Palmyra Delran: You Are What You Absorb

Handsome Dick Manitoba recommends Palmyra Delran. And that should be enough for anyone!

Palmyra’s new album: You Are What You Absorb was released today and true to its title, the music reflects what she musta absorbed from her rekkid player. Back in the 90’s, she used to be in some retro garage band called The Friggs. I was pretty wasted during the 90’s and don’t remember much of the decade. Oops.  

Plenty of fuzzy guitars, cheezy organs (and if your organ has cheese on it, see a doctor!) & garageland influences. I can easily pick out echoes from The Pretenders, Sleater Kinney and The Pandoras. Also reminds me of Wendy Wyld & The Mad Violets (who were a NYC garage band from the 80's- they used to pass around mushrooms and/or blotter. Good times. At least I remember them to be good times- hard to tell, the 80's are even fuzzier than the 90's).

Pick hits include “Shy Boy” (also the lead-off track on Little Steven’s Coolest Songs In The World volume 8), “You’re My Brian Jones” and the sitar led “Shut Out”. Palymyra’s got a voice a bit like Vickie (or is it Debbie) Peterson from The Bangles. "Never To Be Back Again” has got that bitchin' farfisa sound.

I also really dig the extremely “What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace Love and Understanding” influenced “Lies For You” (she should be payin’ royalties to Mssrs Costello and Lowe for that one). Actually, the more I listen to this elpee, the more Elvis C I hear. Or more to the point, The Attractions.  That's not a bad thing. At least it wasn't until Imperial Bedroom.

The last song on the album “The Turtle” is an off kilter early 60’s jazzy bossa nova dance tune. You know how you do "The Turtle"? You come out real slow and just stand there. My kinda dance. Hey man, us punks used ta "stand for unity". Or fall down for alcoholism. 

This is a 12 song burst of sunshine. It's hard to stay pissed off when you listen to this!

Go buy the record.

Pure pop for now people.

Or something.

We're a Garage Band

"We're a garage band

We come from Garageland"
--The Clash

Sometimes it's just nice to kick out the jams, muthufuckas.


So that's what me and some pals are doing tonight. As we have all been in Rock n Roll stasis as of late, we figured it was high time (and it will be a high time) to hook up and blast the shit out of some rock.
After all, what's wrong with making alot of noise, aided by various intoxicants and a three chord ideaology.

Undoubtedly, it will be sloppy caterwaul of sound.

Perfect!

PS - If John Doe is touring in your area... go see him! Saw the show in NYC last nite and it was fantastic. A smattering of old X tunes, but the solo stuff was great. And GO HERE to stream his new album A Year In The Wilderness.

And if you want to play the home version of our jam... here's the songs we will probably start out with. Just punch a hole through your speaker, fire one up and it'll be like you're there!

Toonage:
Ramones - Surfin Bird (live Northwestern U 1979)
AC DC - Highway To Hell
Sonic Youth - Death Valley '69
Mudhoney - In and Out of Grace
Stooges - 1970 (live 1971 - Cinn Pop Fest)
Hole - Celebrity Skin
Pixies - Gouge Away

CAVESTOMP ! - New York City branch

In NYC in the the mid-1980's (about 1982-1985), there were a bunch of bands that collectively breathed new life into the 1960's "Punk Rock" garage bands. These bands would play "Nuggets" era covers (The Seeds, Music Machine, etc) and originals as well.

While the bands from this scene played all over NYC and NJ, one particular club called THE DIVE, became home base for many of these bands. Additionly, "Paisley Underground" national bands (Green On Red, Rain Parade, etc) would also play at The Dive when in NYC.

Today, we'll feature some of the bands that made that time in NYC so cool.

The Fleshtones: "The Super Rock" kings have been kickin it since 1977 and are still going strong. Still touring as well! The Fleshtones style was high energy dance oriented r n b with a healthy dose of the 60's garage sound.
By the early 80's, The Fleshtones were already successful. They had been signed to IRS records and were featured in the 1981 concert film Urgh A Music War.
They had already released two albums nationally on IRS (Roman Gods & Hexbreaker) . They also were featured on the soundtrack for the Tom Hanks movie Bachelor Party. Lead singer Peter Zaremba also hosted 120 Minutes on Mtv for some time in the late 80's.
The Fleshtones would often bill themselves as The Hexbreakers when they played at the Dive.
Fleshtones Website
Buy Fleshtones Music

The Vipers - Jon Weiss and The Vipers featured a more early 60's Brit sound. Jon would later be instrumental in reviving the scene in the late 90's and beyond as the creator of Cavestomp!
Vipers Website

Buy Vipers Music

The Fuzztones - Total garage animals, firmly entrenched in the American Int'l films and bands like the Music Machine, The Seeds and The Count Five, The Fuzztones were led by Rudi Protrudi and featured the sultry Deb O'Naire on keyboards for many years. The Fuzztones took the bad-ass attitude of the punk scene and melded it with the biker fashions and black turtlenecks of the late 60's and made their own concoction.
Fuzztones Website

Buy Fuzztones Music

The Raunch Hands - Fronted by lead throat Mike Chandler, The Raunch Hands played drunken, bluesy punk. Rarely was there a time when the audience or band wouldn't be wasted at the end of a show.

Rauch Hands Site

Buy Raunch Hands Music

Other bands of that era include: The Cheepskates, The Outta Place, The Mad Violets, The Mosquitos, Smithereens, The Tryfles and many more.

A great resource for Garage Punk is: www.garagepunk.com

Today's posting is dedicated to

THE OGNIR DEATH SQUAD.

Toonage:

The Fleshtones - R-I-G-H-T-S
The Fleshtones - The Girl From Baltimore
The Fleshtones - Shadow Line
The Fuzztones - Green Slime
The Fuzztones - Bad News Travels Fast
Vipers - Nothings From Today
Vipers - Cheated & Lied
Raunch Hands - Naked Naked Naked