Ska legend dead

At the age of 64 Jamaican legend Desmond Dekker died of a heart attack in his England home. Dekker is one of the founders of Ska and therefore reggae. During his career he and his backing band The Aces had severeal hits including "Isralites", "007 (Shanty Town), and "It mek". Dekker was the orginal Ska superstar and redfined Jamaican popular culture and music even before Bob Marley. Marley was heavily influenced by Dekker. The music industry and the whole world will surely miss him.
R.I.P. Desmond Dekker (1941- 2006)

picture courtesy of BBC

Pearl Jam

As you may know I was one of the 20,000 or so screaming fans that was able to see Pearl Jam last night (5/24/06). You also may know that tonight I once again will be part of 20,000 or so screaming fans elated at hearing songs like Daughter, Yellow Ledbetter, and State of Love and trust. Now I mention those three songs for two reasons, one they are three better known Pearl Jam songs and two they went unplayed at last nights event. Before I get to the concert itself you first must understand the circustances leading up to the concert. Pearl Jam for those of you who don't know are one of the four major grunge bands that dominated early 90's rock radio. Unlike the other three acts (Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, and the Melvins (some say Nirvana but the Melvins are better)) Pearl Jam is still making records, playing gigs, and they even still have a living singer. In early May one week before Stadium Arcadium came out Pearls Jam's self titled and tenth album came out to critical aclaim. I however was not a big fan of the album. Since the tour is clearly suport for the album I expected for them to play a number of new songs, but I was not ready for the sheery volume of new songs played.

Now for the concert. Not wanting to wait for Pearl Jam to begin playing I decided that I was going to go to the concert at around 9:30. I arived a bit earlier than that at around 9:20 and I was lucky. As I made my way through the doors of the fleet and up three or four escalators to my balcony seats I heard 'Betterman' being played. As I finally got to my seat 'Betterman' was over. After a venture into the new song 'Unemployable' Pearl Jam came to one of my favorite songs 'Even Flow'. They breased through 2/3 of it and then came an average guitar solo followed by a three minute drum solo by former Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron. The solo was awesome and I love non guitar solos but it sort of interuppted to (even) flow of the song. A few songs latter came another favorite of mine 'Wishlist'. A disco ball floated high above Eddie as he sung. The crowd seemed a bit subdued for a while as Pearl Jam muddled through a few less popular songs. The came Jeremy, the definite high point of the main set. The vibe of the crowd was crazy, it was like everyone there all of a sudden got a huge adrenelin rush. But the rush was gone and whiel Pearl Jam slipped past a song from the new album the crowd again became subdued. Not even fan favorite 'Why go' could pull the crowd out of the funk. Then came the encore. In typical Pearl Jam fashion sevearl cover songs were offered up before the first few notes of 'Alive' were played. Right away the crowd was back up on its feet cheering there head off and pumping there fists. I must say with all the right hands going up in the air together it was like a nazi rally except for one big detail the music rocked. 'Alive' was by far the best perfomence by the band all night. Then came another intermission and mostly old songs. The casual Pearl Jam fan wouldn't even know the songs, they were mostly b- sides and other songs that didn't get much radio play. Crowd was still excited up until the second to last song, another song from the new album. Finally Pearl Jam closed out with a sweat rendition of Neil Young's 'Rockin in the free World'. Midway through the song the lights came on and then two or three minutes after that it ended.

To say the show was bad would be complete garbage, but to say the show was a bit dissapointing would be about right. The band played well it's just that I've been told seeing them live is like a religious expierence. That being said I only had to real problems with the show, one when you are Pearl Jam you don't close with a cover, and more importantly there were too many songs songs from the new album.

Setlist courtesy of pearljam.com:

Set 1	Release, Severed Hand, World Wide Suicide, Corduroy, Animal, Red Mosquito, Love Boat Captain, Better Man, Unemployable, Even Flow, Sad, Wishlist, Gone, Green Disease, Down, Jeremy, Life Wasted, Why Go
Encore 1	Forever Young, Masters Of War, Crazy Mary, Inside Job, Alive
Encore 2	Spin The Black Circle, Do The Evolution, Whipping, Rats, Comatose, Rockin' In The Free World

The future

As you all know every Thursday we conjure in a room sit around and watch music DVD'S (cept when Bryan forgets to bring them in). Has fun as that may be Alex and I have decided that something else must be done at the start of our next meeting. We must pick a new name. Although it pains me to say the name is a problem. It's a problem for one simple reason, people take it way to seriously. According to that kid Kass a lot of his friends have been scared away from the club because of the name (of course that does mean people are reading the signs). So at the beginning of we should pick a new name.

As usual along with a bit of society news I have some other random music news. In Europe there is a contest like American Idol (it came first) where groups (almost always pop) compete. Each group is from a Europeon/Middle Eastern country and to win is a big honor for the country. This year there was a giant upset and a Finnish metal band called Lordi won. It is particularly odd because many Fins felt Lordi shouldn't have even represented Finland in the contest. What is even wierder than that is that Lordi isn't a normal metal band, they are like Gwar and played the contest in full costume. To see a video of the song Lordi won with go here: http://pitchforkmedia.com/tracks/06-05-22.shtml

News...

Sorry about the lack of posting of late but I've been busy. But since I haven't posted in so long I have a plethora of news to announce. Firstly I will start with news that concerns our little society. As we all know Mr. Randolph is no longer with us. I'm not sure where he is right now (because I'm not big brother) but I can tell you that this summer he will be in Seattle. I don't know yet if he got the job at South so keep your fingers crossed. That being said I have a good feeling he will take Ms. Alicino's job if she does leave. Speaking of Ms. Alicino that brings me to my next bit of news. Well it's not really news but that doesn't matter. We really need to step up our efforts at getting getting a teacher next year. Althought we can hope Mr. R will be hear next year we must plan for him being gone. Hopefully we could have a teacher or teachers lined up before our last meeting, and in the unlikely chance we get two teachers who would do it we can either vote on it or use both of them. This brings me to my last society tidbit in the near future I will be renting or buying a live Jimi Hendrix DVD. Once that is done I think we should hype it up for about at least a week and get a bunch of people. If we have the flyers up more than a few hours in advance then we should attract more people.

Now for some non society music related news. Jerry Only (Misfits), Marky Ramone (Ramones), Dez Cadena (Black Flag), Richard Hell (Black Flag), Ivan Julian (Voidiods), and singer John Cafiero have teamed up to form the supergroup Osaka Popstar. The question is will this be punk's answer to amazing supergroups like Cream and Led Zeppelin or will Osaka Popstar suck like audioslave. I guess we will find out soon.

http://www.osakapopstar.com

Nothing...

Well right now there isn't much to post. We don't have that many members yet. I WILL bring the Motley Crue dvd next week. We should get the lecture hall for the last week we have music club and watch the Jimi Hendrix dvd then. Where is Mr. R anyway?

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Ok, so I was on my way to Newbury Comics, and what do you know, I find $20 lying in the street. So I go in to Newbury Comics and buy Stadium Arcadium thinking it's going to suck, but whatever, it was free. I go home and listen to it, and I find that is actually pretty good. They didn't quite go back to the good old chili peppers, but it's a new blend of chili peppers. It might not actually be worth buying for yourselves, but some songs are pretty good that should definitely be downloaded or acquired somehow.

Serial Insane Clown Killers?

I know I haven't posted much, but between being lazy and working on my history essay I've been busy. Speaking of Blue Oyster Cult, I just went to their concert a few weeks ago and they were great live. I also have a few albums that I can lend to Eby as well. I recommend the songs Flaming Telepaths and Cities on Flame With Rock and Roll. Also, if we can't get any teachers to host the music club then we could ask Mr. Rinaldi. I'm currently listening to a lot of The Who, but I always listen to that. I will also keep on bringing in the Motley Crue dvd until we watch it.(Even if it takes me all year!)I promise that I'll make an actual post sometime soon.

An apology and music I've been hooked on

First I would like to offer a strong apology for the Hendrix DVD not working. I really should have checked before hand to make sure that it worked. That being said only one person came for Hendrix (beside Em) so I was thinking we should promote it more and I'll get a real DVD of it. And who knows we may even be able to get the lecture hall. In other news due to the possible absense of both Ms. Alicino and Mr. Randolph we need teachers. If you know any cool teachers ask them if they would do it.

Now since both Eby and Sasha have written about music they are currently listening to I have to decided to join the fun. Now I know I wrote that review about Blood on the Wall so you might asume I have been listening to that a lot, but that would be wrong. In fact to be honest I bought that album in January. Other than the usual mix Pavement, Guided By Voices, Pavement, Jimi Hendrix, Pavement, Velvet Underground, and Pavement recently I have been listening to a lot of shoegazing music. Shoegazing is a genere of music named because of the amount of effects pedals used (the artists were always looking at their feet). Bands like The Boo Radleys, My Bloody Valentine and, Ride have captured my mind. Other bands that have gotten heavy play on my I-pod of late are Dinosaur Jr and They Might Be Giants. Thats about it for now, catch you on the flip side.

Obscure Music

Since discovering new music was one of the reasons we started this society, I decided to make a list of some obscure and non-mainstream bands/albums that I highly recommend.

The first band is Gogol Bordello - Gypsy Punks:Underdog World Strike. This is their fourth CD and as much as I like their previous albums, this one is by far their best. Gypsy Punks combines many types of music that is very catchy and the first time I heard this album, I was hooked. It is a well made mix of Ukrainian folk, modern punk, and gypsy rhythms that will be enjoyed by anyone who appreciates good music. On a side note, their concerts are amazing and have tons of energy that turns it into a very pleasant atmosphere to be in. (No, I wasn't high.)

Another less known band is Kultur Shock - Fucc the INS. Like Gogol Bordello, Kultur Shock combines music of various cultures that sounds great when put together. However, what makes Kultur Shock unique is how many cultures are put into one band: they have Bosnian, Bulgarian, Japanese, and American accents to name a few. If Fucc the INS is to your liking, I would also recommend their most recent album: Kultura Diktura.

The Delegates started as a small band from Canada selling their albums in malls. (They stationed band members throughout the Natick Mall and stopped the people like us) However, their recent Warped Tour appearance and their U.S. tour have exposed them to more people. They currently have two albums released: We All Taste The Same; The Diary of Hamilton Fish. They are both great albums that are a sweet blend of ska, punk, and alternative rock. Unlike most punk bands though, they know how to play more than just power chords on guitar. Oh, and by the way, Asch, their bassist was very nice and easy to talk to when he sold me the album unlike other bands whose members are jackasses.

And that wraps up my list of awesome obscure bands.

Just a rant and some news

As I may have told you last night I tuned into the show 'Gilmore Girls' because I had heard that Sonic Youth was to be on the show. Now I had never seen a 'Gilmore Girls' episode before and if I had I wouldn't have watched it even if Pavement was on it. I know this has nothing to do with music but 'Gilmore Girls' could be the worst show ever. I will say this in the shows defense it was the season finally and I didn't know and of the charectors. That being said the fact that this show is still on TV while great shows like Titus, Freaks and Geeks, Aressted Devlopment, and The Adventures of Pete and Pete lasted for at most three years makes me vomit with rage. Oh and back to the reason I watched the show, Sonic Youth, who were represented by Thurston, Kim, and their daughter Coco, were on for a total of fifteen seconds. I watched an hour of crap to see fifteen seconds of music.

In P.M.S. news tommorow we will be meeting in 2308 not the lecture hall. Bring money for pizza and get ready for Hendrix Live at Woodstock '69!

Awesomer

I'm not so sure about my co-conspirators but with this blog and the club in general I have wanted to talk about new music. New music is awesome, and I don't just mean music from 2006, I mean music that's new to you no matter how old it is. Like the first time I heard Pink floyd. It wasn't new but it was still new to me and it blew my mind. Any way I'm sort of getting off topic. I'm supposed to be writing a review.

Now this is the first real post on this blog and I wanted to think of something good to write about. There were a few obvious choices like Pavement or the Pixies or Zeppelin but for some reason Blood On The Wall stuck in my mind. Now I know what you are thinking. Blood on the wall 50% death metal 50% emo, but they aren't at all. BOTW is a Brooklyn based trio who draw a lot of comparisons to the Pixes but that might be their biggest flaw. It's not that the pixies or that the comparisons aren't waranted (BOTW having a female bassist and definitely mimicing the Pixies sound) it's just that when you compare anything to a divine force like the Pixies its bound to fall short. Wow I just got off topic again. Why aren't you yelling "digression" at me? Anyway I do have a review to write.

Awesomer is BOTW's second album and its much better than the self titled debut. The whole album seems much more developed than the last one. That being said Awesomer seems to be a little less mature than the debute. Where BOTW had long drawn out pop songs Awesomer has fast odes to 1980's hardcore punk with songs Hey Hey and Gone. Another huge difference in this album is the texture. The first two songs Stoner Jam and Reunite On Ice are perfect examples of this. The voices of brother and sisster Brad and Courtney Shanks glide over the drums of Miggy Littleton. That's another thing about this album, Miggy's drums shine over the less then stellar guiar and bass work of the brother and sisster. It's not to say that the songs aren't melodic its just that the musicianship is less than stellar. However these instruments hold up and produce a solid ablum. Every song flows well into the next creating an album that seems to be in a dying breed: An album that isn't just about singles. That all being said there is one thing I haven't mentioned. Well it isn't a thing so much as a song. That song is Mary Susan. It is more than a song it is a reason the buy the album. It is amazing. Simply my favorite single of the 00's enough said.

Aweomser 8.9/10

Picture courtesy of Amazon.com
http://www.bloodonthewall.com

Hopefully we can get the lecture hall for next thursday. I'll bring in some dvds too.

5/04/06

So this is the first post of the Pretentious Music Society of Newton South High School. For those of you not in the know we are a small club that deals with all kinds of music (emo and nu metal aren't music). In the up coming days my fellow Society members and I will make posts relating to music and to our club.