I attended the second New York show of Peter Murphy’s current Retrospective tour. Peter Murphy seemed to be in good spirits and was uncharacteristically chatty with the audience - taking questions, riffing on Americans accents (with demonstrations - very funny), and when asked who he would vote for, even stumped a bit for Obama. His levity must have given him some legs because he played for two solid hours with highlights being Bauhaus tracks off of “Go Away White” and this cover of Joy Division’s, “Transmission”. (I have posted several Joy Division covers on this site and am gladly keeping the string going.) Before playing “Transmission”, Peter Murphy gave a shout out to Peter Hook who was in the audience and performed the song with a good approximation of the Ian Curtis style right-angle-arm rag-doll dance. It ruled.

All in all a great, fun, good spirited show. During the show, I found myself coming to the conclusion that “Cascade” is right up there with “Deep” and “Holy Smoke” in dibs for best PM album. Sole honors would probably go to “Holy Smoke” if it weren’t for ‘Sweetest Drop’ - the only Peter Murphy song that will get me up out of a chair to hit skip.

On a side note, (if I recall correctly) he also played “She’s in Parties” and “Burning from the Inside” and was filming the show for a DVD. Keep your eyes open for that. Also I didn’t opt for the VIP ticket that included a “Meet and Greet”. Chime in if you went. I am a bit curious how that went.

Update: Check out more pics from this show at Lori Baily’s site here.

Download: Peter Murphy - Transmission (Live Joy Division Cover)

Christian Death - Unknown Track (Master of the Art of Destruction?!?)
Knitting Factory
New York City, NY
6/6/08

When I think of the worst bands of all time, the names Christian Death and Eric Clapton leap immediately to mind. While a college dj at WRVU I got stuck reviewing numerous Christian Death cds . I remember listening to their cds with my head on my desk just begging against all hope that there were curse words early in a majority of the tracks so I could mark “do not play” and skip to the next god-forsaken track.

For whatever reason, some 10 years later Christian Death come to NYC and I felt oddly compelled to see the band that afflicted so much torment - a band that so large in their terribleness that they could single handedly torpedo the credibility of a whole genre. So last week I go to their show and expected to have their status as worst band ever, confirmed. Sadly they weren’t quite as awful as I remember, terrible yes, criminally boring, yes, but not THE worst band ever, so Eric Clapton has sole dibs on that distinction. Congrats Eric. Although, Christian Death, to their credit, did make a strong case for themselves by not avoiding having the continuous looping projection show highly inappropriate WTC bombing footage while the female bassist sang a randy little tune about “feeding her kitty”.

This track seemed to be the best of the lot. Enjoy.

Download: Christian Death - Unknown Track (Live Video)

One of the lesser know 4AD bands, Liquorice was one of them many side projects of indie-rock queen and Simple Machines Records label co-owner Jenny Toomey. It’s really apparent how Liquorice was the natural progression from what she was doing post-Grenadine while combining the influences of Tsunami’s sound. This song is from the Red Hot + Bothered: The Indie Rock Guide Book to Dating compilation which was a benefit for the AIDS benefit organization, Red Hot, and included other great tracks from Future Bible Heroes, Heavenly, and Lisa Germano.

Download: Liquorice - Little League

The Cardigans
KCRW Radio
Morning Becomes Eclectic
Santa Monica, CA
6/18/96

Here’s a recording of The Cardigans during their promotional stop at KCRW for “Life.” Sounds like they were having a few technical difficulties that day, but the songs themselves are fine, it’s only the interviews that are a bit messy. As an added bonus, the person who sent me this stuck one track from their El Rey show the night before on the end of the cassette.

Set List:
1. Interview (Technical Difficulties)
2. Interview (Technical Difficulties)
3. Interview
4. Hey! Get Out Of My Way
5. Interview
6. Carnival
7. Interview
8. Celia Inside
9. Interview
10. Sick And Tired
11. Interview
12. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath*

*Recorded live at The El Rey Theater, Los Angeles, CA - 6/17/96

Sample: Hey! Get Out Of My Way (Live)

Download: The Cardigans - Santa Monica, CA - 6/18/96 - 220 MB

As a college dj for WRVU (woot woot) in the mid 90’s I had a weekly allotment of cds that needed to be previewed for key tracks and curse words. This was in the mid 90’s so endless post-Nirvana grunge was filling the airwaves, which, I would argue was the absolutely worst time for commercial Top 40 radio . I, for one, would much rather listen to pop drivel like Britney Spears, Spice Girls, than have to listen to joyless slag coming from Pearl Jam, Temple of the Dog, Bush, or god-forbid, Gin Blossoms. Around this nadir of commercial radio, the Swervedriver album “Mezcal Head” crossed my college desk for review. I remember thinking to myself; “Wow, this is the future of this whole grunge thing” - totally accessible, current and good to boot. I reviewed the album well and was looking forward to it to break big in a few months and usher in the future of the Nirvana vein of commercial rock and roll. Of course that didn’t happen: the world got Creed instead of Swervedriver.

The “Mezcal Head” era Swervedriver recently reformed and played a few highly anticipated shows here in NYC. I am not exaggerating in the least when I say that the show was massive. My fellow rock enthusiast buddy and New Jersey based operative, Jamie (who is hopefully recovering well from the spinal damage he inflicted on himself from his neck-snapping head-banging during the set) says that this Swervedriver show might make his top five ever all time favorite shows.

Update: Hi, it’s the aforementioned NJ based operative here, and indeed it took me several days to recuperate from this show in several ways. Hadn’t had a whiplash injury since the first Slint reunion tour. In addition, it took several listens to the live versions of Mezcal Head and Raise (available at swervedriver.com) to realize that not only was the show better than those sets, but it was quite possibly better than any show I’ve seen in the past 6 years.

In 1993 I was 17 and stood one morning in line at the Turtle’s in Atlanta to get Smashing Pumpkins tickets for their upcoming 3 night stint. This burned out lookin’ dude with stringy hair and a Swervedriver t-shirt approached me and queried: “Gettin’ Swervedriver tickets, man?” Having never heard of them, I indignantly stated no. To which he replied: “Mark my words, you’re gonna be listening to Swervedriver a lot longer than Smashing Pumpkins.”

Several months later, in Fall 1993, I caught their second of 3 nights in Atlanta at the Center Stage Theater (after change of venue from Variety Playhouse for the “Viewphoria” video filming purposes.). The opening loop of Duress played as smoke filled the empty stage (Avalanche would have liked that). The guys came out, Jez started playing along and the roaring guitars started. As much of a Smashing Pumpkins fan as I was at that time, the Jazzmaster roar of the Swervedriver thumb-guitar players was devastating. I bought Mezcal Head as soon as I could.

Shortly thereafter they came back to Atlanta for a 21-up show so I had to miss that and then never had an opportunity again. So fast forward 15 years (!). In the meanwhile, I’ve listened to Mezcal Head at least monthly and Raise at least bi-annually. They are just unrelenting solid rawk albums start to finish.

A show like the one they put on at Bowery Ballroom delivers in contradistinction to ill-fated high school long-distance relationships: you idealize the individual in their absence and then they fail to deliver in person. Swervedriver reunited live was even better than that idealization. After years of absence in person but incessant listening all the while, they delivered with a blistering pace of songs, great song selection, and tone perfect guitars with the added bonus of Bowery Ballroom acoustics; and it was all ear-bleedingly loud. I don’t think I realized how good of a song “Deep Seat” is until I heard it live. The whole show was glorious. We couldn’t get enough.

Finally, I can’t remember the last time I listened to Gish or Siamese Dream. Suffice to say, soothsayers come in all shapes and sizes, apparently including stringy haired dudes in Swervedriver t-shirts.

Download: Swervedriver - Last Train to Satansville (Live)

Jesus Rave - Special Presentation

I completely pilfered this clip off their site, but it’s too fantastic not to. Apparently this is a cable access show here in LA called “Jesus Rave.” Though I’ve never been fortunate enough to witness it on TV myself, they have been kind enough to provide a few episodes on their site for downloading. I’ve put my favorite on up on TSOI today for everyone to enjoy. Warning, it’s over 100 MB, but it is sooooo worth the download. Imagine early 90’s techno, special effects straight out of The Lawnmower Man and the bible thrown together in a 30 minute package and you’ve got “Jesus Rave.”

Download: Jesus Rave - Special Presentation

New York local tv, NY1, has a late Sunday night hour long local-market only indie version of MTV’s 120 Minutes called New York Noise. New York Noise is a surprisingly well produced program that shows equally surprisingly well produced videos of a good cross section of notable current indie bands. Ted Leo, Jens Lekman, Hold Steady, Ladybug Transistor, Baby Dayliner, Hercules And Love Affair and this band M83 among others are recent examples of featured videos. After seeing the M83 video for “Graveyard Girl” I thought I found a band that might be what would happen if The Postal Service listened to a ton of Ultra Vivid Scene, so I went to the recent M83 show at Bowery. To my disappointment, the song featured in the New York Noise video was far and away their best with the rest of their songs - replete with excessive wankery and long boring “atmospheric” instrumental interludes - veering more towards Enya than UVS. Even so, this track, “Graveyard Girl” is pretty good.

Download: M83 - Graveyard Girl (Live)

Skinny Puppy
Mississippi Knights
St. Louis, MO
6/29/92

An average quality audience recording, but there’s a spectacular version of Knowwhere? with a ton of great improve and a really long intro during this show.

Set List:
1. Intro
2. Addiction
3. Love In Vein
4. The Choke
5. Harsh Stone White
6. Tin Omen
7. Worlock
8. Knowwhere?
9. Anger
10. VX Gas Attack
11. Second Tooth
12. Killing Game
13. Circustance
14. Lefthand Shake
15. Testure

Sample: Addiction (Live)

Download: Skinny Puppy - St. Louis, MO - 6/29/92 - 589 MB

Helium - Trixie’s Star
College of New Jersey
Ewing, NJ
3/2/98

Two Helium posts in the same month. I usually try avoid that sort of thing, but I just got this video and wanted to share it.

Download: Helium - Trixie’s Star (Live Video)

On May 31, Town Hall hosted “A Night in Slovenia” featuring artists of Slovenia, which seemed to be put on a segment of the Slovenian board of tourism. (In the middle of the show was a raffle for tickets to Slovenia). Naturally the night showcased popular and presumably representative Slovenian artists. To my growing impatience, almost all of them heavily featured accordions — that is until the decidedly accordion-free industrial behemoths Laibach played, which begs the question, who in their right mind would book Laibach to represent their country in a celebration of culture and art? I for one, would not, that is if I intended to stay in the Slovenian tourism business.

This Laibach show at town Hall has to go up there with one of the weirder shows I have attended as of late. The largely unwitting audience consisted of people of all stripes, old, young, babies, etc so I thought three lines into the Laibach set, the place would clear out. Along with lead vocals that could peel paint over punishing dirge-like music the show was accompanied by, putting it mildly, bizarre projections. I was chuckling to myself as I sat by a couple, probably in their 70s that were clearly not amused; but with the composure of caged eagles took the aural and visual beating like champs.

Download: Laibach - Anglia (Live)