…From The Stage
While away in Japan, I was fortunate
to catch MxPx
at Shibuya’s Club Quattro.
Following an opening set by The
Starting Line, the Washington-based
trio instantly had the near-capacity crowd eating out of
its hands. Mixing up tracks from “Teenage Politics”
and “Life In General” with more recent releases
like “Before Everything & After” and “Panic,”
fans were treated to a career-spanning setlist. But in hearing
so many consecutive should-be hits, this writer quickly
found himself pondering why MxPx isn’t headlining
arenas or garnering mainstream airplay. Songs rarely come
as catchy or hook-oriented, so it’s a wonder why fans
of Taking Back Sunday
and My Chemical Romance
haven’t begun to latch onto the influential artists
of the pop-punk genre… |
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Since Moving In Stereo:
Volume 17 hit browsers, shelves, and tables around
the world, a lot of worthwhile and attention-worthy
releases have reached the office CD player, including: |
|
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Supergrass
Road To Rouen
(Capitol) |
|
|
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Let
Go
Let Go
(The Militia Group) |
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Cave
In
Perfect Pitch Black
(Hydrahead) |
|
|
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Starbreaker
Starbreaker
(Frontiers) |
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The
Churchills
The Odds Of Winning
(Near) |
|
Several nights later at
Harajuku’s Astro Hall,
Hot Hot Heat played
a one-off club gig while en route to Australia. Playing the majority
of both “Make Up The Breakdown” and “Elevator,”
the Canadian quartet’s dance-rock sound shows more originality
in concert as the keyboards of vocalist Steve
Bays add more to the mix. Although
the crowd seemed more eager to hear older material like “Talk
To Me, Dance With Me” and “Bandages,” the band
seemed as if they could do no wrong to the always-moving on-lookers.
Such had also been the case a few months back at New York City’s
Webster Hall
as the band’s hour-plus set ended to unanswered calls for
an encore…
 |
In support of “Oh
Me Of Little Faith,” Oakland’s The
Plus Ones gigged at Sin-E
for their first New York-area appearance in nearly three years.
Recently spotlighted on “The O.C.” and as part
of an America Online
campaign, Joel Reader
and crew have received widespread exposure through a variety
of media. Although mostly sticking with tracks from the indie-pop-rock
record that is “Oh Me,” the band’s set was
capped off with a dead-on cover of Elastica
classic “Stutter.” A follow-up cross-country U.S.
tour will soon be underway in the Fall… |
The rare classic rock
tribute act actually endorsed by the artist, KISS
Nation seems to be the preferred
KISS cover band by both Gene Simmons
and Paul Stanley.
While easily arguable that this act’s “Paul”
(Benny Doro)
sounded and looked little like the original Starchild, the “Gene”
(Carlos Espada)
was shockingly similar to the “God Of Thunder” vocalist,
from the mannerisms to the singing to the style of bass playing.
This particular evening’s setlist at B.B.
King’s Blues Club focused
on all eras of the New York group’s catalogue – from
“Parasite” and “Love Gun” to “Heaven’s
On Fire” and “Psycho Circus” – but readers
ought to know that both the songs and costumes tend to vary from
performance to performance.
…From The Screen
Recent DVD releases from Shout
Factory have gotten rave reviews
in “Moving In Stereo” – namely “The Fearless
Freaks” about The Flaming Lips
and “The Dick Cavett Show: Rock Icons” – and
even more TV-centered sets have come out from the California-based
company. Those who appreciate classic sketch-comedy should be
enamored with “SCTV: Volume 4,” as featuring the likes
of John Candy,
Martin Short,
and Eugene Levy.
Die-hards of “Freak & Geeks” may want to check
out “Undeclared: The Complete Series,” the short-lived
coming-of-age sit-com from Judd Apatow,
as named one of television’s top shows in 2001 by Time
Magazine. And fans of that prior
Dick Cavett
title ought to keep their ears out for additional editions spotlighting
the likes of Ray Charles
and John Lennon
& Yoko Ono…
| Utilizing modern technology for
a re-issue, Music Video Distributors
has upgraded “Live 1980” from Devo
and made it into a Dual Disc. While the video is grainy at
times – we are talking about a 25-year old concert –
the audio for the 21 songs is perfect and shows Mark
Mothersbaugh in top-form.
There is not much in the area of extras on “Live 1980,”
but the ability to flip the DVD over in your CD player and
play it as a regular album is indeed a plus… |
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Recently reunited and
successful as ever in their native country of Japan, the original
lineup of Loudness
is back with an English-language full-length, “Racing,”
and a tour-chronicling home-video, “Rock-Shocking The Nation.”
Although “Rock-Shocking” brings out the heavy metal
favorites you’d expect from the crew led by frontman Minoru
Niihara and shredder Akira
Takasaki, there is plenty of
behind-the-scenes action showing there to rarely be a dull moment
with these guys. Even those who do not understand Japanese will
find themselves entertained and amused by this bunch, who are
rumored to be headlining an evening at Budokan
for their 25th Anniversary next year. But in the meantime, those
musicians who purchase this DVD will surely be getting their money’s
worth as the booklet also includes the full vocal, guitar, bass,
and drum tablatures for the 10 songs featured in entirety.
If you have news to report
for the next edition of Moving In Stereo, press
releases and all other correspondence should be sent to darren.paltrowitz@gmail.com.
© 2005 – Column
used with permission from Darren Paltrowitz. All right reserved.
| MIS
v.18 Contest
Giveaways
To enter drawing,
fill out the form at right -->
The following
albums will be
given away to readers of
Moving In Stereo:
 |
VCR
VCR
(Side One Dummy) |
 |
Lorene
Drive
Romantic Wealth
(Lobster) |
 |
Rat
Cat Hogan
We’re Bicoastal
(Skrocki) |
Three
winners, one CD per person, will be selected at random and
notified. |
|
