Times are changin'

I didn't have a chance to acknowledge the death of the great Alex Chilton. I am a huge Big Star fan and like Alex's back catalog quite a bit. I did not get 2009's box set of Big Star. I think I had quite a bit of what was on it anyway.

Alex Chilton was a great pop song writer. In the vein of The Beatles, Marshall Crenshaw, Graham Parker, Nick Lowe, or many, many that came before and after his mark is indelible. R.I.P Alex. I thought you were terrific. It is a shame more people don't know who you are. You knew the South, the U.K. New York and L.A. You even knew New Orleans and for that alone you are the best. You were another Rosetta Stone that does not live, but still a Rosetta Stone which makes you important, very important.

Tonight, I am listening to the very underrated Pink Floyd Album The Final Cut. A lot of folks may not get what a companion album it was to The Wall. I bought it when I was probably 17. I've been listening to it for close to 30 years, eh.

I recently ordered all of Blondie's' back catalog. Tremendous. I am always fascinated with how late 70's and early 80's punk barrows so much from 50's Rock & Roll, 60's girl group and doo- wop. In any event these are cheap, masterful recordings. Seminal, really.

I will review The Drive-By Trucker's The Big To-do here shortly. Great.

Galactic ya-ka-may

As the header states on the liner notes "THIS IS NOT YOUR GRANDFATHER'S NEW ORLEANS RECORD." This really captures the attitude of New Orlean's own bounce-style band(the term for the New Orleans hip-hop sound) Galactic on their new album ya-ka-may. Knowing a little about ya-ka-may will help though a little.

As so much of New Orleans culture is based around food, ya-ka-may (a bastardization of Ya Ka Mein) is a loose set of ingredients used in an Asian soup done New Orleans style. For this album it just means a mixture of all kinds of fun stuff musically. Funk, jazz, blues, R & B, rap/hip-hop are just the starting point for this terrific album. We got some heavy hitters too. If there is a single on this album it would have to be Irma Thomas singing the song Heart Of Steel. She belts this out in her great New Orleans funky style. Boe Money features the standard New Orleans brass style of The Rebirth Jazz band. Legendary New Orleans bandleader and producer Allen Toussaint appears on the song Bacchus.

This album sounds so new stylistically, but it is firmly rooted in New Orleans. Hip-hop in general owes much to New Orleans. A lot of hip-hop out there samples New Orleans beats (especially The Meters, who are one of the most sampled bands in hip-hop besides James Brown!)

I give this album two funky-butts up!

Surfer Blood Astro Coast

Start with The Beach Boys Pet Sounds, multiply by The Jesus & Mary Chain (if you can't find it, The Dandy Warhols are fine to substitute for the J&MC), fold in a large scoop of British Sea Power and sprinkle liberally with Yo La Tengo and you have the jangly surf pop of this Florida-based band. I really like their debut album Astro Coast A LOT! I liked it immediately too from beginning to end. Those jangly guitars can turn fuzzy and dark though real quick. So don't be fooled by the shiny sheen you might hear on first listen.

The lyrics are fun and airy and they even sport a fun instrumental tune called Neighbor Riffs. It is absolutely made for driving down the highway Dick Dale style. That is if Dick Dale was Johnny Marr. This album should be loved by any fan of American 60's garage pop or Euro-pop. Their cool contrast tunes called Fast Jabroni and Slow Jabroni stick some more of that surf garage guitar stuff at you. So quickly in this music though it can change to that British informed no wave; sometimes even in the same song.

I just love their little punky guitar riffs. Can you tell? And the studio treatments they give lead vocalist John Paul Ptts are just wonderful...sometimes as fuzzy as the guitar.

Grab it up, sure to be on my Top 10 for 2010.