thank you god for youtube.

this is how a piano can save the day.

Notorious MSG, Baby Elephant

The Notorious MSG: Lunch Money EP (Cordless)
release: October 9, 2007
style: comedy gangster hip-hop
[rating: **1/2] Three "original Chinatown Bad Boys," the Notorious MSG has got more rhymes that poke fun at Chinatown, hip-hop and street life than Picasso's got paint. I could give you a couple of lyrical examples from this unique act, but this is something you have to hear for yourself to believe. Especially a corny love song called "Dim Sum Girl." -Kenyon

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Baby Elephant: Turn My Teeth Up! (Godforsaken)
release: September 11, 2007
style: a mess of hip-hoppy funk
[rating: *] Prince Paul (Handsome Boy Modeling School, etc) teams with P-funk veteran keyboardist/moogist Bernie Worrell and a variety of guest vocalists for what should have been a genius record. Instead this is scraps from what it should have been. It was good to hear Shock G of Digital Underground, though he can't do much with the little he is given. Yellowman does little more than make a reggae verision of Baby Elephant. Of course George Clinton makes an obligatory appearance, but it was irritating enough to turn it off and bury it forever. The cut with Nona Hendryx is a chill r&b/soul joint. yea....JOINT! Other than that there's nothing worth recommending. And how David Byrne got mixed up in this is another conundrum altogether. -Kenyon

Kevin DuBrow of Quiet Riot found dead.


Quiet Riot circa 1983. if you know which one is DuBrow, you rock.

Le Concorde: Suite EP
(Le Grand Magistery/Fourchette)
release: November 6, 2007
style: beepy bop indie pop
similar: The Go Find, My Favorite
rating: ****
OMG, lol, i heart Le Concorde. I need to text message all my friends now. The Suite EP is a lollipop of Daft Punk, Jackson 5 and the Postal Service (oddly enough, main guy Stephen Becker, Ph.D (!) was in a band called Post Office). Smart philosophical doctor lyrics such as "I don't want to break you like a promise" sweeten songs that followed Becker's divorce and addiction to literature. A dreamy pin-up artist for the indie pop generation. Heart. -Kenyon
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Tiger! Tiger! : The Kind of Goodnight (Chicken Ranch)
release: October 2, 2007
style: dark indie garage rock
similar: the Animals' "House of the Rising Sun" but with a girl singing
rating: *1/2 Fronted by raspy vocaled-Buffi Aguero (also drummer of the Subsonics), Atlanta's Tiger! Tiger! rubs the face of indie pop in garage rock that has an attitude. The Western guitar style runs through Kind of Goodnight like a rat that Aguero is trying to kill. I can say something like that because the lyrical matter is comprised of torn relationship experiences. The band is more comfortable when they let loose (the song with the guy singing) and relax with down to earth indie pop (the short "Sometimes"). The remainder of Kind of Goodnight is killing my rock 'n roll with dull knives and whiny vocals. -Kenyon
--------------------------------------------------------------------

White Shoes & the Couples Company: s/t (Minty Fresh)
release: October 2007
style: orchestral Asian pop for vintage French films
rating: *** So much of the nicest indie pop is coming from other countries/continents these days. Germany, France and..Indonesia! yea! go go White Shoes & Co.! The six-piece group achieves sophisticated tweeness on its debut. Tender violins and guitar jangles meet with quiet boy-girl vocals for non-alcoholic mixed drinks. The vocals could be made prettier and stronger though. I dare you to not want to make sweet love to this band. Double dare! -Kenyon

1000 Corpses: lame. 1000 Muppets: Genius.

new Raveonettes

new noise from the Raveonettes, suckerrrrrrrs. "Aly Walk With Me". album Lust Lust Lust releasing on Vice in U.S.A, February 19, 2008. out now in the UK. uh oh, spaghetti o.

The Satelliters: Where Do We Go? (Dionysus)
release: September 11, 2007
style: old school psych-garage rock
rating: **** Funny, they don't *sound* German. More like American or British, specifically bringing to mind The Byrds baking a cake with the Kinks. And the cake has some sweet fillings. And sprinkles! This is genuine garage rock that you won't believe wasn't recorded 40 years ago. These Satelliters are defying all logic. -Kenyon

Hell on Heels: Dogs, Records & Wine
(Dionysus) release: October 23, 2007
style: '60s garage jumping on the couch with bratty girl pop-punk
rating: **1/2
Awesome name for an all-girl band with a Hammond organ. There may already be enough girl rock bands singing about the same things, but not enough with the organ. The quartet makes sure they fit the part of rebellious youth from the late 50s/early 60s with perfect red lipstick, scarves around the neck and styled haircuts. The girls practice some tough love--"Through With You" and "Pretty Mess" for example. For "Can't Buy Cool" they toss in another obligatory inspiration, early girl vocal groups. The cover of "I'll Come Runnin'" has a country-honky tonk-punk walk, but you know what, Hell on Wheels needs to get REALLY angry about stuff. They need to get infuriated with the world and bleed passion. Otherwise the Donnas and Runaways are gonna kick their ass. -Kenyon
----------------------------------

this week advance copy is featured at BreakTruRadio!

enough said.

and now the opposite of mbv. surf dudes with attitudes...

Lycia: Cold (re-issue Silber)
release: September 25, 2007
style: ultra ambient slow goth
similar: Black Tape for a Blue Girl, Mira
rating: ***1/2 Longtime pioneers of ethereal goth/darkwave and a favorite of Silber since before the label even started, the remastered Cold is essential, solitude headphone listening for the corresponding climate. "Bare," "Colder," and "December" and every other track have well-placed electronic drums, gothy male/female vocals that float around and guitars out of the darkest Cocteau Twins songs. As far as this type of music goes, it's as fresh and moody as it was when first released a decade ago. -Kenyon

Electric Bird Noise
fragile hearts...fragile minds (no more stars/Silber)
release: somewhere in 2007
style: experimentalness
rating: *** Comprised of eerie, haunting minimalism, this is one of the most original, non-conforming releases of the year. Electric Bird Noise, begun by Brian McKenzie a decade ago, reaches into the most distant forms of sound made by guitar, piano and percussion. The second half of fragile hearts is a 26-minute extremely ambient reverbed piece that the History or Discovery Channel should use for documentaries about the bottom of the ocean or the origin of the solar system. -Kenyon
-----------------------------------------------

Angie Heaton & the Gentle Tamers
The Rumor Mill (Spur/Parasol)
release: October 2, 2007
style: indie country rock
similar: Neko Case, Jenny Watson, Johnny Cash
rating: ** The sleepy calm voice on Angie Heaton's fourth album--this one with the Gentle Tamers--is too sleepy for me and i can't handle it. Does not compute. The pedal steel and those other country instrument staples are upstaging her. The more uptempo songs work hella better, such as "Train," which is livelier and chugga chugga choo choo. -Kenyon

kenyon is on radio today. 2:30-5pm EST. listen online.

thanks for the add. now i go clutter your comments.

Filewile [Switzerland] - this sh*t is bananas like Justin Timberlake chillin with the Streets. my spoon isn't big enough for this. -Kenyon

The Meddling Kids [upstate New York] - This power-pop-punk band, which must have took their name from Scooby Doo, kicks out the jams with equal pleasures of Green Day, Weezer and 80s pop metal. Their cover of Rick Springfield's overlooked "I've Done Everything For You" (which is on a Springfield tribute album comp, no less) won me over. -Kenyon

Michael Greenberg [Boston] "Michael first picked up the guitar at the age of three and hasn't stopped strumming since. As a boy, he could be found standing on the coffee table or on the beach, mastering every possible classic song......" blah blah, blah! The line-up is listed as Greenberg on acoustic guitar and another guy on drums. But make no mistake about it, this is NOT the White Stripes. The best song heard from Greenberg is the lilting, lovely "Sailing." It's not on his myspace page, so go figure. But there is a song on there that uses the sound of chewing crackers for rhythm. -Kenyon

classic vintage video.
Midnight Oil- "Dreamworld" (1988) people heard Midnight Oil, but not enough listened.

thanks for the add. now i will go clutter your comments.

The Whiles - Joe and Matt Peppercorn lead this Columbio, Ohio band. i seriously doubt that Peppercorn is their real last name. i mean come on. Peppercorn? It's so obvious they made it up just for the band. They should have just called the band the Peppercorns. For serious now, the Whiles are pleasant heartaching folk-country-rock. Here's a press quote for you Whiles: These guys should be opening for Wilco. You like that? Good. -Kenyon

Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele- this guy from Mississippi said he was in vein to the smiths and magnetic fields, et al. i said, "i'll be the judge of that." it's not like those two artists but i can hear a little of them--the ukulele and the sorta romantic baritone vocals--in Dent May's sophisticated low-key first half of the 20th century cultured folky pop. -Kenyon

The Hectors- Nah this doesn't have an infusion of shoegaze like another critic said. Do not mess with me when discussing shoegazing. Only when the Hectors get the vocals buried and airy and add more effects to the guitar will they have any "infusion" of that at all. The female fronted band has more in common with mid-90s bands Jale and Sleeper. But where are the hooks? I can't find them. Help! ok i go sleep now. -Kenyon

Control
directed by Anton Corbijn
limited U.S release October 2007.
seen at Cinema Arts Centre, Huntington.

How Joy Division was able to function as a band at all is a miracle. Filmed in an appropriate black and white by ultra-known photographer/music video director Anton Corbijn, Control tells the ill-fated story of short-lived, troubled vocalist Ian Curtis. Luckily, Corbijn had been familiar with the band since they existed. In lesser hands, Control wouldn't have given the story a respectable treatment, for Joy Division--who was just about to go on a brief U.S tour before Curtis' death--made music that many hold close to the heart. If the focus for you is the band and its music more than Curtis himself, you may feel slighted. In fact, the post-punk band and its music is almost incidental and isn't looked at in a bigger picture to show the significance and innovation at the time, nor do we see the band discussing their songwriting or how the first song came together. Some of that is intuitive, and putting the music into perspective was only realized the following 25 years after Joy Division's demise. Control is an examination of Curtis, beginning in 1973 when we see him listening to David Bowie, smoking cigarettes and meeting his future wife (whose memoirs provides much of the details of the film). Getting married is usually a turning point in an artist's career later in life--they settle down and lose the angst. Like Nirvana, this was not the case. We can speculate about what "might have been" had Curtis not took his life so early, but it's evident from what we know about his existence that his troubles resulted in brilliant music. The songs in Control--by the actual actors as well as Joy Division themselves (plus the Killers covering a song during the end credits..um why?)--are dispersed appropriately, with some coinciding with the tragic plot (the live versions are abridged..awkward!). In a different time and place with different people, the story would have unfolded differently--Curtis' epilepsy, for example, could have been under better care in 2007 by doctors, his bandmates, manager, wife and mistress. Whether it's fate or freewill, a piece of music history is already written. -Kenyon

Little Wings: Soft Pow'r (RAD/Marriage)
release: September 18, 2007
style: singer/songwriter indie folk
rating: ***1/2
A regular on K records, this seventh album from frontperson Kyle Field and friends includes help from the boy from YACHT, among others. The whispery soft vocals bring to mind many other folk, indie rock and country songwriters. I'm sure you can think of a few. Think about THIS >> 7 tracks of lonesome, organic wholesomeness. -Kenyon