The Honeycombs-Here are the Honeycombs

I've been pretty obsessed with this record lately. At first look this appears to be your standard British invasion sixties pop but if you take the time to listen it becomes obvious it has a lot more to offer.  A cool fact about The Honeycombs is they were one of the first groups of the time to have a female drummer, who's name was Honey Lantree(pictued above in the center). Also, their first single and ultimately most popular song "Have I the Right?" was produced by legendary English record producer Joe Meek. I have got to admit up until pretty recently I had no clue who Joe Meek was. With a little bit of researching I found out that Meek had a really interesting story that unfortunately ended with tragedy.  Here is a condensed version:  Meek produced a string of successful singles on the British charts, when his commercial success ended he sank into depression and ended up murdering his landlady before committing suicide(Eight years to the day after his hero Buddy Holly died).  The main thing that Meek is remembered for is his imaginative and innovative production style. When listening to the Honeycombs its hard not to notice how different it sounds from other recordings of the time. Meek was a pioneer in the field of production and developed many studio techniques such as direct input of bass, echo, reverb, sampling and over-dubbing that are now standard practice. Even though the Honeycombs have a pretty standard pop sound the way they are recorded makes their songs sound full and lush. I think another reason I liked the story of Meek was his commitment to finding the perfect sound rather than what was marketable at the moment. Unfortunately he was working in the field of recording at a time when unprofitable music was seen as not having much value which probably had something to do with his feelings of isolation and severe depression. I am going to post "Have I the Right?" not only because its well known but also because it is a good example of the sound that Meek produced when he was at his best recording bands. The second track I am going to post is called "It Ain't Necessarily So" because its a really cool song, boo ya.

The Honeycombs-Have I the Right?

The Honeycombs-It Ain't Necessarily So

Chain and the Gang-Down with Liberty...Up With Chains

Does anyone else remember when Ian Svenonius was interviewing Henry Rollins on his show Soft Focus?  At one point they brought up the idea of freedom actually being a constraining concept by referencing the awesome Saccharine Trust song "We Don't Need Freedom".  Anyone who has followed Svenonius in any of his musical projects is probably familiar with his satirical wit that he seems to incorporate in to everything he touches at least in some part.  Keeping that in mind I think his new project "Chain and the Gang" is a good extension of him and some other interesting musicians taking that idea and running with it.

People seem to either really dig Svenonius and his multiple artistic endeavors since the Nation of Ulysses or they don't seem to have the patience for them.  Not to say that listening to the Make Up is some type of transcendental experience that only a fortunate minority can enjoy but more that he is interpreted by some as being redundant.  I guess I feel like in this situation there is no reason to fix it if its not broken,  I haven't reached that point in my listening to his records where I feel like they are monotonous.  With that said, I have been playing the shit out of "Down with Liberty, Up with Chains" by Svenonius and his new group of familiar faces.  I read that he originally intended to record a spoken word record with Calvin Johnson in his famous basement and this is what resulted.  I can definitely say that I am glad it did, maybe that spoken word album would have been the thing to make me loose patience.

A look at the cover of this record is a great explanation of the ideas and overall aesthetic that you will get with Chain and the Gang.  I think the actual music on the album has more of a blues influence than most of his more recent releases but there is still plenty of catchy garage rock as well.  It seems like on this record he really perfected the call and response rhythm with his vocals which he is already kind of known for.  Bottom line is if you like what Ian Svenonius has been doing for the last two decades than this will probably be a welcome addition to your collection, if not you probably gave up a long time ago.

Chain and the Gang-Trash Talk

Chain and the Gang-Deathbed Confession

The Halo Benders

Doug Martsch and Calvin Johnson.  This sentence should be enough to get you excited about whatever it is I am about to write about.  For the purpose of focusing on their collaboration records together I won't write in depth on either of their former bands (Built to Spill and Beat Happening) in this post.  Even though I love listening to the records that both of these bands released I always find myself running back to the Halo Benders records faster.  I think the reason for that is the way the two front men decided to approach the band.  I feel like a lot of the time when there are bands where two formerly known and definitely talented people are involved there is too much pressure to create some type of groundbreaking record or something that outdoes their past.  The reason The Halo Benders appealed to me is because I never perceived them to have any pressure about making something "more" than their former projects.  Basically what you have here is Calvin Johnson and Doug Martsch making songs on top of each other more other than collaborating.  My favorite songs have always been the ones where they sing together throughout, usually not quite at the same moment but enough apart that you can make out each of their lyrics.  Another interesting thing about their process as a band is they write lyrics separately which is obvious once you hear them.  I think the point of this is that neither one of these extremely talented dudes tries to out-do the other.  Even when they are literally playing different songs on top of each other it sounds natural and comfortable.  Not to mention its funny, Johnson has always expressed his good sense of humor through his art and now that I think about it Martsch has a lot of really witty lines as well.  I always loved the title of the first Halo Benders album "God Don't Make No Junk" which I believe was stolen from an old blues song of the same title in true Johnson fashion.  I am going to post a Halo Benders song called "Virginia Reel Around the Fountain" from their record "The Rebels Not In".  I made a mistake earlier and said that it was a cover of the Smiths song "Reel Around the Fountain" but other than the titles the songs have nothing in common.  

The Halo Benders-Virginia Reel Around the Fountain

Bored Games-Who Killed Colonel Mustard

There are a million different reasons to love this record.  First of all it was released on New Zealand's legendary Flying Nun label label in 1982 kicking off the career of singer Shane Carter and the golden age of the label.  Carter later went on to form the Doubly Happys and then the Straightjacket Fits, both releasing records on Flying Nun.  Carter was only seventeen years old when Bored Games were active, even though this EP was released a year after the band broke up.  You can find a really great video out there for the song "Happy Endings" that shows his age if you look hard enough.  Even though this record is probably the least known item in Carter's career its definitely my favorite.  If you are familiar with the early eighties Flying Nun stable than you probably know what this sounds like and already dig it.  If you like early eighties punk with a spoonful of pop then you will love this.  I guess if I had to compare it to something I would say the Spiral Scratch EP from the Buzzcocks. Even though I do feel guilty comparing Flying Nun bands to their better known contemporaries because usually they were better.  I will post this whole record because its only four songs and I think they work best together since it is basically this bands complete discography. 

Bored Games-Who Killed Colonel Mustard?

Grouper

I realized today that there is not a single female mentioned in any of the posts on this blog up to this point.  I have been meaning to write about Grouper for a while anyways and this seems like a perfect time to do so.  Liz Harris aka Grouper is the Portland based one woman drone machine responsible for last years amazing "Dragging a Dead Dear up a Hill"  LP.  Although her music definitely does drone repeated listens reveal layer upon layer of melody.  On her more recent releases the vocals and guitar can be heard a lot more clearly which reminds me of something like "Souvlaki" era Slowdive on codeine-promethazine. I have yet to hear a bad record from her let alone a bad song so I would say its safe to pick up whatever you can find from her.  I know a lot of her earlier releases were vinyl only and are pretty much completely out of print by this point.  One song below is from her record "Cover the Windows and theWalls" and another from "Dragging a Dead Dear up a Hill". 

Grouper-Follow In Our Dreams

Grouper-Heavy Water/I'd Rather Be Sleeping

Pissed Jeans-Shallow

For better or worse I think did it backwards with Pissed Jeans.  When "Hope for Men" was released almost two years ago I picked it up based on a review I read that said they sounded "My War" era Black Flag and the Jesus Lizard.  When I see music journalists using either of these bands for reference points I am almost always skeptical and rarely interested.  Keeping all this in mind I would have to say Pissed Jeans are the real deal.  Even though it took me forever to get Pissed Jeans debut "Shallow" I think it is my favorite of their two full length records.  Although its a short record it really delivers a lot of quality tunes in about the same time period it would take for you to watch an episode of the Fresh Prince.  This is the type of record where one song gets stuck in your head and when you listen to it you decide to start it from the beginning and let it play to the end.  Both of the tracks below are off their record "Shallow".  Buy their records, you wont regret it.  

Pissed Jeans-I Broke My Own Heart

Pissed Jeans-Wachovia

Ornette Coleman-The Shape of Jazz to Come

People had differing opinions on Ornette Coleman. Miles Davis said that Coleman was “all screwed up inside” during some interview. Davis later recanted what he said but the statement never went away. Roy Eldridge had this to say: "I'd listened to him all kinds of ways. I listened to him high and I listened to him cold sober. I even played with him. I think he's jiving baby." You never really knew what you were going to get when it came to his music. “The Shape of Jazz to Come” came out in 1959 and was one of the first avant-garde jazz records ever. People were shocked and blown away with the fact that the record had very little chord structure and seemed to be all over the place musically. He’ll start off with a main theme followed by wild solo’s that last a few minutes then he’ll dive back into the main theme and start over again. Sometimes every band member will be soloing simultaneously causing a mess of noise that somehow comes out perfect. This record was pretty much responsible for starting a whole new type of jazz (avant-garde, free jazz) and was groundbreaking for jazz in general. I posted a song from the record and a link to his official site where you can see his discography and some videos.

Band Members for “The Shape of Jazz to Come”:

Ornette Coleman – Alto Sax
Don Cherry – Cornet
Charlie Haden – Bass
Billy Higgins – Drums

Coleman is 79 and still playing live and recording in the studio. Check out his newest record Sound Grammar where he plays alto sax, trumpet and violin and tears them all up. It was recorded live in Germany and won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for music.


Ornette Coleman-Eventually

Ornette Coleman Official Site

Shellac

Steve Albini is the fucking man. I am having a really hard time thinking of a place to start with this. Since this is a Shellac post I won't go too far into his earlier band Big Black but they basically started industrial music but played it a lot cooler than anybody else has since. In 1992 Albini started Shellac with Todd Trainer on drums and Bob Weston on bass. Out of all of Albini's personal music endeavors I think that Shellac has always been the band that I got the most excited about. I've always really admired Albini for being publicly outspoken about his recording techniques which range from denouncing the "producer" title to not accepting royalties from his recordings. I think you would have to search far and wide for a record collection that doesn't contain the mark of Steve Albini somewhere in it, even if the owner of the record isn't aware of it.I became a fan of his almost subconsciously. By the time I found out who he was I already had a bunch of records from bands he had worked with like Nirvana, Jawbreaker and the Pixies . I think he has had such a prolific career because people can easily relate to him.  He always seems to keep things simple and focus more on what the band already has, bringing that out rather than trying to make them what they aren't using studio techniques.  I am going to leave a few different Shellac songs from different albums that I really enjoy. Their sound has taken on changes throughout their career but I think its safe to say if you like what you hear than you will probably be into everything else they have released.

Shellac-Song of the Minerals

Shellac-Squirrel Song

Sore Eros-Second Chants

Aside from the cover artwork, I am really surprised that I haven't seen more about this band. Sore Eros is one guy from Connecticut who used to play in Ariel Pink's backing band. It's easy to hear that he would fit in well with Ariel Pink's band but I think this record stands up to anything Ariel Pink has released. At first listen "Second Chants" seems too be hazy and meandering but after a few listens you realize that each song has a really strong melody behind the wandering. Each time I listen to this record I find a new song that seems to really stand out. It also works great as a cohesive album, each song fits perfectly into the next creating a layered hypnotic feeling that is present throughout the whole album. With certain artists this could be annoying or monotonous but I think Sore Eros succeeds in keeping you interested and engaged. I read that Shdwply Records only made about 500 of these but on their myspace page they say it will be repressed soon on 180 gram vinyl which will make it sound even better. I will leave the address for Shdwply records below as well as two tracks from the record.

Sore Eros-Lips Like Wine

Sore Eros-In My Heart

Shdwply Records

Obits-I Blame You

I feel like its only right that I get something from the John Reiss/Rick Froberg camp on this blog. Although Drive like Jehu broke up way before my time I always loved their records and tried to stay up to date with as many of their post Jehu projects as I could. I even saw the Hot Snakes play a few times when they were touring in support of their last record "Audit In Progress". Obits is the new project from ex-Hot Snakes and Jehu singer/guitarist Rick Froberg. I heard that after seeing a recording of their first show Sub-Pop approached them with a several record deal. Pretty impressive for a new band with only a handful of shows under their belt. The attitude behind the band seems to be just play and make records and let everything else kind of fall in to place. From the looks of it their plan has been working out so far. Make sure you pick up their Sub-Pop debut "I Blame You" on March 24. If you pre-order it from the Sub-Pop site you get a bunch of far out stuff for free including a "magical-seeming Obits Lenticular card" designed by the band themselves as well as a link to a special steaming website of "I Blame You" which will be available up until the release date.


Obits-Talking to the Dog

The Mayfair Set- Self Titled 7"

This is the new self titled 7" record from a new but familiar band called the Mayfair Set. As is the case with the Mayfair set sometimes hype actually pays off. The band is made up of one part blank dogs and one part dum dum girls. I think that even though both bands play a similar style of music they bring totally different things to table so the mixture seems just right. If you like either of these bands than this 7" will be a welcome addition to your record collection. Two fuzzed out gloomy jams to get you through the last stretch of winter. You can buy it straight from the Captured Tracks myspace which I will link below.

Captured Tracks

The Mayfair Set-Already Warm

Cam'ron-I hate my job

Cam'ron is back! I just saw this video for the first time and its pretty on point. I am excited to hear his next full length "Crime Pays" which is supposed to be released on May fifth. I always thought Cam'ron was a relatively down to earth dude despite his outspoken appearances on Bill O'reilly and CBS news. You gotta love the low budget video and it's good to see him doing fine without the rest of the Diplomats. Make sure you watch the video up until the point where he interviews for the job. Listening to Cam tell the guy in the suit that his mom would recommend him because he does everything around the house is classic!



Charm City Suicides- Self Titled

I don't really know much about this band. What I do know is that their self titled record is filled with awesome blood on the wall/fyp style sloppy garage punk. Sometimes they almost remind me of a less controlled ink and dagger or early icarus line. I went to the youth attack website to try and get a little more information on this band and all I found is that this record was originally put out on a label called Vermin Scum and that they broke up before it was released. The website also mentions that it was recorded on a boom-box.

Charm City Suicides-Pesticides Rock

Charm City Suicides-Pit of Sorrow

Thorns Of Life

  I know that I am not alone when I say that I could use some more Blake Schwarzenbach in my life these days.  For those who aren't familiar Jawbreaker was one of the best punk bands of the nineties and Blake Schwarzenbach was their singer.  I recommend picking up a few of their albums such as 24 revenge therapy, unfun or dear you.  After jawbreaker called it quits Blake went on to form another band called Jets To Brazil.  Now that the Jets have been in the ground for a few years we have Thorns of Life.   In a recent interview I read Blake made a comment about not being sure if his new band sounds more like Jets or Jawbreaker.  From these videos the band definitely sounds more jawbreaker to me, which I don't mind.  This might have something to do with Aaron Cometbus playing drums or maybe its just Blake returning to what he knows best.  Either way, I cant wait and I feel a little better about no new Cometbus issues for a while.  

The Swirlies-Blonder Tongue Audio Baton

I thought it would be a lot harder to choose selections for this site than it is. I guess I expected it to be a much more painstaking process than it is turning out to be, which is a good thing. Anyways my second post is from one of the great forgotten "shoegaze" bands of the nineties. As we have seen from the recent my bloody valentine reunion people are still just as excited about this type of music as they were in the nineties. The reason I chose to write about the Swirlies is because they don't seem to be brought up as much as some of their british comtemporaries at the time and its never really been clear to me why. Although the Swirlies were from Boston and I guess a lot of the focus at the time was on the british shoegaze bands like MBV, Ride, Chapterhouse and Lush. Don't get me wrong I love all of these bands as much as the next person but when I first heard the Swirlies it sounded perfect to me, too perfect to not be compared to the bands mentioned above. Another thing that I like about the swirlies is that their songs rarely rely on studio effects or pedals. Their songs are usually just extremely well written and well performed, something that wasn't always true for a lot of their more popular contemporaries. The song I am going to post is called "Jeremy Parker" from their record Blonder Tongue Audio Baton. I think it is a pretty good introduction to this unfairly ignored band. If you enjoy the track check out the Blonder Tongue Audio Baton record which is still available on Taang.

The Swirlies-Jeremy Parker

The Melvins-Lysol

There is really not a whole lot to say about this band that hasn't been said already. It seems to be the one band along with Black Sabbath that any person remotely into hard music agree on. Its probably due to the fact that they are so fucking good. "Lysol" is not one of the most popular records by the Melvins but it was the first one that I picked up. Apparently when it was released there was quite a bit of controversy about the title which was a registered trademark. Shortly after Lysol was released the Melvins record lable at the time changed the title of the record to "The Melvins". So chances are when you hear this track and run out to your local record store to buy this record you will find the self titled version. Everything else about the record is just as brutal as the original including the painting of the indian on the cover that was bitten from a beach boys live record. Below is a link to my favorite track on the record, Roman Bird Dog. So if you are into any of the sludgy metallic drone bands that are popular today check out this record because in my opinion the Melvins did it way before it was cool and they did it way better.

Melvins-Roman Bird Dog

Welcome

Welcome to Pacific Radio Fire. This blog is maintained by a few friends who have been collecting records together and alone for years. I think I can speak for all of us when I say we would like to keep the blog music heavy and light on bullshit so if you happen to be into the music we post please subscribe or check in with us whenever. Hopefully we will be updating it enough to keep everyone (including ourselves) interested and wanting more like so many publications do for us. I think we would eventually like to both post ten records each that in our opinion are crucial records in anyones collection but I wanted to get things running while we are getting weird over these introduction lists. So hopefully we will have those lists soon so you can get a feel for what type of posts you can expect from this blog but until then I will be experimenting to figure out exactly how we want to do this.