I was thinking of a few of my NYC pals Kevin & Cindy, who spearhead an '80s cover band called The Fades that played a gig at LES' Fontanas on Thursday. It got me to remembering mainstream 80s music, much of which I have not listened to in a while (exception Billy Idol - never out of style on my record player). In the mid 80s, I was mostly listening to American indie/alt/college rock (REM, dBs, Replacements, Husker Du, Soul Asylum, Talking Heads) or British wave (Bauhaus, New Order, Cure, Smiths, U2, Echo & the [...]

Filed under: News , Video Many musicians and fans can pinpoint the moment they heard an artist, song or album that completely changed their life. Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy is no exception. In a new segment from Current Music's 'Embedded' -- a six-part video series that lets fans look deeper into the lives of their favorite artists -- Meloy reveals his love for Husker Du and Bob Mould . As a 6th grader who had previously listened to Depeche Mode [...]
Si hay alguien que sabe de covers en la industria musical (junto con Kenny G y Richard Clayderman, probablemente) ése es Evan Dando. Uno de Suzanne Vega lo trasladó del hardcore a la Husker Du al indie pop más rentable, y otro de Simon and Garfunkel lo transformó en el the next big thing que necesitaba la industria por allá por 1993. Entre medio, junto con canciones propias de alta factura, se despachó varios en singles y recopilaciones con un criterio que podríamos llamar, desde la buena educación, "ecléctico" . Abba, REO Speedwagon, Whitney [...]
by chuck bell Touring is undoubtedly the most difficult part of maintaining a band. Traveling nonstop, living in close quarters and trying to subsist on little to no money is often too much for these musicians to handle. Despite the fact that its members knew each other since junior high (and in some cases preschool), Bear vs. Shark ultimately fell victim to the hardships of the road. Growing up as childhood friends in Highland and White Lake, Michigan, Marc Paffi, John Gaviglio, Derek Klegsen and Mike [...]

Three Reasons to see Meat Puppets at Schubas tonight... 1. Do you ever find yourself longing for the old days of alternative rock? Well, then, the Meat Puppets' three-night stand (Nov. 12-14) at Schubas is just what the doctor ordered. Meat Puppets may be best known for appearing alongside the members of Nirvana for their now legendary MTV Unplugged in New York performance, but this Phoenix, Arizona, "cow punk" band has been around since the early 1980s. 2. [...]

[Birthday greetings today to roots-rock king Dave Alvin, who, by the way, will be playing one of the upcoming West Coast, Left Coast events at Walt Disney Concert Hall — he's there Dec. 6 with Brian Wilson and the Living Sisters (Inara George, Becky Stark and Eleini Mandell). Here's what's up tonight:] Australia-by-way-of-Chicago's Via Tania [pictured, with download below], the nom de tune of Tania Bowers, brings her self-described "moon pop" (she's drawn comparisons to Bat for Lashes) to the Bootleg Theater for the second of two L.A. [...]

Era il 1984 e Bob Geldof rimase sconvolto da un documentario trasmesso dalla BBC sulle vittime di una carestia che aveva colpito l'Etiopia quell'anno. Decise così di scrivere una canzone dal titolo emblematico: "Do They Know It's Christmas?" ("Loro sanno che è Natale?") insieme a Midge Ure degli Ultravox e costituire il progetto Band Aid . Un video con le più note star dell'epoca (da Bono ancora non in odore di 'santità' a George Michael . Da Sting a Simon Le Bon) fece il giro del mondo dando il [...]
Coverlaydown has put together a collection of classic punk tracks covered by folk artists and in folk styles. Among the acts covered are Agnostic Front , Bad Brains , Black Flag , Blondie , Husker Du , The Stooges , The Clash , The Damned , The Jam , The Ramones , The Wipers and Wire . Artists producing the covers include Indigo Girls, Lisa Loeb, Walter Schreifels and many more. [...]

A wonderful cascade of covers from a friend has turned my thoughts to covers of punk music this week. As Katie noted in her send-along, much of which appear below, "the thread that runs from folk to punk seems such a vibrant and easily spotted one to pull at", and that sounds just about right; I'd even go so far as to suggest that, like folk in the generation before it, Punk both served and sprung from the hearts of a discontented youth counterculture, and - as I noted about Rap rather tongue-in-cheek last year - [...]

[Dirty Projectors...] [w/ the vivacious Tune-Yards opening] Monday November 2 Over the Rhine w/ Katie Herzig @ Soiled Dove The Epilogues w/ Alan Baird Project @ Marquis Theater Andy Davis w/ Jason Vigil @ Walnut Room Awesome New Republic @ Hi-Dive The Ohioan w/ Ah Holly Fam'ly @ Rhinoceropolis Tuesday November 3 El Ten Eleven w/ Little Brazil @ Hi-Dive Bouncing Souls w/ Bayside @ Gothic [...]

(Editor's Note: I'm all over the map today. I feel like there's been a kind of fallow period for me; work and school have been a bit more intense lately, so I've been listening to old music that I know I love instead of plumbing the depths for new music to wrap my brain around. It's been about aurally cloaking myself with comfort these last couple of weeks; kind of listening to the musical equivalent of homemade macaroni and cheese. This week, however, I got blasted with all sorts of good stuff: new tunes from bands I love, news on [...]

It is time for Halloween! And I haven't done an A to Z post in like forever, so, two birds, one post. You get the idea. As always, a zip file is hidden, lurking creepily in the shadows below. A is for Arctic Monkeys-Perhaps Vampires Is a Bit Strong But… I loved this band's first album. Their stuff went progressively downhill, but none of of it sucks. B is for Ben Gibbard-Thriller (Michael Jackson cover). A classic. All [...]
MUSIC NEWS - Con D'or Records and MVD Audio have announced a tour by Grant Hart in support of his latest release Hot Wax (out on CD and vinyl). From one of the leading lights of 80s alternative rock, Husker Du , drummer Grant Hart moved out front with guitar in hand, and also handled lead vocals on his solo releases. But Hart has spent the last few years working on Hot Wax . [...]

I've been absent here at SMM for quite some time now. At first, it was because I was having trouble keeping my own blog current. But I realized that back when I was consistently posting here my blog was seeing multiple posts per week. So I will make my return and hopefully inspire more activity overall. One of my original goals here was to try to find a Ryan Adams song to fit every theme – with the piles of unreleased sets and nonsense recordings he's unleashed, that's not a farfetched idea. And this week's theme is a [...]

I've done my part to understand and digest Husker Du. I own Candy Apple Grey, Warehouse: Songs and Stories, Zen Arcade, Flip Your Wig and New Day Rising. These records all came out between 1984 and 1987. I didn't buy them until well into the 90's, mostly because of their critical acclaim. I'm not saying I don't like Husker Du, but these records don't get a lot of airplay at my house. I realize these guys were Minneapolis legends on par with The Replacements, but I prefer Bob Mould's solo stuff and his short lived band Sugar to Husker Du. [...]

Right Click To Download Apparently cover songs are longer than the usual ones picked. Time: 74:34 File Size: 102.0MB Tracks played: 01. Angry Samoans - Time Has Come Today (Unboxed Set) (The Chamber Brothers) 02. Black Flag - Louie Louie (Everything Went Black) (The Kingsmen) 03. JFA - Lowrider (We Know You Suck) (War) 04. Plugz - La Bamba (Electrify Me) (Ritchie Valens) 05. Schlong - Rainy Days And Mondays (Essential Schlong) (The Carpenters) 06. D.O.A. - That's Life (Punk Rock [...]

- Provocazioni & istigazioni a delinquere a cura di Francesco Farabegoli - L'ultima volta che ho scritto per Frequenze Indipendenti è stata tipo un mese fa, cioè -considerati i tempi di internet- in un'epoca in cui John Lennon non era ancora stato ucciso. Nel frattempo, buona notizia, l'estate è finita e potete smettere di tirare gli addominali. Tre o quattro cose fighe che arrivano con l'inverno: 1) Le camicie di pile (pron. pail) a quadretti anti-hipster che trovi a 3 [...]
Filed under: Band of the Week Japandroids . It's the kind of name which conjures up visions of Blade Runner-esque mechanical replicants doing their automaton activities under the cold glare of Tokyo streetlights. Sadly, the band in question aren't shiny mechanical musicians built by some far-thinking Japanese industrial concern, but a very much carbon-based duo from Vancouver, Canada. A duo that manage to make one hell of a racket. According to their own press, the word is "maximal" -- "a two piece band trying to sound like a [...]
Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (MCT) -- MINNEAPOLIS - The coincidental timing of his first album-release party in a decade wasn't lost on Grant Hart. He was scheduled to play the Minneapolis club 7th Street Entry on Thursday, two nights after his former Husker Du bandmate and ever-active sparring partner Bob Mould performed next door for probably 10 times the crowd at the larger venue First Avenue. No matter. As if it's not already obvious from the fact that he went 10...