originals, grew on me considerably.

Next up was a band I had seen at a punk festival more than a year ago and completely forgotten-- Samesugas from Galicia, Spain. I didn't have great expectations of this band but they brought it on with an hour-long assault of '77 style punk meets rock'n'roll. This band is tighter than 99% of punk bands and the drummer in particular deserves a round of applause for his imaginative fills-- never heard anything like them before, so he must have quite a laboratory up there. What is in the water in Spain, anyway ?

5.October -- Carvoaria, Barreiro -- The festival began to pick up steam after Samesugas' amazing performance the night before with an afternoon of Portuguese bands, starting off with Barreiro's own A New Hope, rock in the recent pop-punk style. Next up was Stash, also of Barreiro, who have crafted a stoner/krautrock style in the vein of Sabbath, and especially Neu! -- While the songs and set could be a little tighter, there were some truly excellent moments for this instrumental combo.

Os Lacraus of Queluz (near Lisbon) provided the Portuguese language moment of the festival with their Jonathan Richman-with-stadium-pop-melodies rock, and win the prize for best song titles of the festival ("Maria is an intellectual because she lost her virginity at the book fair"). A few more gigs and it's time for a real record, boys!

Rounding out the afternoon was Debut, again from Barreiro. A duo with an ipod for a drummer, their sound touches on Ex-Models and Liars most outre territory-- many songs having no repeated riffs, no verse/chorus structure at all. But there's nothing really chaotic about this band, who actually sound very lean and focused-- the energy pored into this show made for quite a spectacle. The band sometimes goes back to older-style songs with a more straight-up postpunk sound which, honestly, dilutes the power of what they do. This band should consider doing 20-30 minute sets and then just walking away...

(next post: MAIN STAGE OF THE FESTIVAL !)