Tuesday, May 25, 2010

bored at work 70's list

I was so bored at work today and I've been hating my job more than ever. Today I received a "verbal warning" regarding an "emotional outburst" from a few weeks ago, that was construed as "unprofessional conduct." I yelled "fuck" really loud after someone called me (more or less) an incompetent idiot and hung up the phone on me.

I decided to help the day go by faster by getting lost in writing an unfuckwitable list of the 50 (+10) best songs from the 1970's, which will be posted here tonight on Taste My Kids...........

60 The Modern Lovers “Roadrunner”
59 Neu! “Negativland”
58 Led Zeppelin “Fool In The Rain”
57 The Damned “New Rose”
56 David Bowie “John, I’m Only Dancing”
55 Ace “How Long”
54 Joy Division “Transmission”
53 The Police “Roxanne”
52 Pink Floyd “Sheep”
51 Stevie Wonder “I Believe When I Fall In Love With You It Will Be Forever”

50 Chris Bell “You And Your Sister”
49 Cat Stevens “Wild World”
48 Queen “Bohemian Rhapsody”
47 The Nerves “Hanging On The Telephone”
46 Todd Rundgren “I Saw The Light”
45 Fleetwood Mac “Go Your Own Way”
44 The Rolling Stones “Miss You”
43 The Police “The Bed’s Too Big Without You”
42 Led Zeppelin “Since I’ve Been Lovin’ You”
41 Big Star “Thirteen”

40 Pink Floyd “Comfortably Numb”
39 David Bowie “Fame”
38 Can “Oh Yeah”
37 10CC “I’m Not In Love”
36 The Stooges “Search And Destroy”
35 The Jackson Five “The Love You Save”
34 The Ramones “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”
33 Rod Stewart “Maggie May”
32 Gary Numan “Are ‘Friends’ Electric”
31 Big Star “September Gurls”

30 Talking Heads “Psycho Killer”
29 The Saints “(I’m) Stranded”
28 Badfinger “Day After Day”
27 Wire “Map Ref 41N 93W”
26 The Grateful Dead “Box Of Rain”
25 The Rapsberries “Go All The Way”
24 The Flamin’ Groovies “Shake Some Action”
23 Aerosmith “Dream On”
22 Michael Jackson “Off The Wall”
21 Devo “Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA”

20 The Cars “You’re All I Got Tonight”
19 The Undertones “Teenage Kicks”
18 David Bowie “Sweet Thing” / “Candidate” / “Sweet Thing (Reprise)”
17 The Only Ones “Another Girl Another Planet”
16 Queen “It’s Late”
15 America “Ventura Highway”
14 The Ramones “Judy Is A Punk”
13 Gary Numan “Cars”
12 The Cars “Bye Bye Love”
11 America “Sister Golden Hair”

10 The Clash “Train In Vain”
09 Queen “Killer Queen”
08 The Buzzcocks “Ever Fallen In Love”
07 Michael Jackson “Rock With You”
06 The Beach Boys “Surf’s Up”
05 Mott The Hoople “All The Young Dudes”
04 The Jackson Five “ABC”
03 Chris Bell “I Am The Cosmos”
02 King Crimson “One More Red Nightmare”
01 Queen “Somebody To Love”

There's probably a lot that was forgotten, but it seems accurate for the moment.. I'm a tad bit shocked how much classic rock ended up here, and how little pop and dance music ended up here.. But I guess that's just how it is. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love "SOS" and "Waterloo," and "Jive Talkin'" certainly would have been included in a Top 100, but I just didn't feel like pushing it that far.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

the brontosaur

I know I already wrote about this last September and a few other times, but The Brontosaur album is still amazing and can still be streamed on MySpace...

The Brontosaur LP

new shit

Wow... I was so right on when I predicted this long ago, but in case nobody has noticed, the Taste My Kids "Lolblog" is a failure of biblical proportions. Yes, Biblical. It's such a joke that its demise was actually predicted in The New Testament (somewhere in the back).

So since there's nothing better to do on a lovely Saturday night in May (there never is), let's discuss life...

After some searching, a few good rock bands (who actually rock) have been uncovered.

So far my favorite of these is NOTHING PEOPLE from California. Apparently, they only record with old school (mostly analogue) recording equipment, a.k.a. the way true American winners record their music. I'm especially a fan of their anti-guitar-solos as well. Check out "In The City" and also their newest single "Enemy With An Invitation."

Our friends at the BRB Adventure team recommended a fun group called MALE BONDING. Their Flipper cover ("Ever") is nothing short of an OMG-MUST-HEAR record. Their new full length is called "Nothing Hurts," an album in which the majority (but not all) of the songs include brilliantly produced (lofi) and aptly performed rock with decently weak vocal melodies accompanied by too much reverb. (In case you weren't aware of this, excessive vocal reverb is such a fucking snooze at this point... Why does every single new rock band need to sound like Panda Bear singing in a church?) That said, I have a feeling I'll be getting used to within 2-4 listens, and this will be kicking my ass by June 2010.

Up next we got THE LAMPS. I only really liked one song on their MySpace ("Now That I'm Dead")... However, they did post this video in their "influences" section, which I'm assuming is a youtube relic (2 million views) which I somehow never saw until an hour ago...



So I think it's safe to say The Lamps are hugely influenced by all things America. They have a new single called "Niels Bohr" which I'm having trouble locating for any type of streaming, and which I would probably purchase if I was big into mail-order vinyl purchasing...

I also enjoyed THE FRESH & ONLYS "Diamond In The Dark" ... as well as the new single from THE ICARUS LINE.

I'm pretty sure I really like this new video from How To Destroy Angels...


And finally, this isn't new at all, but I did get around to hearing "Pocket Watch," the album Dave Grohl recorded during the sessions for Nevermind under the moniker of "Late!" Here's one of the standouts...

Thursday, May 13, 2010

"Dove"

Floor have recently announced some reunion shows.. I will likely not be able to attend, but at least we have the vids... Sounds fuckin BRUTAL.

Monday, May 10, 2010

"Crazy/Forever"

Did you know Japandroids are the greatest rock band in the world right now? Wait, what? You seriously didn't know this? Dude, what the fuck.. How is this not obvious? Guitars and drums... This is all you need.

I'm actually searching intensely at the moment for any other new rock bands who don't hide behind extensive layers of vocal reverb, or who don't add unnecessary non-rock instruments like glockenspiels or fiddles or whatever... Just straight-up guitar rock THAT ACTUALLY ROCKS without any lameness mucking it all up. It seems like such a basic thing that more great bands should be doing right now, but as far as I can tell, there's Japandroids and No Age, and that's it. TWO BANDS. And strangely enough they're both 2-person bands. Perhaps Local H were more innovative than they get credit for..

Oh wait, I forgot about Pissed Jeans. Okay, there's a few other "rock bands who actually rock" here and there, but not nearly enough!

"Found My Swag"

Some new jerkin ... I don't think this has charted yet, and probably won't be charting anytime soon if ever.. But this is the logical direction following "I'm A Jerk."

Monday, May 3, 2010

ZOMG "Adventure Time"

I may need to do some more research into this matter, but I'm somewhat certain that Cartoon Network's Adventure Time just might be the best show currently on television. But what's even MORE amazing is that THIS is the guy responsible for this amazing show...



Stoned indie-rock beardo animator is now the driving force behind TV cartoon creativity for the new decade... Huge news IMO.

Apologies to "The Boondocks"

I think it was in 2004 or 2005 that The Boondocks was placed as Taste My Kids choice for the worst TV show of the year... however the current season which just started last week is actually decent... What initially pulled me into giving it a second chance was that I immediately recognized the voice of its narrator as Werner Herzog, one of the biggest initial supporters of Gummo, and he also plays the dad in Julien Donkey-Boy.

Of course, airing an episode regarding Obama's election would have been a lot more poignant had it been first aired a year ago, or even sometime last summer.. but of course, it does take time to create full 22-minute episodes for an animated series, so maybe this makes more sense..

The Washington Post wrote a decent review here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/29/AR2010042905315.html

And Saturday's season premiere can be viewed here: http://video.adultswim.com/the-boondocks/its-a-black-president-huey-freeman.html?cid=vplayer_the-boondocks_its-a-black-president-huey-freeman