As the school year came to a close in 1984, synchronistic events were occurring that would shape that summer for me and my friends. By that May, all of us had obtained our drivers licenses, giving us the ability to escape the limited boundaries of our small hometown. The fledgling MTV had become available in our area and, as it still hadn't been co-opted by the major labels, those of us that had access to the channel had exposure to acts that we wouldn't hear on the radio. Those of us without MTV [...]
Today, while I was trying to come up with a post that merges music with Mother's Day, I discovered something quite alarming and not a little disturbing. No musical tributes to the women responsible for giving us the gift of life, the person with whom most of us form our first real bond, came immediately to mind. In fact, the first "mother" songs that popped into my head -- "Mother" by John Lennon, "Mothers of the Disappeared" by U2, "Mother Son" by Psychedelic Furs -- are all depressing and full of angst, not exactly the musical message [...]
If punk's your thing, we suggest you wrap your ears around Royal Headache.
Dearest bands, I love you. I've been saying to myself and now I'm saying this out loud (again). Where the hell are all the good guitar bands !? Bands I beg you please don't use a drum machine unless it's a demo and you're desperate. So for now say hello to Dot Dash and Cursive (saddle creek) who have actual musicians. These are Bands who know how to craft a song and play said instruments. Spark> Flame > Embers > Ash by [...]
Like the lure of the siren song, the Psychedelic Furs are the latest in a never-ending renaissance of 802s acts that are touring extensively again. Widely advertised as a SOLD OUT show, IDVDK braved the cold for a 30-minute line-up at Lee's palace and got some of the reserved door tickets, but the mounting line-up at 8:30 PM suggested that this was a hotly billed show. I suppose those in the more mature age brackets peg a lot of sentimentality with this group-it's not hard to see why. John Hughes' high school movies are responsible for [...]
This next one combines New Wave, magic mushrooms and Johnny Fucking Ramone . Read on, comrades… Way back in '81, the youngling Nazz and his pal Steve (via Steve's hotshit Red Firebird) ventured into big bad NYC to see the Psychedelic Furs . This was well before the John Hughes flicks made em all hot shot and all, but in the big city, they were still pretty popular. Being the young savants that we were (or idiots- it's a thin line), we did the math [...]
When people talk about great bands from the 1980s, everyone (myself included) seems to go on and on about the Smiths, Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, the Cure, and R.E.M., before they were famous. But what about the post-punk band from London that may have had the best name assigned to any group to emerge from the Reagan/Thatcher years? I have a few theories as to why the Psychedelic Furs didn't/don't get enough love: 1) The members weren't cute enough to be pin-up idols, which, let's face it, great as Duran Duran's music may have been, was a [...]
Classic punk-psych rockers The Psychedelic Furs are kicking up a storm during their East Coast Spring tour over the past two weeks, and for a few weeks more. The current lineup consists of original band founders the Butler brothers - Richard on vocals and Tim on bass - along with other current bandmembers Rich Good (guitar), Mars Williams (saxophone), Amanda Kramer (keyboards), and Paul Garisto (drums). Together, they continue to play their hard-charging hits from the 1980s and 1990s with excellence. The rest of the tour dates are below. [...]
Live music picks for TUESDAY, MARCH 27 through SUNDAY, APRIL 1, 2012. TUESDAY MARCH 27 / BOWERBIRDS / THE GARRISON / 1197 DUNDAS W / $15.63 / 19+ In the past, John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats has referred to folk trio Bowerbirds as his "favourite new band in forever." That's extremely high praise, but it's warranted — this is "freak folk" at its finest. The band is led by couple Phil Moore and Beth Tacular, and their real-life chemistry is quite evident in their music. And their [...]
Ready for some 80's nostalgia? Totally 80's will be making it's return to the Hollywood Bowl and the line up is a good one! This time around you can expect to see The Go Go's (pictured on the right), The Psychedelic Furs , The Motels and Bow Wow Wow all performing in one night. This is all taking place on Saturday, September 29th at the Hollywood Bowl . Tickets for Totally 80's at the Hollywood Bowl will go on sale starting on Saturday, May 5th through Ticketmaster . If [...]
Hospitality 's eponymous full-length debut imparts a sense of spirit before you've even torn the plastic off, simply via the scene on the album cover. The aging family is a fitting symbol for the music herein; a weathered foursome in a regal plank boat, soaking up the sun on the Hudson's first autumnal days. These are people who have lived, who were wild, and now it's time for them to reexamine the memories of youth. With an EP already under their collective belt dating back to 2008, Brooklyn-based Hospitality seems to have wasted none of the [...]
It's the Valentine's Day edition of Friday on My Mind . The weekly collaborative effort between KEXP and King 5 News. This Valentines Day give the person you love the gift of music. 1980's music, because nothing says I love you more than the gift of synthesizers, angular hair, brightly colored pants, tucked in shirts, and of coarse xylophones. Do you realize how many 80's bands had xylophones? Oh and white shoes. And the music videos seemed to have very little, if any, structure other than a small budget for a hair stylist and zero attention to [...]
Another week, another list of concerts just announced. Hopefully a few of these tickle your fancy: Psychedelic Furs A-Trak , The Hoxton, Feb 9 DJ Krush , Wrongbar, Feb 18 PS I Love You , The Garrison, Feb 19 Yacht , Wrongbar, Feb 23 The [...]
Neil Thomas Douglas As I understand it, yesterday was Robbie Burns Day and while I may have missed out on my annual tradition of posting something suitably Scottish to mark the day - a tradition I've marked exactly zero times in the past forever years - I'm going to make up for it a little bit by leading with some Scots-related content. Firstly, We Were Promised Jetpacks have finally scheduled a second North American tour in support of last year's In The Pit Of The Stomach [...]
Psychedelic Furs at E2NY in 2011 ( more by Dana (distortion) Yavin ) Last fall, The Psychedelic Furs went on a month-long tour with Tom Tom Club , which brought them to the NYC-area a few times in October. Check out some videos from their Irving Plaza show (10/3/11) below. They'll return to the NYC-area this March on their recently announced short run of Northeast US dates, which culminates on March 24 and 25 at Maxwell's . [...]
Hitting five smaller cities.
![[Introducing] – For Abel](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/3853086_lg.jpg)
Tweet From the first spiky guitar licks of album-opener "Telephone" , it is proof-positive that For Abel is here to shake you out of bed. The insistent keyboards and rich power chords sound like the ideal opening track of a John Hughes film. They hit you straight in the nostalgia zone, and then keep on driving the message home via sharp waves of pure pop-rock bliss. If you're not thoroughly shaken up and onto the dance floor, the second track "I Want To See You Sway" [...]
A man in my shoes runs a light and All the papers lied tonight But falling over you Is the news of the day Angels fall like rain And love (love, love) Is all of heaven away Inside you The time moves And she don't fade The ghost in you She don't fade Inside you The time moves And she don't fade A race is on, I'm on your side and Here in you my engines die I'm Lyrics www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/50 _first_dates_soundtrack/ [...]
That video up there is probably the most mental song we've recorded in our house. It is the second of a couple of preview videos of the PAWS Toad Session, which will be going up tomorrow. Yes, Phil does play his guitar with one of our candles. Yes, and with the cymbals too. It's not often I get involved in a gin extravaganza and come off worse than anyone, but yesterday was one of those incapacitating hangovers whereby I could barely even look at the internet, much less write anything on it. Is something 'on' the [...]
In any given week there's always a ton of NYC-area shows spanning across multiple genres and styles, but it seems like this week's concert calendar is even more sonically random than normal. Here are the highlights as I see 'em... Early in the week, we've got Explosions in the Sky with the Antlers at the beautiful Wellmont Theatre (in Montclair, NJ). Elvis Costello - who I mentioned last week - continues to bring his "Spectacular Spinning Songbook" to the area, with a show at the [...]
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