The Jesus Lizard - Wheelchair Epidemic

Amidst claims that I only own records by artists beginning with ‘D’ I have dropped my planned discussions of Dio, D:Ream, Dollar and Daniel O’Donnell and will instead be taking a look at The Jesus Lizard in anticipation of their new release on Record Store Day.

2009 is the year of The Jesus Lizard! To celebrate the reissuing of their remastered back catalogue the band have reformed for the first time in 10 years to play a string of dates this summer across the U.S. and Europe.

The first batch of reissues (Pure, Head and Goat: all remastered by original ‘producer’ Steve Albini and Bob Weston of Shellac fame) are due on 22nd September on Touch and Go Records. But, to tide us over until then and to commemorate Record Store Day 2009 Touch and Go are releasing something of a wet dream for this TJL-and-7”-single-loving fan: Inch. Inch is a collection of nine 7” singles, which have all been out of print for years now, all remastered by Bob Weston and presented in a clear vinyl display pack that allows the whole thing to be hung on a wall and frottaged (or just folded up and put away in a box). Here is an artist’s impression:

The downside is there’s only going to be 2000 copies. God knows how many of those will be distributed outside of the U.S. But if there’s a copy to be had, I’ll do my damnedest to get my hands on it. Check out some of the cool stuff in there: the super-rare ‘Gladiator’ single! The overly-long Lash EP! Love The Jesus Lizard, but balk at the idea of owning a Nirvana record? Then you’ll love the split single they released with Nirvana…now with the Nirvana side mysteriously removed! Hurrah! I still can’t believe that The Jesus Lizard scored a #12 hit single with this in the UK charts. I would LOVE to have a copy of Bruno Brooks or Dr. Fox or whoever running down the top 40 and having to introduce/apologise for that one! Also in there is possibly my favourite single that I own; ‘Wheelchair Epidemic.’

One of my favourite bands + truly unpleasant yet catchy song + truly unpleasant yet beautifully rendered artwork = one hot slab of plastic.

The A-side is a cover of a pretty nasty, cruel and completely un-PC song by Texan punk band The Dicks, sung in goading fashion by the irrepressible Mr. David Yow, most convincingly deranged front man on the planet? To justify getting a kick out this, I must say that it goes beyond offensive, tipping into the tastelessly cartoonish and then into comical. I suppose that were it not for the music chugging away in such rocking fashion it would be teetering on the brink of ‘novelty’ and that is not a good place to be!

The artwork is similarly crude and offensive, as if to emphasise the cartoonish, over-the-top nature of the track. So, the cover may not be much to look at, but check out the back:

What warped mind could be responsible for such lurid imagery? Surely not the same man who penned the lines, “there’s a girl playing the piano while her mother gives her an enema,” and “the dead princess lay silent and her cunt’s ripped?”

The B-side is a little tamer lyrically; just some stuff about being fucked up the arse by the personification of misery and illness. The track is ‘Dancing Naked Ladies,’ presented here in an even slower, queasier and more churning form than its album version.

Well, I almost wore this thing out before the singles CD compilation Bang came out and saved my record from a fate similar to Nirvana’s side of the ‘Puss’ single. Get yourself a copy of Bang or grab one of these on eBay but do not, do NOT buy a copy of Inch. At least not until I’ve got one in the bag.

This Saturday is RECORD STORE DAY!

Sorry, Mum, but I'm cancelling your birthday...



Woah, I'm incredibly late with this one. I heard about this a while back, but I didn’t realise how big a deal it was or that it would be making its way out of America. Basically, this is a celebration of independent record stores and a lot of great record labels and artists are getting involved.

There are something like 100(!) records being especially released in very limited editions and it is mostly vinyl. These are to be sold exclusively through participating stores on Record Store Day and once they're gone, they're gone...onto eBay. Wouldn't it be a tragedy if you missed picking up the Flight of the Conchords 7” in the record shop and had to shell out twice as much on eBay for it and missed out on the lovely experience of browsing the aisles and flipping through all those beautiful records!? I'm going to be kicking myself on Saturday if I miss anything on my extensive-and-growing-by-the-minute shopping list! As if that isn’t enough of an impetus to get out there, there are going to be a slew of in-store signings and appearances. Graham Coxon, Partick Wolf and more will be appearing at Pure Groove in London and I expect there’ll be stuff going on at Rough Trade. I won’t go into the range of acts appearing across the U.S. as it’s just too large, but you can check it out on the Record Store Day website.

Some of the labels lining up special releases include Matador, Touch and Go, Sub Pop, Epitaph, Nonesuch and majors such as Sony, Warner Brothers, Capitol and a lot of reissues on Rhino.

Just a taste of some of the stuff being released:

Pavement – Live in Germany LP (2500 copies)
Jay Reatard/Sonic Youth split 7” (2500 copies)
Sonic Youth/Beck split 7” (2500 copies)
The Smiths – Headmaster Ritual (reissue of rare Dutch 7”)
The Decemberists – The Rake Song 7” (2000 copies)
Talking Heads – 77 (Remastered LP on 180gm)
Radiohead – vinyl EP reissues (everything from Drill to 2+2=5)
Flaming Lips/Black Keys split 7”
Depeche Mode – Wrong 7” (2000 copies)
Sony’s Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Leonard Cohen 7”s in custom sleeves…
And…the Holy Grail of releases…The Jesus Lizard – Inch (but more about that next time!)

Anyway – go HERE for the complete list of releases and HERE to find out which shops are taking part and then get down to a record shop and buy records! Easy, really.

Desert Sessions - Crawl Home

Since the new PJ Harvey/John Parish album came out last week I felt the urge to dig this out to check out a previous collaboration of Ms. Harvey’s. Back around 2000 I was heavily into Queens of the Stone Age and had all the Desert Sessions stuff, but by 2003 my interest had waned, so I never picked up Desert Sessions Vol.9-10. However, I couldn’t turn my nose up at this 7”, although I have failed to listen to it even once. So, let’s give it a go.

Well, first impressions are that this is not the Desert Sessions that I know. For a start, although everyone knew Josh Homme was the main man and extensive credits were given for each track, through volumes 1-8 there was a mystique and the players enjoyed a sort of anonymity. They got together away from their full-time bands, made some off-the-cuff music, and put it out there. But by 2003 this previously supposedly loose project is a far more considered affair. The very concept of a single tells us this, but that isn’t where it ends, oh no; we have a promo video, appearances on TV shows such as Jools Holland, and the backing of Island Records and Universal. A lot of the usual suspects have gone missing; people like Pete Stahl, the guys from Fatso Jetson, Fred Drake, and Nick Oliveri - basically most of the desert/stoner rock guys. In their stead we get more commercial rock names like Dean Ween, Dave Grohl, Josh Freese and Jeordie White (the former Twiggy Ramirez of Marilyn Manson fame). And of course, the jewel in the crown: PJ Harvey. Now, not to rag on PJ Harvey, but there just seems something cynical about taking the biggest and best-known name in the big ol’ session melting pot and releasing her track as a single, putting her photo front and centre on the single sleeve and featuring her heavily on the campaign trail and in the video.


Promotional photos from the time reduce the collective to two key members:


So, none of this feels like Desert Sessions. It feels like some other Josh Homme project. Maybe they should have just called it ‘Josh Homme & PJ Harvey’ since that is clearly what they’d have preferred it to be and have gone ahead and marketed it as. The music isn’t the weird, spacey rock of previous Desert Sessions, but a more slickly produced, mainstream rock record. Not that’s anything wrong with that. It’s just that it ain’t really Desert Sessions.

Harvey gets top billing in the writing credits for ‘Crawl Home’ along with Homme and most of the other players and it’s a fairly enjoyable breathy rock-romp, but not too memorable.

Of real interest here, and in true major-label fashion, is the non-album B-side ‘The Whores Hustle and the Hustlers Whore.’ Written by Harvey and originally released on her 2000 Mercury Prize-winning album Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, the version here is basically just Josh Homme and Troy Van Leeuwen covering it to good effect. Hearing it performed with a male vocal (Homme) provides a nice counterpart to the original. Any big PJ Harvey fans would probably get a nice reward out of tracking this one down.

That said, a quick search of eBay throws up a $50 price tag for this record!!! Crazy. There’s no mention of it on either wikipedia or the official Desert Sessions website, so I guess this one crawled out and crept off. There seem to be reports of a Best of The Desert Sessions, followed by brand new Desert Sessions 11 & 12 due for release this very month! However, Josh does have a habit of talking up reissues, box sets and the like that never see the light of day and since Ipecac Recordings’ website gives no mention of this it looks like you wouldn’t want to hold your breath on this one.

Deerhoof - The Perfect Me

Cool! A picture disc. Let’s take this out of the sleeve and give it a OHMYGODWHATTHEFUCKISTHAT!? Is it the famed ‘Beast with Two Backs’ that everyone at uni spoke of seeing at parties, while I was staying in and alphabeticising my CD collection? Whatever it is, ATP and Deerhoof went to great lengths to ensure the strengths of the picture disc format were fully exploited by asking the awesome David Shrigley to provide the artwork. Deerhoof have a history of working with cutting edge illustrators (teaming with Ken Kagami during the Milk Man period and, more recently, Tomoo Gokita for 2008’s Offend Maggie) and roped in Shrigley to create the Friend Opportunity artwork (of which there are apparently twelve variations on the cover sleeve).



‘The Perfect Me’ was the first taste of that album and displayed the poptastic heights Friend Opportunity would scale. Although instantly catchy and memorable, there is enough off-kilter stuff going on to keep you coming back play after play. The angular guitar squall and free improvisation of their earliest releases have all but been eradicated, replaced with keyboards, Satomi’s endearing childlike vocals and an emphasis on melody. However, bat-shit crazy drummer Greg Saunier brings spasmodic rhythms and there are more time-signature shifts than you can shake a metronome at. Throw in some satisfyingly crunchy guitar playing and you have something that is certainly not your ordinary pop song. It’s as if there about five songs all in one here, though not in a ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ kind of way – it’s all going on at once, which is probably what makes the song so exciting. Overall, the whole thing is just a gloriously free-willed, spirited, uplifting, unique and downright fun track to listen to.



What with this single coming out at the tail end of 2006, the B-side is the semi-seasonal ‘The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill Continuing into The Little Drummer Boy.’ Having gushed all over the A-side, I couldn’t wait to hear a similar treatment of The Beatles’ ‘Bungalow Bill,’ but as with many Deerhoof covers I was left a little disappointed. Deerhoof exercise their more experimental sensibilities and produce a fairly sparse and strangely calypso-flavoured version. Quite nice, but somewhat slight. The same can be said of ‘The Little Drummer Boy,’ which is a fairly faithful rendition, all sweet and twinkly and chiming; but it’s over almost as soon as it begins.

Well, there were only 350 copies of this released, so if you want one it’ll probably cost you a pretty penny now. Personally, I’d recommend saving the money and getting yourself a copy of Friend Opportunity and The Beatles’ White Album instead!