Rock your face off

Best ass-shakin', rock your face off song I've heard this year:

C L I C K H E R E, B U C K L E S E A T B E L T

This one is sure to become a permanent part of my listening life. The band is Monotonix, a trio from Tel Aviv. The rest of the album holds a lot of promise too, but this it the one that kills me. If my 224,000-mile 1990 Toyota still had a *functioning* tape deck, I'd be playing loud in the car for the next few months, I'm sure.

Download link above is all kosher (and I woulda said that even if they weren't from Tel Aviv)... they made the track available to the blogosphere.

Sadly I missed their pass through NC a couple weeks back. At left is their tour date poster from up the road in Richmond.

More on the band and the album right here:

http://eastmeetsleft.com/p/2009/09/drag-citys-monotonix-tour-body-language/monotonix

Back Up & Push 08/26/2009

Greetings everyone. The playlist for my 8/26 show is HERE, complete with comments.

Among other things, the show featured (clockwise from top left) the excellent new Birds of Avalon album (from NC), Agitation Free (Berlin 1972), a fine request for CSNY (1970), a great

Chicago jazz group called Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble, Amon Düül II (more Krautrock), and a new archival release collecting the late 20's-early 30's music of North Carolina's own Red Fox Chasers.

Links take you to sound files or video files. Crack a beer and go enjoy!

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Beach photo collages

Welp, way back when I started this bloggoventure, I speculated (see title) that I'd be posting photos.

I gots lots of that to post, but as you can see, my music-mania has been the dominant theme.

Finally here's some photography! These here are two collages I through together of photos I took earlier this month.

On top: Wrightsville Beach, NC. Particular fascination: Robert's Groceries.

On bottom: Carolina Beach, NC. Particular fascination: best donut shop on Earth, Britt's Donuts (since 1938 or something like that).

Kiila: Finnish folky spacy rock

Really liking this new album from Finnish group Kiila.

Just to give you an idea, one writer sums it up nicely thusly: "Different traditions of folk, psych and pop music intermingle with electronic music and improvisation, tones and sounds."

I hear some overlap with current-day Phila. band Espers and with 1969 Fairport Convention... Others have dropped Vetiver and Incredible String Band onto their comparison lists.

Best listen for yerself. Go to Fonal Records website (Finnish DIY label). Click on either of the songs marked "listen" -- especially my fave, the 8-min.-plus Portaissa. Clicking will take you to the Fonal Jukebox where all manner of other label offerings can be streamed.

Back Up & Push 08/19/2009

James Luther Dickinson passed away on August 15th. On this week's show, a tribute. See full playlist with comments HERE.

Read more about Dickinson in this excellent blog post, which also links you to a great interview film clip. Wanna be blown away by a resumé? Check out Jim's HERE or HERE.

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Back Up & Push 08/12/2009

Last week's show playlist with

comments is HERE.

Wide variety of stuff featured, as usual. Some new releases I'm especially enjoying: albums from Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound (right)

and Band of Skulls (below b&w),

a great comp of Hungarian rock from before the Iron Curtain came down (um, nice title...),

and a Swedish folky singer named Lisa Isaksson (below right).

It was also great to revisit Yello's 1980 debut.

In the tributes category, I did a belated R.I.P. shout out to John"Marmaduke" Dawson, a leader of the late-60's, early 70's No. Calif. outfit New Riders of the Purple Sage.

I've linked the you to info (with sound samples!), or in Yello's case, to a fantastic YouTube video. Click & enjoy!

Thanks for reading!

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Dexateens part 2!

Over on hearya.com there's a nice live session by the Dexateens (see my earlier post). All tracks available for free download & sound great. Two of my faves from the new album are represented: "Down Low" and "Grandaddy's Mouth." But the others are good too.

I'm happy to see "Grandaddy's Mouth" received highlight treatment from hearya in the form of a video. It's a well-shot in-studio live video, perfect sound. None of the inebriated crowd from the other video I posted last month. Take a look below!

Dexateens - "Grandaddy's Mouth" - HearYa Live Session 5/20/09 from HearYa.com on Vimeo.