Tag: mp3

New Year’s Song

This song was written by my best L.A. friend, Greg Franco. It’s about a New Year’s Eve party I attended, which was I think 1992-3. It was one of Greg’s “radio show” parties where we had a DJ setup and people did shifts as the DJ while backannouncing songs radio style.

Like most of the gathering then it was an emotional evening. We all had too much to drink and most of us were unhappy about the poverty, stupidity, and anomie of our lives as 20-something failures in the big city. We listened to underground music and old soul and Tim Buckley and hugged each other and guzzled cheap beer and bourbon. Most of us stayed up all night.

I have a very clear memory of dawn in that apartment in the Valley. Everything was grey, from the sky to the carpet, and it was cold. I had a mild alcohol headache and the cramps you get from sleeping on a too-small sofa. Someone was still spinning records quietly and I could hear Nick Drake’s “Time Has Told Me” from the next room. Dawn lasted for about three days. It’s one of those frozen moments I can look at any time.

Greg’s song captures that night and morning perfectly, I think.

Ferdinand – 31 (.mp3)

Volcano Suns – The Bright Orange Years

By request from jeffholland and others will enjoy it too. Post Mission of Burma band with similar sound. They fall right between post-punk and grunge, in that mid to late 1980s group that included Hüsker Dü, Soul Asylum before they went pop, Otto’s Chemical Lounge, etc.

The Bright Orange Years (dir of MP3s).

You know, I just realized why I fucking hate emo music so much. It’s this stuff, ruined. Emo is what happens when you try to do Zen Arcade or Made to be Broken and you’re a mallpunk with no soul.

A day to remember a lost friend: D Boon

d.boon

Dennes Dale Boon died on this day in 1985. Some people like to remember John Lennon on his death day, for me it’s D. Boon and the end of the Minutemen.

D. Boon was a fat guy in a uniquely weird punk band. He was a working class guy with a great mind and a huge heart. I went to countless Minutemen shows for the two years I had the privilege of being his fan. To me he meant a whole world view: resistance to Reaganism, the DIY ethic, punk rock that was passionate for change, and just plain old big sweaty fun.

I saw the Minutemen at colleges, in bars, on big stages, in record stores, on the street, in the middle of nowhere, anywhere they played. I jumped up and down and shouted and sang the lyrics with them, dived for the set list after shows, yelled out requests and got them played. Double Nickels on the Dime was a life-changing record for me.

I want to thank D. Boon for teaching me that resistance is possible, that art is for everyone to make, and that you can dance your ass off and make your point at the same time. I’ve missed him for 20 years now, but he gave me that.

Here’s the first of their songs I ever heard, in 1983 on KPFK:

Little Man with a Gun in his Hand (MP3, 4.5M)

Musical note: Tubas and Tijuana Techno

After reading this post on Freeform FM, I downloaded the mp3s from Drum & Tuba and the Tijuana Sessions and loved them. I then did what you’re supposed to and clicked through to Amazon and bought both CDs.

Wow! I’m now a big-time fan of Drum & Tuba. They’re math-rock with brass and loads of fun. Plus they cover a Minutemen song on that record and that’s the door to my heart. It’s sort of like the Dirty Dozen Brass Band getting all post-whatever and bumpy and having complex funky rhythms. Try it, you’ll like it.

I didn’t expect to like the Tijuana Techno stuff as much as I did. It has that banda sound that drives everyone nuts in Southern California but with cool smashed up rhythms and other styles layered on top. It feels like a good direction for Latin music, like something Mexican college kids would groove to.

Both recommended; visit the FM link above and sample and/or click through to Amazon if you’re interested.