Rock N Roll Gas Station Playlist- Week of December 9, 2009

Listen on www.blowupradio.com Thursday, 10 pm, and Sunday, 7 pm
www.thepenguinrocks.com on Mondays at 1 and 8 pm, Tuesdays at 7 pm

Mod Fun - "Give" - Futurepresent

Lawrence Arms - "Demon" - Butt Sweat & Tears EP

Body Language - "Huffy 10 Speed" - Speaks

Footstone - "Unraveled"

The King of Rocksprings - "The Perfect Guy" - The Milkman Vs The Postman Syndrome

Bouncing Souls - "Never Say Die/When You're Young"

Boss Jim Gettys - "Johnny's Double Kick-Drum" - Tigrebeat

The Wrens - "Silverware" - 90-09

Tris McCall - "WFMU" - When The Night Falls

Wallpaper - "I Got Soul, I'm So Wasted" - Doodoo Face

Surfer Blood - "Floating Vibes" - Astro Coast

Ted Leo - "Even Heroes Have To Die"

Longwave - "Disappointed" - Paw Skeleton EP

Barrakuda McMurder - "Oh My, You Guys, My Job Is So Annoying And My Life Is So Hard, You Guys" - More Songs About Girlfriends & Volcanoes EP

White Stripes - "Fell In Love With A Girl" - White Blood Cells

The Serlingtons - "Parlor City Blues" - Dukes Of Haggard

Tris McCall - "First World, Third Rate" - When The Night Falls

HUB CITY REDUX:
New Brunswick Veterans Rock the Court Like It Was 1999


As part of the build-up to the forthcoming documentary Cruel But Fair about the New Brunswick indie scene of the mid- to late-Nineties, three seminal Brunfuss bands reunited last night. The old joint was packed with faces that habituated the Court ten and 15 years ago, in what seemed like a high school reunion - except, as Bionic Rhoda's Brett Neilly noted, these were people you actually liked and wanted to see again.

All three bands sounded great - Aviso'Hara wreaking its unique sonic mayhem, in the great tradition of the band constantly threatening to fly off the rails into total dissonance but always pulling it back at the last moment; Boss Jim Gettys (who, amazingly, didn't play my favorite song, "Johnny's Double Kick Drum," WTF????) proving yet again that they were the Hub City's ultimate bar band; and Bionic Rhoda, with their impeccable fusion of pop, funk, jam, and indie rock. Typical of Court shows of that era, everything ran late and I had to miss the second half of Bionic Rhoda's set to catch the 1:30 am train back north, but at least I got to hear my favorite BR tune, "Chili Dog."

Ding dong, ding dong.

Celebrating New Brunswick In The 90's
A Special Episode of Rock N Roll Gas Station

To help mark the launch of Cruel But Fair, Stuart Wexler's upcoming documentary about the New Brunswick scene of the Nineties, we've put together this special episode of Rock n Roll Gas Station. Download the episode as a podcast here.

Deadguy - Police Story
Buzzkill - Big Takeover
Kid With Man Head - Wuss
The Stuntcocks - Punk Rock Guy
Aviso'Hara - Drop The Mids
Boss Jim Gettys - Half Baked
LandSpeedRecord - The Deaf Want To Know
Prosolar Mechanics - The Body Spills
Loose - God Of Anyone
bobfields - Road Map
Evelyn Forever - Spin
Footstone - Ivana
The Wrens - I Married Sonja
Bouncing Souls - In Your Face
Bionic Rhoda - Gummi Joe
3 To 6 Inches - Might As Well
The Milwaukees - Cosmonaut
Buzzkill - Rock N Roll Gas Station

Rock N Roll Gas Station

One Hour of Indie Rock with your host Jim Testa

Tuesday, 1 pm - www.ThePenguinRocks.com
Thursday, 10 pm - www.Blowupradio.com
Monday,1 and 8 pm - www.ThePenguinRocks.com

Week of November 16, 2009

Loudon Wainwright III - Suddenly It's Christmas
Anthony Fiumano - The Movie Universe
Bionic Rhoda - Douglass Fresh
The Ergs! - Dullards & Dreadful Prose
The Measure SA - Get It Together

Aviso'Hara - Boys On Their Way Down
Black Wine - Couch Critics
Boat - We've Been Friends since 1989
Steel Train -You & I Undercover
The Dimes - Abigail, Don't Be Long

House Boat - 30 Going On 13
Higher Giant - The Bad Investment
Jello Biafra & The Guantanamo School of Medicine - Terror of Tinytown
Boss Jim Gettys - Johnny's Double Kick Drum
The Bouncing Souls - Big Eyes
Adrenalin OD - All Right Tokyo!!
Girls - Lust For Life
Ike Reilly - The War On Terror & The Drugs
The Chinese Stars - Thanksgiving Day Massacre

Modern Hut


Where Has All The Pop Punk Gone?

Double Dagger, Black Wine, Night Birds, Dope Body, Modern Hut - Maxwells, 11/7/09

Various ex-members of the Ergs, Hunchback, and For Science showed off their new bands at Maxwell's this weekend, on a bill that included two inventive post-punk trios from Baltimore, Double Dagger and Dope Body. And not surprisingly, many of the familiar faces from the local Pop Punk scene were in attendance, including former or current members of the Marshmallows, Steinways, Psyched To Die, Short Attention, Sandworms, and others, as well as the redoubtable Lawrence Livermore, who deemed the event important enough to temporarily lift his embargo about traveling to Jersey for shows.

This showcase represented not just a changing of the guard for the local pop-punk scene but also a good harbinger of 2010, since most of these bands will be nearing their debut full-lengths in the near future. And the first thing you noticed is that no one's playing much in the way of pop punk anymore.


Modern Hut

Joe Steinhardt (ex-For Science) and Chelsea Lacatena (Short Attention) have teamed up for the acoustic combo Modern Hut, playing low-key, laconic, often ironic folkie tunes which often recall the self-deprecating wit and dour worldview of anti-folker Jeffrey Lewis. Chelsea's lovely voice provides a perfect counterpoint to Joe's gruff, barely in tune singing, and the single acoustic guitar really lets the lyrics come to the forefront. I'm really looking to hearing the first recording from these two.


Dope Body


Baltimore's Dope Body looked like a throwback to 1992-era CBGB's, what with the band's ironic porn-star mustaches, the lead singer's sinewy torso, and a bludgeoning post-punk reminiscent of the days when Helmet, Unsane, and their ilk ruled the scene. They're certainly not the first guitarless band I've ever seen - just voice, drums, and bass - but I will say that their bassist did things I've never seen or heard before. Playing through a rack of effects pedals and working at the top of the neck, he created sounds that transcended the usual division between bass and guitar, hitting octaves and creating sounds that propelled the band's furious throbbing songs. Back in the days of AmRep this band might have been huge, but I'm not sure the market for muscle, sweat, and thud is what it once was.


Night Birds

The Night Birds - featuring Brian Gorsegner (ex For Science) on vocals, Joe Keller (ex-Ergs) on bass, and Mike Hunchback on guitar - provide a showcase for Brian to exorcise his inner Ian MacKaye, as the band rages through old school hardcore (minus the metal edge that wound up subsuming NY/HC in the Eighties.) Think, maybe, early Underdog or Gorilla Biscuits - just a good excuse to mosh around the floor a little and flair your arms while the band stampedes through high-speed solos and undulating bass runs.


Black Wine


Black Wine is the highly anticipated trio that unites Ergs guitarist Jeff Schroeck with his just-married wife Miranda (ex Hunchback)on drums and Jay Hunchback on bass. (Weird how every ex-Erg has started a band with at least one ex-Hunchback, with Mikey Erg's Psyched To Die completing the triptych.) Falling somewhere between a reinvention of classic rock (they covered Jethro Tull's "Locomotive Breath," fer chrissakes) and pure garage, the band's already got a slew of standout numbers, including the romantic "Chauteau Of Ghosts" (which references Brill Building 60's pop), the 60's garage groove of "Haunted," and a cool instrumental theme song.


Double Dagger

Headliner Double Dagger turned out to be another Baltimore combo without a guitarist, just bass, drums, and vocals. Again, "post-punk" probably comes as close to a genre tag as anyone's going to get, with the singer's flamboyant embrace of the audience (literally - he kept walking intot he crowd and hugging people) the band's keystone. Parts of it reminded me of early Talking Heads and there's definitely some sort of damaged art-rock going on there, but the delivery is explosively loud and spastic. Interesting? Very. Am I going to run at the next chance to see them? Probably not.

Cymbals Eat Guitars:
Is This It? (Yes, It Is)

It's hard to believe that one review on Pitchfork catapulted Cymbals Eat Guitars from midweek gigs at tiny clubs to national tours in major venues and opening slots for the likes of Wilco and Flaming Lips in England. And of course, nothing could be farther from the truth. Yes, that Pitchfork review kickstarted some interest, but this band has been working its ass off, going through wrenching personnel changes and sharpening its sound over the last few tumultuous months. Things have been happening so quickly - the band's been raved about in the NY Times, Village Voice, NY Press, AV Club, and more music blogs than I can count - that you wonder how they've been keeping it all together.




On the basis of tonight's performance (CEG has been opening nationwide for The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart for the last few weeks) at Webster Hall, none of the fire has gone out of frontman Joseph D'Agostino or his bandmates. The quartet attacked its material like it was the first night of tour, not the penultimate stop, pouring passion and crispness into every song. To be honest, the band's appearance about a month ago at the new Brooklyn Bowl (part of Insound's anniversary celebration) seemed more of an event, and the crowd seemed a bit more intense (with more singing along.) That's probably because the pricey ticket tonight meant that most of the concertgoers were there for the headliner, but the sizable number of early arrivals stood rapt and attentive throughout CEG's set. If they weren't fans when they got there, they were by the time they left.




It was my good luck to become acquainted with Joseph when he was a frustrated high schooler, recording demos in his basement under the name Joseph Ferocious. A few of those songs remain in CEG's set - revamped or rearranged, but still with the same intensity and melodicism - and it's been a real treat to watch this band catch on and experience so much success so quickly. I'll go so far to say that Cymbals Eat Guitars is a better live band right now than the Strokes were in 2001 (that's not saying much, since the Strokes were never much of a live band, even when they were setting the world on fire,) and Why There Are Mountains (which has its official release later this month) is a better record than Is This It. The world turned its eyes to NYC in 2001 and the Strokes were there to cash in; with CMJ 2009 on tab and a kamikaze assault on SXSW already in the works for 2010, my guess is that the world will be looking our way again very soon.

Lily and Pat Carbone performing at Jersey Idol

Jersey Idol: Look Out, Here Comes Tomorrow

Jersey Idol - Crossroads, Garwood NJ - Saturday, October 3

I had the pleasure today of serving as one of the judges at a Battle of the Bands competition as part of a benefit for St. Huberts Animal Shelter.

The contestants were vying for several prizes - a chance to sing the national anthem at a Somerset Patriots minor league baseball game (won by Elaine Magentiren,) a recording session at Soundwaves Studio (won by Sebastian Rivera,) and a consultation with a local management company (won by the hard rock band Kickdown.)

The contestants ranged from grammar school kids to teens to adults of all ages, and we judges didn't have an easy time picking the winners. Elaine, who sang "Ave Maria," had a beautiful voice with impressive range, but she vied against quite a few singers who impressed us with their voices. There were two full bands, but we liked Kickdown's style and chops a little more. Sebastian River is a young NJ singer/songwriter who reminded me of David Archuleta; he has the kind of pipes and charisma that could take him to the finals on the real American Idol.

Hopefully you will be reading about all of the winners as well as a few of the other contestants on JerseyBeat.com. In the meantime, please visit the sponsors St. Hubert's Animal Shelter and make a donation (or adopt a pet.)

Rock N Roll Gas Station - Episode 19

Jemina Pearl - I Hate People
Alex Kerns - Girls That I Want To Meet
Feelies - Let's Go
The Subjects - Winter Vacation
The Boys Club - Alone In My Principles
The Hold Steady - Sequestered In Memphis
Dan Costello - Two Buck Chuck
Boy Genius - Olde New England
Bouncing Souls - Like The Sun
Ben Franklin - Tell Us How You Really Feel
Landmines - Gunz of Brixton
Nude Beach - Skeleton Handshake
Used Kids - I Miss My Records
Yo La Tengo - Tom Courtenay
Showaddywaddy- 2 4 6 8 Motorway
White Denim - Wet Sand
Art Brut - Weird Science

Listen on www.blowupradio.com Thursday at 10 pm, and www.thepenguinrocks.com on Mondays, 2 and 9 pm.