remembering shaun and leo

i've been going through my stuff recently in order to do a little spring cleaning and get the amount of crap i own down to a minimum.  it's tough, but little by little we're getting things into a manageable sort of situation.  anyways, last night i was going through some old photos and tapes from high school / early college and i ran across a tape by my first band, big strawberry heavy groovy.  the group consisted of my friends leo, tony, boomer, and myself.  we used to hang around in leo's basement and jam a bunch and basically be degenerates (in a good sort of way).  the music was really sludgy and loud with a layer of megaphone on top of the whole thing.  a funny thing i remember is that leo ordered graduation cards for high school and used the band's name instead of his own - that's one at the top of the post.

one night our friend shaun was in town and joined the band for a couple of hours.  i had a crappy cassette player that i captured the whole session with, and i have now put it on my computer.  it's fun to listen to the songs, but even more so its just nice to hear my pals from back in the day.  leo and shaun have both passed away, gone but definitely not forgotten.  here's a picture of me with them:

(r-l) leo, me, shaun

and here's a little clip of us doing "american woman" - it may sound crazy to you, but it sounds so good to my ears!

GOOD GOD BARONESS IS AMAZING!

i know i'm really late to the bus on this one, but the savannah metal scene down here is BANGIN - there's a ton of great bands hanging around, hopefully we'll get to see some soon!

my top 10 records of 2010

here we go, after much deliberation and record buying binges, i have narrowed down my top ten of 2010 to the following entries:

1 - black mountain - wilderness heart

to me, this is the perfect record, and my soundtrack to most of 2010. heavy, psychedelic, and not a single misstep on the whole thing. this record also spawned my favorite video of 2010, one that i'm sure some of you have been forced to watch at my request.

2 - ariel pink's haunted graffiti - before today

for sure, i was slow to get on the ariel pink bandwagon. i bought the album the week that it came out and waited at least a month before giving it my attention. but when it finally hit my turntable it stayed there for a while, churning out ariel's brand of giddy pop perfection. there are way too many great songs on this one to name them all, but if you've never gotten into them let me suggest "round and round," which has a chorus/refrain that will melt your heart.

3 - ty segall - melted

don't you think that 2010 was ty segall's year? this album pretty much proves it, blending 60s style songwriting with stooges power and crappy production, melted kept us happy for many, MANY trips to atlanta and back.

4 - deerhunter - halcyon digest

it's weird, even though this is my #4 record of 2010, i was still a little let down by it. after microcastle, there really wasn't any other way this band could go but down. it was really one of the best, maybe the single best record of the 2000s, and even though halcyon digest is great it couldn't really compare. but there are a crapload of great songs on it, my favorites being "revival," "desire lines," and the amazing "helicopter."

5 - roots - how i got over

like some folks, after the release of rising down, i kinda gave up on the roots. i mean, how many middling angry albums should one person have to listen to? they seemed to have settled on a formula, and since i was more than fulfilled by the masterful game theory, i figured that was that. and then came how i got over. it seems like the roots had reached the end of their rope as well, and had sort of given up on being popular with kids or selling millions of records, and out of that resignation came this record. there's space on higo, room to let the music relax and sink into your bones. straight jammin all the way through.

6 - beach fossils - s/t

recommended by a record store guy i talk to in atlanta, and part of the captured tracks empire. part galaxie 500, part surfer rock, romantic and garage-y, i bet i've listened to this 30 times and it still sounds INCREDIBLE!

7 - big boi - sir lucious left foot: the son of chico dusty

what can i say about this? it's big boi, doing what he does: making great music that's funny and rad and a little creepy. this album was a couple years in the making, due to label disputes or something, but it's out now and i'm lovin it - now if we can just get andre 3000 to get on board!

8 - allo darlin - s/t

this has to be on the list solely because its a great indiepop record, something that is really rare these days. tons of songs about love and life and cooking a really strange soup, and this super awesome song that has a top video too!

9 - budos band - budos band iii

members of menahan street band, el michels affair, antibalas, and the dap kings crank it up on this set of instrumental jammers. part afrobeat, part booker t, and all the way through incredible. i really want to see these guys live!

10 - superchunk - majesty shredding

i grew up in southern virginia, so bands like corrosion of conformity, polvo, and superchunk are part of my musical dna. and even though i'm predisposed to loving this record i can say without prejudice that IT IS AWESOME! love it all the way through, and this rad video is just the icing on the cake!

honorable mention: off!, frankie rose, best coast, dum dum girls, beach house, male bonding

Do you wanna read some STAR magazines?

wow, this is just too good to be true, check out this link to read every issue of this short lived teen magazine from the 70's!