Blog: Revolution Rock

Wavves started as a recording project by Nathan Williams in 2008. The band put out some early recordings and two full length albums ( Wavves in 2008 and Wavvves in 2009) on Fat Possum Records, the band then gained recognition. In 2010, they released their third full length album, a well received album by critics in which the band brought in more of a 90s Rock influence, serving as a different sound album sonically than their first two full length albums which leaned to the Lo-Fi scuzzy realm of production. With 2013’s Afraid [...]

Wavves started as a recording project by Nathan Williams in 2008. The band put out some early recordings and two full length albums ( Wavves in 2008 and Wavvves in 2009) on Fat Possum Records, the band then gained recognition. In 2010, they released their third full length album, a well received album by critics in which the band brought in more of a 90s Rock influence, serving as a different sound album sonically than their first two full length albums which leaned to the Lo-Fi scuzzy realm of production. With 2013’s Afraid [...]

It is hard to believe that it has been ten years since Detroit’s The White Stripes released their fourth full length album Elephant . The year 2003 was a very different time, in the midst of the Garage Rock revival bands, The White Stripes had been making their brand of Garage Rock, blended with elements of Blues, Folk and Country since 1997, releasing several singles and three full length albums prior to this. The album played into the bands gimmick, two piece band donned in red, white and black colours, and the obssession with the number three. [...]

Indian Wars first released their If You Want Me EP in 2010 on Bachelor Records. The EP reflected a gritty Garage Rock influence drawing influences from bands such as Jacuzzi boys and Demon Claws, however there were underlying Roots Rock influences on tracks such as “Just Can’t Get Along With You” and “Carol Anne”. This Vancouver, BC band consists of brothers Dave and John McMartin, Dave on guitar and John drums, Brad Felotick on vocals/bass and Fraser With on guitar. Craig Pettman was added on keys/slide guitar during the recording process of the bands debut [...]

San Francisco’s Thee Oh Sees released what is considered their seven full length album, Floating Coffin on April 16th, 2013. Thee Oh Sees have a very prolific past stemming from front man John Dwyer, some reviews stating Floating Coffin is the bands twelfth studio output when including the rare and early releases in the bands history. Since about 2008 to the present Thee Oh Sees have been bringing their prolific brand of Punk, Psychedelic and Garage sounds to us releasing at least one album a year since then, prior to that the band had [...]

Mudhoney released Vanishing Point their ninth full length album on April 4th, 2013 via Sub Pop Records. The band has come a long way from 1988’s Superfuzz Bigmuff , however this new album builds on some of the bands earlier sounds and influences, while at the same time bringing in elements of 2008’s The Lucky Ones and their 2000 era sound, featuring more Stooges based freak out instrumentation. Lyrically, vocalist Mark Arm sharply hones his lyrics in a humorous, wit filled style, the kind that Mudhoney fans have come to love. [...]

Austin, Texas Psych Garage Rock band The Black Angels released their fourth full length album Indigo Meadow on April 2nd, 2013. On this album the band shows us their heavier Psychedelic side, adding more organ and Pop hooks, all mixed up in a sun baked Texas style haze. Many critics have claimed that this album isn’t really different from their previous releases, but this album slowly builds on the Psychedelic sounds of Phosphene Dream adding a new type of heaviness that some may classify as Grunge influenced, while at the same time reverting [...]

On March 26th, 2013, The Strokes released their fifth full length album Comedown Machine . Critics have been fast to jump on The Strokes hate wagon ever since 2003’s misunderstood Room On Fire , an album in which The Strokes first began to flirt with their 80’s influences and move forward beyond the Garage sounds of Is This It? This album is no different. Comedown Machine picks up from where 2011’s Angles started, also mixing in elements of Julian Cassablancas’ 2009 album Phrazes For The Young . [...]

On February 19th 2013, Jay Sad released his full length album entitled Disappears . The album is an eleven track construction of songs ranging from genres such as lo-fi Indie Pop to Alternative and a variety of atmospheric sounding concoctions. Jay Sad has released several recordings starting in 2002. A full length album was released in 2005 entitled High . It was his only commercially released album. All other releases since then have been on a more low key scale, mostly copies being passed around to friends and fellow musicians or being distributed [...]

“Life is a shotgun/It’s just gonna blow you away” is one of the lyrics in the title and final track on Ty Segall & Mikal Cronin’s album Reverse Shark Attack , the lyrics couldn’t be more potent and relevant to this album as a whole. The album was originally released in 2009 on the Kill Shaman record label on vinyl only. Reverse Shark Attack serves as a collaboration between two long time friends from Laguna Beach, California Ty Segall and Mikal Cronin. The two had previously been in numerous other bands before this [...]

Vancouver’s The Painted Ship sailed into the mid 60s with their own unique sound. Often described as Garage, the bands sound contained elements from the Psychedelic genres of the 60s, but also had an undeniable Punk chemistry which was supplied by their buckskin clad frontman, lead vocalist and songwriter Bill “The Captain” Hay. While the band did go through a few line up changes, Bill (or William) Hay stayed the only consistent member of the band. The Painted Ship formed in 1965 and after playing around town for a bit, they signed a record [...]

Foxygen is an American Indie Rock duo that recently has released their second full length album We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic on Jagjaguwar Records. The band initially started out in 2005 in Westlake Village located in California and their music is often called experimental. In the early days of the band they were labelled as very experimental, they released several EP’s from 2005 to 2011 many of which are now long out of print. The duo consists of Sam France (vocals) and Jonathon Radio (guitar/keys) and following the release of [...]

Walk Don’t Run was the debut album released in 1960 by the instrumental Rock and Roll group The Ventures. Coming from Tacoma, Washington The Ventures had a big hit with the song “Walk Don’t Run”, it went to number two on the Billboard singles charts, but the beginnings of this song and album is a story just as impressive as their forty plus album career. The band had its beginnings in the late 50s, 1958 to be exact. Bob Bogle first met Don Wilson in 1958 at a car dealership of all places, and after finding [...]

Sub Pop has a deep history, before becoming the label that produced releases by the Seattle Grunge music scene it had its beginnings as a fanzine. Its beginnings were in a radio program on KAOS FM in Olympia, Washington put forth by Bruce Pavitt. Calling his program Subterranean Pop he released his first fanzine issue of Subterranean Pop as an extension of the radio program in 1980 discussing a variety of independent and underground artists in the US. By the fourth issue the fanzines title was shortened to Sub Pop , which [...]

“Nothin’” was the first single released by The Ugly Ducklings, a Garage Rock band that originated from the Yorkville section of Toronto. This raw sounding single was released in 1966 on the York Town label and was recorded in the style of British R&B bands such as The Rolling Stones, The Kinks and The Yardbirds. The song is often called a Proto-Punk classic and everything about the song rectifies that statement whether lyrically or musically. The song was recorded in just a couple of hours by this five piece Canadian Garage group and self funded by guitarist [...]

Kind of Blue was released by Miles Davis in 1959 and has gone on to be called one of the greatest Jazz albums of all time and one of the most commercially successful Jazz albums ever. But what is it about this album that makes it so great and what is it that makes people respond this way? The road to this album was a long one, Miles had previously released music in a Hard Bop Jazz style prior to this albums release in 1959. After years of playing that particular style of Jazz he began [...]

February is once again theme month for Revolution Rock. This year I will doing four themed shows (one for each week in February). Each program will air on a Tuesday from 10:30-Noon and can be streamed/listened to online via www.cjam.ca or on the FM dial at 99.1 FM in the Windsor/Detroit area. The shows will be as follows: Revolution Rock Celebrates Black History Month – Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue February 5th, 2013 10:30 AM - Noon CJAM 99.1 [...]

Coming from Austin, Texas, The Black Angels have been playing their brand of Psychedelic Garage Rock since 2004. The bands forthcoming album will be entitled Indigo Meadow and will be released in April of 2013. Being the follow up to 2010’s Phosphene Dream , Indigo Meadow was produced by John Congleton who has worked with David Byrne & St. Vincent, Explosions In The Sky, and Clinic and is the bands fourth full length studio album. Guitarist Alex Maas had this to say of their newest single “Don’t Play With Guns”: [...]

In 1978, Talking Heads released their second full length album More Songs About Buildings And Food . The album was the first to feature producer extraordinaire and future collaborator with the band Brian Eno, it was the first of many releases with Eno. Overall the album is much different than their debut ’77 . While the album still emphasised David Byrne’s neurotic and nervous energy, the band and music as a whole is more fleshed out from the Soul, Garage and Funk influences that Talking Heads introduced to us in their debut album. Lyrically, [...]

In 1968, The Velvet Underground released their second full length album entitled White Light/White Heat . The album was drastically different than the bands previous release which was The Velvet Underground & Nico . While their first album is more delicate in its song structures, White Light/White Heat is more destructive absorbing noise and volume in what John Cale once described as “anti-beauty” . The album is known for its longer jam based songs and fuzzy guitars. It would also be the last album to feature John Cale as a member [...]