Welcome back! https://trouserpress.com/forum/index.php Tue, 23 Jun 2026 17:56:34 -0500 Phorum 5.2.23 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71548,71548#msg-71548 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71548,71548#msg-71548
Hello all, Stephen Desaulniers here, bass player for the Scud Mountain Boys. I have some sad news to relate. Our dear friend of almost 40 years, Bruce Tull, passed away early this morning, after a short illness. He was the heart and soul of our band. His approach to life, and to music, was unique in our experience. A gentle, kind, and generous man of many talents, he left a lifetime of memories to cherish, for which we will be forever grateful.

There will be much more to say after we’ve all had time to process this, and we’ll all get together at some point to throw a really big party to see him off properly, of course. One thing, for now, to share: Bob Pernice, Joe’s brother, after meeting Bruce for the first time, said to me, Tom, and Joe, “You could go your whole life and not ever meet another guy like that.” So very true. Farewell, old friend. You most certainly left your mark.]]> zwirnm Trouser Press Tue, 23 Jun 2026 12:41:05 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71542,71542#msg-71542 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71542,71542#msg-71542 ]]> ira Trouser Press Tue, 23 Jun 2026 07:37:45 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71523,71523#msg-71523 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71523,71523#msg-71523
Details here.]]> Delvin Trouser Press Tue, 23 Jun 2026 09:40:58 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71518,71518#msg-71518 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71518,71518#msg-71518
I guess that's where The Beastie Boys got it from. However; I don't know if any band ever called themselves "The Way Outs" .
But, I wouldn't be surprised if The Wrecking Crew played behind both of 'em.

Season 6, episode 11 and don't miss the next episode "Shinrock" featuring The Beau Brummelstones!]]> STEVE Trouser Press Sun, 21 Jun 2026 23:53:59 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71514,71514#msg-71514 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71514,71514#msg-71514
Thee Milkshakes - They Came They Saw They Conquered
Well whad'ya know, I was wrong! That album by Thee Headcoats wasn't the only Billy Childish artifact on my shelf. (I guess it's a good thing I've been doing this listening exercise.) Fifteen songs on this LP, only one of which breaks the three-minute mark. This disc doesn't careen with the excitement that Headcoatitude has, though. A few tracks, like "I'm Needing You," manage to stand out, but a lot of the songs here feel a bit restrained. I'm kind of on the fence about this one. I think maybe I'll take it to the radio station, to show off a couple of its key tracks on the air.

Mr. Mister - Welcome to the Real World
An album that I married into. I've continued to hear "Broken Wings" and "Kyrie" from time to time, since the mid-'80s, but I didn't remember ever listening to this album start to finish. Had I done so, sooner than this, the album would've been sentenced to the next available secondhand bin. Mr. Mister clearly is part of the second generation of fake-rock bands, along with Survivor, Night Ranger, Honeymoon Suite and quite a few other bands whose names I could type if I cared enough to think about it. The big glacial keyboards and the huge gated drums are sure signs of fakery, and the mostly inane lyrics don't help. (On the other hand, considering the parameters of fake-rock, they don't hurt either.) There are a few surprisingly gnarled guitar solos, and I must say, Richard Page has a better voice than most singers of this sort of music. Maybe that's why I never gave much thought to this album (or this band) much beyond those two singles, all these years: Page's vocals are mannered, but he doesn't make the goat-sodomizingly horrible sounds that used to get bleated forth by Dennis DeYoung, Steve Perry or Rodger Thompson.

Modern English - Stop Start
Another one I married into. I did already have two earlier Modern English LPs when I got married. I was tempted to listen to them first, before tackling this one, but I decided I should try more to consider this album on its own merits. No Wikipedia, no TP review, no nuthin'. Well, the production on Stop Start is pretty effin' busy; the drums are mixed waaayyy up front. A lot of the songs might have been served well by a somewhat lighter touch, but I suppose they must have been trying to get more "attention" by going for that heavier sound (cf. The Psychedelic Furs album Midnight to Midnight). As a result, it takes honest effort even to perceive whether the songs actually are any good. It takes work to hear them through the production itself. Honestly? I think this is worse than Midnight to Midnight. At least that album had one song ("Heartbreak Beat") that I've enjoyed hearing ever since. Yeah, nothing to see here, folks, just move on.

Mo-Dettes - The Story So Far
I picked this up from a used bin somewhere, being already familiar with their single "White Mice" from a Rhino compilation. That single isn't included on this LP, although an updated version called "White Mouse Disco" concludes Side A. Pretty cool stuff! Angular femme post-punk, similar to the Au Pairs or Delta 5, or the Raincoats without the rustic violin. Lots of echo on the vocals, whether the singer needs it or not. They're not the tightest band I ever heard, but that just seems to add to the appeal; from time to time, when they rev things up, they sound as if they're teetering, about to lose control and shamble over the edge of the song. But they never do, so you have to wait to hear if they'll effin' well do it on the next song. Ten cool originals, plus a really good cover of the Stones' "Paint It Black" and one of the Edith Piaf song "Mi'Lord." Keeper for sure.

The Monroes
I picked up this record from a used bin, undoubtedly drawn by the single "What Do All the People Know?" That song still holds its appeal, with that glistening synth, the crisp drumming, the phased guitar, the melody, the vocal harmonies, the yearning in the lyric -- everything about this track is very Eighties, but in a way that remains irresistible. It uses all the tropes, but doesn't push any of them into the execrable zone. And the remaining four songs on the EP don't disappoint. (Well, three of them don't; the ballad "Blind Faith" does get a bit overwrought.) Another keeper.]]> Delvin Trouser Press Tue, 23 Jun 2026 15:13:46 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71513,71513#msg-71513 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71513,71513#msg-71513 "Punching the Flowers" - Death Cab for Cutie
"Strange Night" - Heart (for Ann Wilson's birthday)
"Phaser" - Julez & the Rollerz

"You're My Loving Way" - The Aardvarks
"Get It Out" - Beth Peabody
"This Is Where I Belong" - The Kinks (by request)
"Would That Not Be Nice" - Divine Fits (by request)

"Ride My Seesaw" - Bongwater (by request)
"Disorder" - Joy Division (by request)
"Dystopian" - Analog Dream

"Needles in the Camel's Eye" - Brian Eno
"Triggers" - Royal Blood (for bassist Mike Kerr's birthday)
"All This I've Done for You" - Hüsker Dü
"My Love Explodes" - The Dukes of Stratosphear (by request)

"Locked Out" [live] - Crowded House (by request)
"I'm Going Down" - The Rolling Stones
"Minstrel in the Gallery" [live] - Jethro Tull (R.I.P. Dee Palmer)

"Reptile" - The Church
"Coffee and TV" - Blur (by request)
"Hungry for Blood " - Midnight Morning

"Heatseeker" - AC/DC (for drummer Simon Wright's birthday)
"It Falls Apart" - Odds (by request)
"Evil Men" - Gary Myrick

"The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell" - David Bowie
"Attention" - The Raconteurs
"Litany (Life Goes On)" - Guadalcanal Diary (by request)]]> Delvin Trouser Press Sat, 20 Jun 2026 17:09:16 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71496,71496#msg-71496 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71496,71496#msg-71496 Details here.

On Tull's 1979 live album Bursting Out, there's a moment on Side A when Ian Anderson is introducing his bandmates. He concludes those introductions with: "And from the Royal Academy of Music, London, Mr David Palmer ... uhh, he's gone for a piss, but he'll be back in a moment."

After the ensuing song, Anderson introduces the next selection, and then adds, "Ahhh, David! David's back ... Did you give it a good shake? Good."

Strangely ... prescient? Anti-prescient? I'm not quite sure of the appropriate word that would apply to that moment, considering Palmer's future transition.

Rest in peace, Ms Palmer.]]> Delvin Trouser Press Thu, 18 Jun 2026 14:02:05 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71493,71493#msg-71493 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71493,71493#msg-71493
Thee Headcoats - Headcoatitude
I picked this one up in a used bin somewhere. It's the only album I have that involves the estimable Billy Childish. It's a pretty lo-fi document, but I'm led to understand that all of Billy's work falls into that aesthetic. I can just imagine at least one of my friends blanching at the sound quality of this album, openly wondering why I even bother to keep it. But if he were to ask, the answer would be simple: this record is an instant party, or at least a surefire fun zone. The trio careens and rocks out with wild abandon. Listening to this, you can almost picture them moving in the studio as they play, occasionally stumbling, having a laugh and sipping a wee dram of whatever they're enjoying between takes (or perhaps during). "My Dear Watson," "Hog's Jaw," "By Hook or by Crook," "It's Gonna Hurt You More Than It Hurts Me" and "Neither Fish nor Fowl" all juice up the proceedings. Sure, they wear their blues and British Invasion influences like a big overcoat (or "mac," as the Brits would say), but when the results are this much sheer fun, I see no reason to complain.

Idle Eyes
I probably married into this one; I honestly have no memory of listening to it previously. According to Wikipedia, this band from Vancouver BC has long centered around singer Tad Campbell; nearly thirty other musicians have come and gone from the group over the years. This album (their first) is an undeniably Eighties-sounding item, with the phased guitars and overloaded echo on the singer's voice. None of the songs is familiar to me; this band may have had a hit someplace, but wherever that was, I wasn't there when it happened. And the lyrics are pretty simplistic, bordering on the dumb from time to time. Yet somehow, to my ears, the end result never crosses the line into execrable. Or perhaps my listening experiences on the last two or three iterations have made me re-think that designation ... or increased my tolerance level. To put it another way: it's pretty Eighties -- very Eighties, in fact -- yet it doesn't plumb the depths of Corey Hart, Dead Or Alive or Cutting Crew. And yeah, it's going back on my shelf, till another day.

Jo Jo Zep & the Falcons - Screaming Targets
I picked this up in a used bin some time in the '80s, probably on the strength of the single "Hit and Run." (I have that song on a compilation, so yeah, that's probably how I chose this album on that long-gone day.) That song's reggae bounce, opening the album, remains as enjoyable as ever; what surprises me (only because it's been so long since I played this whole album) is that they sustain that appeal throughout the album. Its flow works well as background music while puttering around the house, and its individual tracks work just fine if I sit and listen attentively. With summer around the corner, I may have rediscovered this album just in time.

Jon & Vangelis - The Friends of Mr. Cairo
My brother picked this one up from a used bin somewhere; it eventually migrated to my collection. I'm not a big fan of Yes, and I hadn't heard of Vangelis until the title track of this album hit the airwaves. Listening to it now, none of the songs on Side A stirs me at all, save for Jon's pompous recitation about the year 1620 in "Mayflower." That part stirs me, but not in a positive way at all. (Come on, Jon, the Moody Blues drove that shtick into the ground. Seriously, you were around while they were doing it! Don't you remember?) Flipping it over, I enjoyed the title track as much as I ever had, but I'd forgotten how Jon and Van extend it with a slow, unnecessary coda. In fact, I think the portion that qualifies as the coda is longer than the portion that I'd call the song. Then "Back to School" starts, and before I know it, I wish the preceding coda was still playing. This tune, where synth-pop meets sock-hop, doesn't work for me. By the time Side B limps to its end with a soft yet not disagreeable ballad, what I'm left with is a 12" extended-mix single with a lot of bonus tracks.

K.D. Lang & the Reclines - Angel with a Lariat
Another one that I married into. In fact, I don't recall ever listening to this album; knowing me, the fact that Lang started out as a nominally country artist gave me all the reason I needed to ignore it. Had I only looked on the back cover and seen Dave Edmunds credited as the producer, I probably would've given this a spin. So how does it strike me now? "Turn Me Round" comes on really strong, right out of the chute, in all the best ways, with Lang and her band hitting on all cylinders. From there, it goes through more rollickin' upbeat numbers, ballads (well, more like slow-dance tunes), and a cover of Loretta Lynn's "Rose Garden" that doesn't improve on the original but doesn't do it any harm either. Violinist/collaborator Ben Mink is the MVP in her band, bringing just the right touch to the grooves. It ends with an orchestrated weeper "Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray," which isn't really to my taste but showcases Lang's voice probably better than any track that precedes it. Definitely a keeper, and definitely an album I shouldn't have ignored or dismissed so blithely.]]> Delvin Trouser Press Thu, 18 Jun 2026 20:11:36 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71484,71484#msg-71484 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71484,71484#msg-71484 breno Trouser Press Fri, 19 Jun 2026 15:45:58 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71464,71464#msg-71464 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71464,71464#msg-71464
"Turn It On" – The Flaming Lips (by request)
"Electric Lash" –. The Church
"Roll Out the Red Carpet" – The Hives (for drummer Chris Dangerous' birthday)
"Gotta Get Some Action Now!" – The Hellacopters (for guitarist Andreas Svensson's birthday)

"Angelica" – Wet Leg (by request)
"The Hardest Button to Button" – The White Stripes
"Sleep's Older Sister" – They Might Be Giants (for John Linnell's birthday)
"Sonic Reducer" – Dead Boys (by request)

"Age of Consent" – New Order (by request)
"Look for Your Mind" – The Lemon Twigs (by request)
"Little Wonder" – David Bowie
"Twin Hometowns" – Beat Rodeo (R.I.P. Steve Almaas)

"High Priest of Rhythmic Noise" – Cheap Trick
"Kind of a Girl" – Tinted Windows
"Do Something Real" – Bun E. Carlos with Robert Pollard
"Good Morning, Good Morning" [live] – Cheap Trick

"Invincible" – OK Go (by request)
"We Outlast Them All" – Guided By Voices (by request)
"At Home, At Work, At Play" – Sparks (R.I.P. Ian Hampton)
"My Dear Watson" – Thee Headcoats

"Change" – Tears for Fears (by request)
"Beyond and Back" – X
"The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead" – XTC (by request)

"Love Crimes" – Dirty Looks
"Gone Daddy Gone" – Violent Femmes (by request)
"Beautiful Couch" – The Moth & the Flame (by request)
"Best One Yet" – Black Flag (for bassist Kira Roessler's birthday)

"Only You" – Yazoo (by request)
"The Passenger" – Siouxsie & the Banshees (by request)
"Meds" – Placebo
"The End Is Not the End" – The Strokes (by request)]]> Delvin Trouser Press Sat, 13 Jun 2026 17:37:22 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71459,71459#msg-71459 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71459,71459#msg-71459 here.

Ian Dury-“Blockheads”
Suicidas-“Cantemos”
Flesh Eaters-“Sleeping Sickness”
Eddy Current Suppression Ring-“Hard To Be Moved”
Downtown Boys-“You’re A Ghost”
Genesis Owusu-“The Worldwide Scourge”
Kaya Conky, Ari Falcao, Christopher Luz & GP DA ZL-“Front”
DNA-“New New (live)”
Bruk Rogers featuring Roberta Silva & Onj-“Lua”
La Rvfleuze-“Parlu”
Myaap-“Reaper”
Trim-“Coconut Water”
DJ Screw featuring The Click-“Tired Of Being Stepped On”
Abstract Tribe Unique-“L. A. Styles Back”
Tierra Whack-“Wax Paper”
Sha Ray X DJ Haram-“Thot Daughter”
Cocanha-“Rememanuech”
Ana Luia Caiano-“Uma Vida E Menos”
Ydrus-“Discarded In Reverse”
Mark Jenkin-“Look At It”
Louise Huebner-“Orgies – A Tool For Witchcraft”
White Heaven-“Strange Bedfellow”
Man-“Many Are Called But Few Get Up (Peel session)”
Jeff Parker ETA IVTet-“Like Swimwear (Part Two) (live)”
Horse Lords-“A City Yet To Come”
Rump State-“The Medusa Price”
Ornette Coleman-“Theme From A Symphony (Variation Two)”]]> steevee Trouser Press Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:04:25 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71442,71442#msg-71442 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71442,71442#msg-71442
Like my first few, these are all TP artists pulled from my vinyl collection. Minimum of 10 years by my estimate since last listen. Only 5 this time. Rated on a 1-10 scale of how much I enjoyed listening this time. After this, I'll move on to my CD collection.

Elvis Costello - Goodbye Cruel World - 8
For some reason, I thought this album was really weak and have avoided it since first listen many years ago. What a pleasant surprise! Definitely not EC's best, but I really enjoyed this. Outside of "Only Flame in Town" I didn't remember any of these songs. That one is very smooth and I thought I remember the rest of the album being in that vein. It doesn't rock like This Year's Model, but it's not the pile of mush that I thought it was. There was really just one song that I hated ("I Wanna Be Loved") but the rest was very good.

Jerry Harrison - The Red and the Black - 7
Another winner! I've always loved "Worlds in Collision" and that's what I remembered before spinning this one again. Oh, and some song where he talks about being in a traffic jam and getting over it. Anyway, there is not a ton of variety here, but what it does it does well. Having Belew on hand doing his thing is always a good thing for this style of music.

Ranking Roger - Radical Departure - 6
This is one that I expected to like better, but it had too many bland moments. But the up-tempo numbers are really good, especially "So Excited." Maybe it's unfair on my part, but I want this style of music to be fun, and there are too many un-fun moments as Roger tries hard to be serious. If that weakens the album for me, then that's probably more my fault. Anyway, I'd still rank this album slightly above average on my scale.

Graham Parker - Squeezing Out Sparks - 7
I bought this at Wax Trax in Denver on a work trip in 2012 or so. I listened once, decided it wasn't for me, and shelved it. Now 14-ish years later, I wonder what was wrong with me back then. I enjoyed the first song, then the second, and then kept telling myself it's going to go to crap any minute now, but that never happened. I enjoyed it from end to end. I also own The Real Macaw, which based on my unreliable memory, I thought I liked better than Squeezing Out Sparks. We'll see.

The Swingers - Counting the Beat - 5
When I first heard the title song about 25 years ago or so, I knew I needed to own this album. I was also on a huge Split Enz kick at the time. Well, you can only listen to that one song so many times. The rest of the album does not live up to its lofty standards, but there are some good moments here, including a pretty cool instrumental. This is mostly fun, high energy music. Phil Judd and Bones Hillman have certainly played on better albums with better bands.]]> zoo Trouser Press Wed, 17 Jun 2026 06:16:30 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71440,71440#msg-71440 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71440,71440#msg-71440 To be sure, the comp cherry picks tracks during this period, but when it's done, the feeling is nothing short of musical splendour.]]> STEVE Trouser Press Wed, 10 Jun 2026 22:16:13 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71438,71438#msg-71438 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71438,71438#msg-71438 Absolutely extraordinary.

I heard Echo and the Bunnymen wanted him at one time, I wonder, did anything ever come from that?]]> STEVE Trouser Press Wed, 10 Jun 2026 21:04:41 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71437,71437#msg-71437 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71437,71437#msg-71437
TMBG - whistling in the dark]]> STEVE Trouser Press Wed, 17 Jun 2026 16:13:17 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71426,71426#msg-71426 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71426,71426#msg-71426 The Flys - Waikiki Beach Refugees
I'm not sure when I got this one, but it must've been from a used bin, judging from the cutout corner. It probably was some time in the Nineties, when The Auto-No would include The Flys' song "Love and a Molotov Cocktail" in their sets. That single doesn't appear on this album, but what does appear is great modish rock 'n' roll, very favorably comparable to The Vapors. It offers a couple of change-ups ranging from Buddy Holly-ish clipped-guitar sounds to a weird take on country-blues. Definitely not front-loaded at all; indeed, in some ways, the second side is tighter than the first, with the songs coming in quick hot succession. Very cool. A serious keeper.

Corey Hart - First Offense
I married into this one. Listening to this album, I remembered the TV series Futureman and the role that Corey Hart's music played in a few of the episodes -- the portion of that goofy sci-fi series that was set in the Eighties. The album's sound is very Eighties, of course, but not on the "execrable" side ... at first. But as Side One moves along, it begins to show more and more of those elements. And after flipping it over, the music and Hart's singing affectations (like his repeated line "N-n-n-n-nooo, nooo ..." in one song) go from execrable to painful. And the songs just seem to get dumber: "Cheatin' in School" might be about a student who's cheating on classwork, or cheating on a lover; it never seems clear in the lyrics. I could dig deeper into those lyrics, if I cared enough about this song. All the worst elements are here, but without the sheer brazen bombast of Dead Or Alive, or the all-in confidence (misplaced though it may have been) of Cutting Crew. And then I remembered that the character in Futureman who appreciated Hart's music so deeply was one who literally had never heard music before. This may have been Corey's first offense, but forty-plus years later it remains pretty offensive.

The Jeff Healey Band - See the Light
I received this as a freebie from our hometown radio station. Generally, I don't get much into blues, but this album maintains much of the appeal it had when I first heard it. "Confidence Man," "Don't Let Your Chance Go By," the instrumental "Nice Problem to Have," "Someday Someway" (not the Marshall Crenshaw song) and the title track all deliver the goods. The ballads drag things down a little, the cover of ZZ Top's "Blue Jean Blues" drags things down a lot more, and the production is too Eighties for its own good (especially on the drums). But overall, it's pretty good. And I enjoyed seeing Healey and his band onstage, so this LP brings back good memories.

The Human League - Hysteria
This is one I got as a gift from a friend, back when it was a new release. She knew I liked Dare a lot (and so did she). I don't recall the two of us ever listening to this album together, but if we did, I'm sure we must've shared puzzled expressions over the drastic drop in quality from the band's preceding LP. The songs on this one seem tuneless, even amateurish -- not the sort of thing anyone would've expected from an album with Hugh Padgham and/or Chris Thomas credited as the producer. Apart from one cover, the songwriting credits are focused on the band members, without any outside help ... same as on Dare, which can't help but make one wonder where their inspiration went. It does include a couple decent songs (the ballad "Louise," the guitar-driven "The Lebanon"), but they're in such shabby company that it's impossible for those songs not to stand out. The title "Don't You Know I Want You" seems like an obvious allusion to their biggest hit; the vocal interplay hints at it too ... but the end result doesn't have anything close to that sort of staying power. And holy jeez, it takes work to make a James Brown cover ("Rock Me Again and Again ...") sound utterly neutered. This is the sort of record that gave Eighties synth-pop a bad name.

Icicle Works
Another album I married into. It opens with the ever-familiar "Whisper to a Scream," but follows it up with quite a few other good tunes. "Chop the Tree," "Factory in the Desert," "In the Cauldron of Love," "Nirvana" (which doesn't sound the least bit grungy) and "Lover's Day," rely rather strongly on the same basic elements that distinguish their big hit: urgent drumming that seems ready to eat up as much of the recording space as it can, yet never seems to do it, guitars that range from brisk strumming to chiming, Edge-y arpeggios, synths coloring the margins, and Ian McNabb's boyish, achingly earnest voice delivering his achingly earnest teenage lyrics. They might come across as a one-trick pony, but they manage to sustain the trick well for the length of an album.]]> Delvin Trouser Press Tue, 09 Jun 2026 19:22:17 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71424,71424#msg-71424 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71424,71424#msg-71424
It's fair to see hearing Are You Glad to Be in America? and Odyssey (purchased at the same time) in the late eighties really changed the way I heard and looked at music. And I bought those due to this.]]> Michael Toland Trouser Press Mon, 08 Jun 2026 14:01:59 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71410,71410#msg-71410 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71410,71410#msg-71410 [wfmu.org]
which I usually don't plug here, but since a number of the tracks were suggested by you good folks*, it seems appropriate. The suggestions were mostly from an ancient thread called something like "When Non-Punks Went Punk."


* many of whom probably haven't been on this board in years, but thanx anyway!]]> MrFab Trouser Press Sun, 07 Jun 2026 11:30:11 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71406,71406#msg-71406 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71406,71406#msg-71406
"Ça Plane Pour Moi" - Plastic Bertrand
"Tristesse" - The Church
"President Gas" - The Psychedelic Furs (for Richard Butler's birthday)

"New Art Riot" - Manic Street Preachers
"Saturday Nite Riot" - The Pink Spiders
"Infra-Riot" - The Soundtrack of Our Lives
"I Predict a Riot" - Kaiser Chiefs

"Half House" - Phoxjaw
"I'm Toast" - Sparks
"Dying to Believe" - The Beths

"Crazy" - The Vapors
"Crazy" - R.E.M.
"Crazy" - Material Issue
"Crazy" - Plumb
"Crazy" - Me First & the Gimme Gimmes

"Clean, Clean" - Buggles
"Mirrors" - Husband
"Hideaway" - Ellen Foley (for Ellen's birthday)
"She's Fine" - The Stems

"The Rainmaker" - Iron Maiden (for Nicko McBrain's birthday)
"Sign of the Times" - Rascalton
"Paper Highways" - Ladytron
"Rats in the Cellar" - Aerosmith

"I Live in the City" - The Humans
"Black City" - Division of Laura Lee
"Fire in the City" - Bob Mould
"It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City" - David Bowie

"Graveyard Rock" - The Joneses
"Pet Sematary" - The Ramones
"See You in the Boneyard" - The Flesh Eaters
"Ghost Town" - The Specials]]> Delvin Trouser Press Sat, 06 Jun 2026 17:45:09 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71400,71400#msg-71400 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71400,71400#msg-71400
And in The Church's case, it's not as if they'd fill arenas with a nostalgia package. The biggest single they ever had only reached #24 on the Billboard pop charts. It didn't get much higher in their homeland; in fact, "Metropolis" was their only Top Twenty single in Australia. The biggest factor, to us — and I'm confident you'll agree — is that The Church has never really been a "singles act." Sure, they've released singles, and a few of them got some attention, but they've never really been defined by their singles. (Except maybe at the beginning of their career: Steve Kilbey told us about a gig in a small town in the Outback, in their early days when "The Unguarded Moment" was getting a lot of steam on Australian radio. He said the audience was so surly and jeering, calling them "poofters" and such, that by the end of the set, he decided he didn't want to play the one song he knew they wanted. This resulted in an ugly mob scene, and their manager taking some physical abuse before he barged into the dressing room and told him, "Steve, whatever they want, you better give it to them.")

Anyway! The show was terrific. With no opening act, The Church played a two hour and 45 minute set (with an intermission), touching on pretty much all the high points, as the setlist attests. The six-piece band sounded great, with a big enveloping sound that still had space for the instruments to move and breathe. They took off on a few psychedelic tangents that started to resemble Sonic Youth at their best. Kilbey was in fine voice throughout (and he looked great), and he had plenty more stories to share between songs, such as the one where he was tripping on acid and hallucinating that his cat was talking to him, asking, "Why'd you cut off my balls, man?" And this "singles set" covered a very wide range, from Of Skins and Heart all the way through their upcoming album, Lacuna.

This was the first night of the tour, so if they're coming near you, it'd be a good choice for a ticket.

SETLIST:
Columbus
Electric Lash
Tear It All Away
The Hypnogogue
The Unguarded Moment
Block
Metropolis
So Easy to Be Sad
The Realm of Minor Angels
Reptile
[intermission]
Almost With You
When You Were Mine
Ripple
Destination
Western
Constant in Opal
Another Century
Already Yesterday
Numbers
Under the Milky Way
Tantalized

ENCORE:
Sacred Echoes Part 2
An Interlude]]> Delvin Trouser Press Mon, 22 Jun 2026 13:03:31 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71399,71399#msg-71399 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71399,71399#msg-71399 breno Trouser Press Sat, 06 Jun 2026 14:40:43 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71398,71398#msg-71398 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71398,71398#msg-71398 Propaganda and Indiscreet. Therefore, a titan.]]> breno Trouser Press Fri, 05 Jun 2026 20:02:24 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71391,71391#msg-71391 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71391,71391#msg-71391 www.theguardian.com]]]> breno Trouser Press Sun, 07 Jun 2026 04:07:15 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71387,71387#msg-71387 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71387,71387#msg-71387
[riotfest.org]]]> belfast Trouser Press Fri, 05 Jun 2026 16:21:32 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71386,71386#msg-71386 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71386,71386#msg-71386
[atagong.com]]]> MrFab Trouser Press Thu, 04 Jun 2026 19:39:55 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71376,71376#msg-71376 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71376,71376#msg-71376
He seems to be the alt-rock Zelig. He's been around forever and would make it into the group shots in the Alt Rock Yearbook if such a thing existed. I guess he's talented and all that, but not so much so that he's ever made much of a mark with any of his own projects - Eleven and Walk the Moon (80s band, not the 21st century hitmakers) don't seem to rate entries on this site. Spinnerette was supposed to be an equal partnership with Brody Dalle, but it was her crotch and ass featured on the album cover - weren't nobody buying the album because of Alain.

He doesn't seem to have ever come up in any discussion on this forum, besides Delvin seeming to have played a cut from one of his many, many, many, many projects on his show once or twice. Hell, we've had entire threads dedicated to Gary Tibbs, and he's a recluse compared to Johannes.

How has a guy managed to seemingly be everywhere but never really get there?]]> breno Trouser Press Sat, 06 Jun 2026 14:42:40 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71370,71370#msg-71370 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71370,71370#msg-71370 Nightdrive Trouser Press Wed, 03 Jun 2026 10:11:05 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71367,71367#msg-71367 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71367,71367#msg-71367 She called to tell me that my grandson Dustin called our home, he seemed a bit shook up about something that happened, and wanted to talk to me.
So, I rang him back and this is what he told me. He said he had just purchased some new lug nuts for his wheel rims and had them put on yesterday. All good.
But on the way home today, travelling about 60-65 mph he noticed a tire pass him to his left, he thought to himself, "What the...hey, that tire looks a lot like mine!" The vehicle went down hard on the driver side but never flipped. He's okay. Before I hung up the phone, I told him I love him.
Then I realized, The Minutemen was still playing.]]> STEVE Trouser Press Wed, 10 Jun 2026 19:45:07 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71363,71363#msg-71363 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71363,71363#msg-71363 Bob Geldof - Deep in the Heart of Nowhere
I'm sure I married into this one; I don't remember it ever spending time on the turntable since we got married. The first solo release by the Boomtown Rats singer sounds like much more of a studio creation than anything I've heard by his band. And he gets some serious big-name help in the studio, from Midge Ure, Brian Setzer, Jools Holland, Maria McKee, Eric Clapton, Dave Stewart, Alison Moyet and others. (Of course, with his profile so high in the wake of Live Aid, they probably all wanted to work with Bob.) Whereas the best recordings by The Boomtown Rats still offer a lot of energy and passion, this album by Bob offers a lot of professionalism. Every arrangement and every track seems perfectly manicured. Well, that sort of professionalism enhances some artists more than others; here, it serves in part to make his vocals sound more amateurish by comparison. Nope. Not a keeper.

Nick Gilder - City Nights
I remember picking this up in the used bin, after "Hot Child in the City" had been a popular single. Wikipedia says that Nick got his start in a Canadian glam band called Sweeney Todd, who had a #1 Canadian single with "Roxy Roller." He left (along with guitarist/songwriting partner James McCulloch) after recording one album with the group; his replacement was a teenager named Bryan Adams. Listening to Gilder's high, feminine singing on City Nights -- and keeping in mind that they'd had a chart-topping hit with Gilder on the mic -- it's a little hard for me to grasp why the band chose the decidedly un-feminine Adams to replace him. Of course, they needed a new writer, not just a new singer. And maybe they saw a new direction to take the group, away from the glam sound. But they didn't get very far in that direction, as Adams left after one album too. Anyway! Gilder & McCulloch's songs are full of stories about hot young girls seeking thrills in the big wicked city, all wrapped in tight arrangements that reflect classic early-Seventies glam, down to the high compressed vocal harmonies and, of course, Gilder's own femme voice. This album comes across as sort of a reflection of Get the Knack, which was released a year later (a predictive reflection?) and also produced by Mike Chapman. Whereas Doug Fieger salivated audibly over the sleaze, though, Gilder comes across more as a voyeur, or at least a semi-detached observer (or chronicler). The songs are good, though; the opener "Got to Get Out" is especially tight. Overall, this album is worth hearing, if you have a Sweet tooth.

Go West
Another album I married into. It's very Eighties, oh yeah ... gated drums that sound synthetic (or synth-drums that sound gated, take your pick), keyboard sounds of all shapes and sizes, all polished to a gleam. (I was surprised to learn that the duo involves a vocalist and guitarist. This ain't Soft Cell or Erasure.) But it's all in the service of some genuinely good songs, with cool chord progressions, good melodies and an excellent vocalist up front. I was surprised to learn that this album produced two Top 40 singles in the UK; taken forty years later, on its own terms, I couldn't tell you which songs hit the charts, because the overall quality level is pretty consistent. ("King of Wishful Thinking" came out a few years later.) From start to finish, this album never plumbs the depths of Cutting Crew, and it's never overblown sky-high like Dead or Alive. I like it.

The Gravedigger V - All Black and Hairy
I picked this up from a used bin somewhere ... and when I slid the vinyl and its inner sleeve out of the cover, something else came out with it: a postcard with a Las Vegas postmark, from 1984, written by some folks named Kari and Mark, and addressed to Greg Shaw! So I instantly knew this would have to be a keeper, no matter what I thought of the grooves. Which is okay, considering that the grooves suit me fine. The band captures the wicked garage-rock sound that makes this seem like a lost classic from the Nuggets dimension. In the TP review, Ira says, "If All Black and Hairy were twenty years old, it would now be a collectors’ item." Well, it's forty-plus years old now, and I'd be surprised if anyone who's into music wouldn't regard it that way, with or without the postcard.

Pearl Harbour - Don't Follow Me, I'm Lost Too
My brother got the one-and-done album from Pearl Harbour & the Explosions as a giveaway from our hometown radio station. So I was familiar with the singer when I found her solo album at a used record store. The record gets off to a hot start, with the chugging groove and spooky sound effects of "Alone in the Dark." From there, it goes from strength to strength: the rockabilly of "Fujiyama Mama" and "You're in Trouble Again," the girl-group vocals and sock-hop sax on "Everybody's Boring But My Baby" and "Do Your Homework," the honky-tonk groove of "Cowboys & Indians," And that's not even all of Side One! And flipping it over, this album ain't front-loaded, I tell ya. The mix is a bit cluttered, with the guitars seeming to have to fight for air. But the pure enthusiasm and passion of Pearl and her musical cohorts is palpable throughout. Like the Code Blue album, it's hard for me to believe I let this great record sit on the shelf for so long.]]> Delvin Trouser Press Thu, 04 Jun 2026 11:39:48 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71357,71357#msg-71357 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,71357,71357#msg-71357 very good interview with Olivia Rodrigo on the NYT Podcast — she is a witty and clever interviewee and seemed to really enjoy the experience — and realized that while she is a huge pop star at this point, all her cultural and musical influences are basically straight out of Trouser Press guides over the past decades.

Clearly she is unabashed about these influences — she has a song called “The Cure” and had the Breeders open for her on recent touring — but it goes way deeper than that, as she described in the interview. She talked about piano songwriting influenced by Fiona Apple, Tori Amos, and Amanda Palmer in the Dresden Dolls. She’s a huge new wave listener. She namedropped obvious choices like Depeche Mode and New Order, but it’s clear that she has a deep interest and affection for this tradition of alternative music (Talking Heads, DEVO, Bikini Kill). Anyway, I’m generally pro-Olivia Rodrigo, as a casual listener, and this definitely improved my appreciation for her songwriting. She seems to genuinely acknowledge and value the traditions of the lineage in which her own songwriting emerged. Even though she’s a pure pop artist, that shows through in her songs as well as her visual aesthetic.

This got me thinking about the generations of pop stars who identify with and value their antecedent in alternative music, especially women. I think I would struggle to find any male young pop stars who seem to be driven by the legacy of alternative rock and new wave in the way that Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, Lorde, or a few others clearly are.

And in the broader sense, I started thinking about what differentiates a pop artist from someone in the alternative landscape. Obviously, sales and commercial and label backing are a big piece of it, but it’s always a very grey line. If Rodrigo had not grown up in the Disney universe and instead had released music independently and then put out records like Sour or Guts through Merge or Matador it wouldn’t have been that much different. Rougher around the edges for sure, but I suspect the structure of the songs wouldn’t be much different. Of course, there is a machine in which she writes, records, promotes, and tours, and an artist in the alternative universe would never have access to those resources, notwithstanding the lineages. For instance, Taylor Swift repeatedly talks up mall-punk and emo as formative influences in her writing, but she also comes through the country music machinery, and that’s awfully different.

Anyway, no profound thoughts, but I did enjoy hearing a pop artist speak with such obvious pleasure and appreciation for decades of alternative rock.]]> zwirnm Trouser Press Mon, 22 Jun 2026 20:03:09 -0500