Grunnen Rocks Home Willem Kolvoort
!!! GRUNNEN ROCKS !!!
the "class of june 2010":
Accelerators / DDGirls / KKhan&BBQ / Limiñanas / Sixtyniners / Strange Boys / Tyler JonT

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wednesday june 23, 2010

BBQ3= Sixtyniners (again)

As said before the ultimate SUMMERbbq album is the debut by LP by the Sixtyniners (Voodoo Rhythm Records). As rootsey as hell, but who cares, LEGACY ROCKS no matter what.

3Voor12 knows their stuff. The 69ers are on VPRO's streaming download compilation called Hollandse Nieuwe #8. And from today on you should be able tolisten to the entire album on the #luisterpaal. ENJOY!

BTW That luisterpaal is a nobrainer, anybody who wants to sell records in NL or play gigs here should try and get on it. Waiting to hear the Woven Bones ...

tuesday june 22, 2010

Dum Dum Girls (again)

Today I managed to spent 33/45 minutes on music, here's my one and only tweet:

Tuesday, 2 kids, doing grocery shopping and it feels like summer! How come? @HoZacRecords rules and @dumdumgirls is 2010's best record?


This offcourse should have been this message on this website:

Tuesday, 2 kids, doing grocery shopping and it feels like summer! How come? HoZacRecords rules and Dum Dum Girls is 2010's best record?

Well I fixed that, thank you and goodnight.


monday, june 21, 2010

It's SUMMER HOLIDAY

Yes, life is cool for the upcoming weeks. Some meteorologists decide to call the upcoming three months summer and what's more the upcoming three weeks me+2 are on holiday. We're not telling you where we'd like to go, but I'm sure I'll NOT be able to update this website as regular as I'd like to. Email off course still works and I might even answer that (you never know), but ...
DO NOT count on me reading your blog or twitter-messages or watching your Facebook-page.

To the right an inspiring pic of a cool 7" by some band from Detroit. I don't know who wrote the article on them @ wykypedya, but it sure is funny this website is not mentioned. We'll fix that later on, HA!

xxx, Evert

thursday, june 17, 2010

"Timetravels go through" archive.org

One of the coolest archives ever is web.archive.org/archive.org. Go and have a look for older versions (more or less) of this website, ENJOY!

Maybe tomorrow some more updates, today was too busy a day.
As always: "'T kan zoals 't gaat en 't gaat zoals 't kan".

friday, june 11, 2010 #2

New Stuff @Home

Here's some new stuff I bought last months:

  1. Missing Monuments 7"
  2. King Khan & Pat Météor 7"
  3. Harlem 7"
  4. Harlem LP
  5. Dum Dum Girls 12"

#musicbizzisdumb

Most annoying #musicbizz thing of last week. Melvins are in at #200 in some american chart called Billboard. They list this entry as debut entry. Sob Sob Sob --> Charts suck! I mean really we're talking about a band that made Nirvana possible. COME ON!


friday, june 11, 2010

Tyler Jon Tyler - "Friday I'm In Love With You"

I would rather have named this post "From Chicago With Love", but hey that's no song. "Friday I'm In Love With You" is by the horrible Cure but you know that and The Cure is in at #15 in the ATCB. This post is about the sweet and mighty loveable Tyler Jon Tyler. As you could have guessed they are from Chicago.

They have 2 singles out. The debut is on Trouble In Mind, the 2nd one is on Rococo. You will need both, I only need the 2nd since I already got the first. Good stuff check 'em out @ their MySpace page.

In the band there is Rebecca, Nathan and Some guy named OB, Tom, Mac, or OM, Ilth or Ack, or ... who knows? Hope he does himself ;-) Nathan is that guy from that awesome Ponys and Tom is in the band that released the best 7" of 2008+ ... imho ... eh ... that is The Daily Void. ENJOY!

thursday, june 10, 2010

A-Bones + Green Hornet in Utrecht (ATCB #16+#17)

On this sad (#tk2010) but not lonely day we off course need musical inspiration ...
Well I won't be there but if I were within 100 km of Utrecht, NL july 9 I'd be dancing my ass off at dB's in Utrecht. Because the A-Bones and Green Hornet are playing #goodstuff.

The A-Bones probably are the band closest to "original rock'n'roll" I ever saw. Back in 1993? I saw them playing VERA, with some very cool italian girls with me, those were the days. Or were they only with me at the 7 Year Bitch gig? It's all a daze. Think I saw them once more later on, but hey VERA still does have no gig history at their website, Why? Come On! People? Anyway a really great band, I'm glad they still do play and sad because they won't be in Grunnen Rocks City. Among their ranks they have Miriam Linna and Billy Miller, they offcourse run the acclaimed Norton Records.
In at #8 in the ATCB #16

Green Hornet is the best dutch "grunnen rocks to the core" band ever. I love them. Actually their debut LP is the only LP I ever released on my (not) acclaimed High Maintenance label. Still have a few copies though, trades are welcome.
In at #7 in the ATCB #17.

tuesday, june 8, 2010

Sixtyniners' Debut Album (= BBQ #2)

Thee ultimate 2010 BBQ record must be the debut LP/CD by the Sixtyniners. It's out on the best swiss record label ever: Voodoo Rhythm Records.

Now I want to make clear what this record is like and that you should go and fetch your own copy of it. Let me say it like this. When you like any of these 5 artists ...

  1. Johnny Cash
  2. Hackensaw Boys
  3. Southern Culture On The Skids
  4. The Strange Boys
  5. The Dickel Brothers

Here's what you should do in case you like x out of these 5 ...

  1. x = 0 Go home and sob your heart out.
  2. x = 1 Go check the Sixtyniners out @ their MySpace page.
  3. x = 2 Go buy their debut 7" first.
  4. x = 3 Buy their LP right away or when you're oldfashioned buy the CD instead.
  5. x = 4 Buy LP + 7".
  6. x = 5 Go send an e-mail singer Michiel Hoving and ask him if you can make love to his lovely drumming girl.

There's a lot to be said about all famous guests appearing but I will do that another time.


saturday, june 5, 2010

BBQ #1

Today is the day that ...

  • got me the CD-promo version of thee ultimate 2010 BBQ record
  • got us bbq-ing for the first time this year
  • got us bbq-ing on a decent (not throw-away) self-owned Barbecue for the first time
  • got us bbq-ing in our own garden (3rd time only)
  • will get me to see the Accelerators for the first time
  • I did what I was planning to do for quite some years ...

Here's added the compilation record with the best ever title for a compilation. The comp is called "Let's Have A Picnic And Barbecue Some Corrupt Not Self-Programming Dee-Jays". It was released back in 1989, has 2 LP's and 32 bands. Oh and yes it was released on the dutch indie label Noet Lachten, which proves even in Breda you can start a cool label :-)
And regarding the title of the record:
You know who you are!
#3fm #radio538 #skyradio #dutchnationalradioexceptthevpro

friday, june 4, 2010

Gideon Festival 2010

All right here's a post on quite a big local festival. This event takes three days and it's called the Gideon Festival. If I'm correct this year's version is the fourth one. It is located in the south of Grunnen Rock City and there even is a campsite, with a limited number of places.

This year they again have an impressive line-up. Gravediggers' Crisz Garrit booked over 100 acts. As far as I know the bands I would certainly advise against missing these bands:

  1. Accelerators, from Rotterdam
  2. Electric Eel Shock, from Japan
  3. Elle Bandita, from Rotterdam
  4. Gravediggers, from Groningen itself
  5. Peelander-Z, from Japan
  6. Ravens, from Groningen itself (so that's not The Ravens)
  7. Shaking Godspeed, now with André Dodde from Groningen itself and the rest is dutch too
  8. Sixtyniners, from Groningen/Amsterdam
  9. Vive La Fête, from Belgium

For all other info:
See the festival's website @ www.gideon-festival.nl
ENJOY!

thursday, june 3, 2010

The Limiñanas

All right, time to do something about new singles. Let's start off with new french band The Limiñanas. If I'm right this actually is a (probably married or engaged or something) duo called Marie Limiñana and Lionel Limiñana. They have various guest singers, I heard at least 3 of 'em: the for me unknown Mu, Nadege and Giom.

The band makes a mix of Françoise Hardy, Stereo Total, and a poppy take on soul, say Detroit Cobras, though their hardly is any garage in the sound of The Limiñanas. More names that come to mind are Cécilia M. and Lili Z. that were so lovely combined in the totally cool garagepunky No-Talents. Does not mean that much maybe cause for me any french girl makes me think of them. Sorry about that, now and then I'm in the Sexist Bastards From Hell (xxx to Seetz). Musically The Limiñanas do remind a bit of Cécilia Et Ses Ennuis. The Limiñanas is good stuff. Check 'em out on their MySpace page. Sofar they released 2 singles, their debut is on Hozac and the 2nd one is on Trouble In Mind. I think later on there'll be a 12" or LP release on Hozac, but I'm not sure. You can hardly imagine a cooler start for a 2010 band.

About the history of the bandmembers of Les Limiñanas:
Lionel was in Beach Bitches. For the french scene this is some kind of Pussy Galore: A shitload of cool bands descended in one way or the other from the Beach Bitches. As far as I know the Beach Bitches only released 2 tracks on comps, but I think they released some more, any help is welcome. Lionel nowadays plays in/with El Vicio.
Las Trois Mousquetaires Mu, Nadege and Marie all were in one way or the other Les Bellas, as was Giom.


wednesday, june 2, 2010

Sneaky Pinks debut 7"

Lazy post today. Thanks to the immaculate Rob Kooiman I now know there's a third version of that infamous Sneaky Pinks (= pre-Nobunny) debut 7" from 2005. It is pictured to the right and I'm still looking for details on sleeves, pressings, labels, etc for the record.

By the way the 2nd Sneaky Pinks 7" is not available anymore. Not at the releasing label that is, the releasing label being the acclaimed Bachelor Records from Austria.

tuesday, june 1, 2010

King Khan & BBQ Show's "Invisible Girl"

Thanks to Aldo @ Konkurrent I got some cool CD's, most of them on In The Red. Among 'em there was the latest album by The King Khan & BBQ Show. It is called "Invisible Girl". Time to address some space on the newspage to this mighty cool duo and their prolific "careers".

King Khan & BBQ Show consists of BBQ and King Khan. Both of them, like Ty Segall and Mikal Cronin of last sunday, release records as if their lifes depend on it. They are canadian, though I think King K now lives in Germany or at least he did live there. They started together with some other crazy cats in The Spaceshits. This band started mid 90s and started a whole pedigree of canadian garagerock bands.

BBQ = Mark Sultan who apparently has some sort of mulitipersonality syndrome. Other monikers he released under were Bridge Mixture, Mark Spaceshit, Creepy, Noamnm Rumnyun and Kib Husk. I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out he played in the band of Neil Young under a secret name as well. His most notable stuff was released with The Spaceshits, Les Sexareenos, BBQ and Mark Sultan.
King Khan released records with The Spaceshits, King Khan And His (Sensational) Shrines, Saba-Lou and The Black Jaspers.

Well ... this "Invisible Girl" album was released last year, but I only heard it last week. I must say it's a mighty good one indeed. Good songs, catchy stuff ("Invisible Girl"), a ballad ("Third Ave"), all filler, no killer. Go check the band out @ their MySpace page and make 'em hit the ONE MILLION MYSPACE VIEWS asap! Upcoming three weeks they'll play Australia, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia and South Korea. Not that many bands among the "Grunnen Rocks Alumni" who get to play there, ENJOY!

And for the dumb locals and smart non-locals:
tonight starting at 21:30
@ Crowbar ...

Jack Oblivian
+
Harlan T Bobo
+
John Paul Keith



sunday, may 30, 2010

Legends in the making: Ty + Mikal

Allright, after a couple of days quiet we'll first post severe updates on two legends in the making: Ty Segall + Mikal Cronin.

Ty Segall (pictured by Claire Marie Vogel to the right) releases records as if his life depends on it. Since 2006 he released records with 6 bands (probably more, but sofar I found 6 of 'em):

  1. Epsilons (with Mikal)
  2. The Traditional Fools
  3. Ty Segall
  4. Party Fowl (with Mikal)
  5. The Perverts (new ones, not the 90s dutchies)
  6. Sic Alps

Somebody did send me an e-mail on Ty a year ago or something. Cannot find it in the digital chaos @ GRR_HQ, it's pathetic, sorry for that. In case the sender still has a copy: I'd be mighty happy if you could re-send it to me.


© Claire Marie Vogel

Another legend in the making is Mikal Cronin (pictured by Claire Marie Vogel to the right). 4 bands with him released records since 2006.

  1. Epsilons (with Ty)
  2. Charlie And The Moonhearts
  3. Party Fowl (with Ty)
  4. Okie Dokie

Any additional info is welcome, like always.


© Claire Marie Vogel

wednesday, may 26, 2010 #2

Sneaky Pinks 7"es + Nobunny Tour

Finally listed the debut 7" by the Sneaky Pinks. This is Nobunny's Justin Champlin's first band and therefore this is the first record he can be heard on. Do not confuse the Sneaky Pinks with the Sneaker Pimps, a british 90's trip-hop band or The Sneaky Pimps, probably a hiphop or a dance band or something.

I'm still looking for full info on this seminal debut 7". It has been repressed by the original label Rubber Vomit Records and it also was rereleased by 1-2-3-4 Go! Records. I think the above picture to the right is the first pressing of the orginal and the lower picture to the right is the rerelease. Any additional info is welcome and btw I'm still looking for a copy myself as well.

This Sneaky Pinks' debut release is from 2005. Later on their was a second 7" released, this 2008 one is on the acclaimed Bachelor Records.

Last but not least Nobunny will release a second LP, tentatively called "ONO", on Goner Records upcoming september. And what's more ... they will tour europe in september, 3rd euro tour I think, for details see kissnrun.com. So far Nobunny will play VERA, Groningen september 2, that's Kiss N Run Robert Van Der Giesen's (41st?) birthday.

Last thing for today:
Urban Junior, a swiss one-man-band, has his fall 2010 euro tour booked by Kiss N Run as well.


wednesday, may 26, 2010

Die Stasi

Another small hipster label updated (fully completed actually). Die Stasi released 8 records so far and all of them are listed now.
Some acts on the label:

  1. The Wrists
  2. TV Ghost aka Television Ghost
  3. Leper Print
  4. Zola Jesus
  5. Electric Bunnies
  6. Pink Reason

Any additions on these bands or other stuff on the label are mighty welcome.

tuesday, may 25, 2010

The Smith Westerns

Last year's debut LP by The Smith Westerns is getting to me quite a bit lately. Good and mighty cool garage pop album indeed, catchy tunes all around. BTW garage pop is the current stream in my underbelly for 80+% of my time. It's out on Hozac Records (not surprising) and they have 1 single and 2 splits out as well. Those are on cool labels too: Hozac released their debut 7" entitled "Irukandji" in 2008. In 2009 there was a split with Dead Ghosts on Bachelor. And this april a second split saw the light of day, that's a split with Magic Kids on Fat Possum.

They will play in Paradiso, Amsterdam in two weeks exactly, on monday june 7. BTW Harlem will play that evening as well. I won't be there, but that's a darn shame.

BTW also included Smith Western's Max Kakacek's soloband Teenage Lovers.

friday, may 21, 2010

The Dutchess & The Duke

Those goddamn hippies they even fucked up the music ;-)
Mighty cool gig last night in VERA, Groningen.
The Dutchess & The Duke did about a dozen songs of their wonderful folky music. Two barstools, two guitars, two mikes, two voices, one cute girl (reminding me of a Simenon character called Aline) and one less cute man (like a small, slighly heavier version of an "Hotel Cal. Eagle").
Check 'm out on MySpace, you can find further tourdates there aswell. Next week (may 28) they'll be at dB's in Utrecht.
BTW Lance Armstrong likes them too (tweeting "Hey @subpop, thanks for the new music. Digging Dutchess/Duke.").
BTW2 There's a clip of yesterday's "Let It Die" on youtube aswell (shot by herb79).

thursday, may 20, 2010 #3

Bachelor Records

Just updated the page for extremely cool (among europe's best) austrian garagelabel Bachelor Records. Please, if possible help me with the missing tracklistings for BR-19 and beyond. And as advised by Rob Kooiman: Buy that debut 7" by Myelin Sheaths, or if you don't have money check 'm out @ MySpace.

thursday, may 20, 2010 #2

Weird Hug Records

Ha, just added a new label. Actually the label appears to be done already. As it is temporarily stopped or something. The label is called Weird Hug Records and they released 5 singles. #3 is the debut single by the acclaimed Shannon And The Clams. In the past I got quite a number of questions about listing bands or labels here. I know it appears useless to list a label (or a band) that has all their info on their own website. For Weird Hug Records their official website is located at www.weirdhugrecords.com. But hey, labels (and bands) come and go. Especially small ones do and after some time nobody can find anything about the label (or band) anymore. I for myself hope Weird Hug records will restart releasing singles any time soon. But if they don't the info on the label will be here for as long as this website will exist. That will be a mighty long time if it's up to me. This website turns 15 in september (sunday 19) and my current goal is to make it reach 25 for sure.

thursday, may 20, 2010

My first fanpage

HAHAHA, Kopper of garagepunk.com made me a fanpage on Facebook. I guess he wants my radioshow to return. Would be cool indeed, but I don't know where to find the time. Will think it over, once again. We could start with getting old broadcasts back up, what about that? Share your thoughts through the Facebook Grunnen Rocks Fanpage @Facebook or through @GrunnenRocks @Twitter.

tuesday, may 18, 2010

What if ...

What if ... I'd be a youngster ...
I'd follow this schedule:

  1. wed may 19 The Hex Dispensers, Eindhoven, Area 51
  2. thu may 20 Blitzen Trapper + The Dutchess & The Duke, Groningen, VERA
  3. fri may 21 Hex Dispensers, Amsterdam, OCCII
  4. sat may 22 The Zodiac Killers + The Junohoos, Meppel, Clouso
  5. sun may 23 Heavy Trash + Sixtyniners + Bloodshot Bill, Groningen, VERA

Since I'm freakin' 40 (and counting) years old already I'll settle for The Dutchess & The Duke on thursday and Heavy Trash on sunday. But you ALL should go and scream, dance and enjoy for the sakes of yourself and me.

sunday, may 16, 2010

Dum Dum Girls' "I Will Be"

Here's another band that was not mentioned here before. They're called the Dum Dum Girls and it's a four-girl band from LA, CA. Last year they released their first vinyl releases on cool labels like Captured Tracks, Hozac Records and newly listed Art Fag Recordings.

This year they released their debut LP on Hozac Records. The CD is out on Subpop. The debut album is called "I Will Be". It is produced by the infamous Richard Gottehrer. This man produced the debut albums of Blondie and The Go-Go's. He also produced records for Dr. Feelgood, The Fleshtones and Link Wray. Later on he produced The Raveonettes. Also, together with Seymour Stein he started Sire Records. This label was the first to sign the mighty cool NYC triple of Ramones, Talking Heads and Madonna. By the way I once shook Seymour Stein's hand, that felt like I was touching a personalized version of music history, HA!

Anyway ... The Dum Dum Girls = BLISSED OUT BUZZSAW and not "Melodramatic Popular Song". They cite Siouxsie And The Banshees, Patti Smith and Billie Holiday amongst their major influences. I myself would settle for a full-on crossover between The Shangri-Las and The Jesus And Mary Chain. On record there's a little more emphasis on the vocals, live (last tuesday at Paradiso, Amsterdam) it is more the gritty vacuumcleaner-noise of the british band. The album is really good, doesn't bore for a minute when playing it six times in a row, best tracks are "It Only Takes One Night", "Jail La La" and "Yours Alone".

Here's a roundup of some connections for the band. Singer Dee Dee is in The Mayfair Set aswell. This band is a duo with Mike "Blank Dogs" Sniper and Dee Dee aka "Kristin Gundred". Dum Dum Girls used to include former Vivian Girls-drummer girl Frankie Rose, but she is out of the band now.

Cool Hozac Records has a website, never mentioned that before I think. Check several tracks of records (to be) released on the label at hozacrecords.com.



thursday, may 13, 2010

White Wires Rule

On this sad day off course strong, good and new music is needed.
Once again Canada does deliver this.

Today a small post on the White Wires. They are from Ottawa and they make powerpunkrunk in a poppy way.

There's three of them and there's four releases. Their debut release is their sofar first and only LP. It is called "Girly Girly Girly" and it's a great album. Not to tough tough punkrock, so my old bones can dance to it. First pressing was released in 2008 on Going Gaga Records and it was rereleased in 2009 on cool Douchemaster Records.

Their second (third?) release is their debut 7", called "Pretty Girl". A must-have, released on the cool Trouble In Mind.

Third (second?) release was a compilation entitled "Ottawa Gaga Volume One". Again on Going Gaga Records. Sadly enough I don't have this or the debutLP-1st-press, but there's more.

Fourth release is again on Trouble In Mind. Another compilation, the 12th cool 7" on a row for the label. It was released as part of Record Store Day, April 17th 2010, 1000 copies. White Wires do Ohio Express' "That's The Way A Woman Is".

You guessed it already this band is worth checking out @ myspace. And after you've done that you should buy all their stuff asap.



© popjew

friday, may 7, 2010 #2

Hex Dispensers = ÜberPunkRockBand

"Captain Internet" (thanks Alex) will be short today cause if you didn't hear me raving about them before today you must have been deaf. Hex Dispensers trashed VERA in the coolest way possible. Great band, great people, everything great. I think I can take at least half a year of shit in life just because of seeing them.

The picture to the right was taken last nite. Alyse must be among the coolest drummers ever. (click on the pic to see a bigger version)

There's a clip of the gig on youtube aswell (shot by herb79) and further tourdates can be found at kissnrun.com.

I found the picture to the right at an excellent dutch music site: fileunder.nl It was taken by KJ Guch = Klaas Guchelaar. Copyrights are with him.

And while we're at it: planettrash.nl is an excellent dutch music site as well.

And for the french: in Perpignan (tue may 11) they'll have the first copies of the new "One Less Ghost" 7" on awesome Trouble In Mind available. The label will not sell copies until the band is back in the US.

friday, may 7, 2010

Jesters Of Newport

OK, music.eBay.com sucks.

I hate it to see a 7" single like the original 1964 version of Jesters Of Newport' "Stormy" go (not to me that is). Off course the a-side is the original of the Gories-track. And off course I did not bid. The auction ended at 235 dollar. My all-time high to pay for any record was 118 us dollars or so some 9/10 years ago. That was spent on Turbonegro's debut 7", don't tell anyone please.

Honest to God I don't know of many records I'd spent over 50 euros on nowadays. A sure exception would be Nirvana's "Love Buzz" debut-7". I think that went for 2000+ us dollars, so no chance. If I'd have that kind of money I'd buy a car. Apparently times have changed and for say 50 bucks I'd rather buy kid's toys, booze or food.

My biggest desires (though less than 50 euro each) still are the debut 7"es by The Hellacopters and Halo Of Flies. And for this millennium I think the debut 7" by The Spits (not listed on the bandpage cause I don't know details about it) or that Spider's "Charlie" 7" on cool Hozac.

For the sake alone of making the list bigger I added the Jesters Of Newport to the ATCB. I only have the "Back From The Grave" LP with "Stormy" at home, but hey having the Gories cover your stuff makes you an All Time Cool Band in my book any day. They're on #11/15. So in my book thye're more important / cooler / better than those dreaded fake-punkers Sex Pistols.

monday, may 3, 2010

Hex Dispensers EuroTour, 3 more days

Three more nights and then the best punkrock band of he last years will once again destroy VERA, Groningen, NL. Off course this is about the immaculate Hex Dispensers. They are from Austin, TX, there's 4 of 'em and they rule.

  1. In 2007 they released their firstrate debut album, my personal album of that year.
  2. In 2008 they had their 1st eurotour, I saw them play in Hoogeveen and VERA, awesome gigs. I think the VERA-gig was voted 2nd best gig of that year in the club.
  3. In 2009 they released their 2nd LP, even better than the 1st one and this one ended #4 in the VERA-poll of albums.

YOU MUST SEE THIS AWESOME BAND

IF YOU MISS 'EM YOU'RE LOST

The tourschedule is at kissnrun.com. In Nl they'll play in Groningen/VERA, Amsterdam/OCCII (may 21) and Eindhoven/Area 51 (may 19). Vegas Kings will be opening the VERA-night. They played the club once before, good show. Motörheadish punkrock, be sure not to miss these aussies too.

In order to make a little clear how good this band actually is I'll add 'em to the ATCB list aswell. They're on #4 and they'd probably be in the top 10 of bands ever if that ATCBlist was fully done already.

Funny enough the dutch national music magazine OOR does not have the Hex Dispensers mentioned in their may-edition. Sad but true, it's hard to imagine this, but it is true. I'm afraid the dutch national "alternative music-scene" is not very punk and basically will never be. I mean 3Voor12 does not even have 1 entry in their system about the Hex Dispensers and they consider The Soft Pack (good, but a little soft-and-easy listening indie-guitar-music) to be garagepunk, nuff said.

Me = DJ at this awesome night. Any requests for tracks to be played upcoming thursday go through twitter in dutch = GrunnenRockt or twitter in english = GrunnenRocks.



sunday, may 2, 2010

ATCBs: Claw Boys Claw + Cuby And The Blizzards + Brainbox

On the wonderful national holiday called Koninginnedag ("Queen's Day", april 30, every year) a lot of good stuff happened. I won't bore you with all family stuff etc but be assured Gosse Rocks like a mean motherfucker. Anyway worst thing of the day was me missing out of buying a second hand LP by Cuby + The Blizzards. This dutch bluesy combo is deserved quite famous albeit for their "I Love Your Body And Not Your Soul" alone.

One of my first encounters with the band's name was on the immaculate Claw Boys Claw album called "Hitkillers". On that album this best post 1980 dutch band only covers only dutch bands, mostly from around when I was born (1969). They do cover "Appleknockers Flophouse" (by Qjoeby And The Blizzards) and they do cover Brainbox' "Down Man".

Which instantly leads me to the best thing of last friday. I was able to buy together Tom Waits "Blue Valentine" LP and Brainbox's "To You" 2xLP for 4 euro only. Brainbox is actually way too bluesrocky and way to seventies for my taste, but this 2xLP made my queen's day nevertheless. I'm quite happy to finally be able to play the original of "Down Man". What to do with all this? Well I'll add three bands to the ATCB bands list today.

Brainbox had amongst others dutch best guitarist ever (?) Jan Akkerman and Kaz Lux. As said not really my cup of tea this band but I'll rank 'em higher than The Rousers. Primo because they influenced musicwise so many cool dutch bands, and second because it probably is the best band with Jan Akkerman. Jan A. was voted world's best guitarist back in 1972/3 or something, I think by an english magazine like The Music Maker. Jan's solo-efforts, Focus or The Hunters ("Russian Spy And I", also done by CBC on "Hitkillers") are of lesser value (to me at least) than Brainbox so there you have it. They are on #9/11 for now, here's the new ATCB = All Time Cool Band list.

Cuby + The Blizzards aka QB aka C+B aka Cuby And The Blizzards are more up my alley. Most famous for being the band with Harry Muskee and Eelco Gelling this band also introduced dutch rocking enfant terrible Herman Brood. Don't know too many tracks by them, but their second 7" had "I Love Your Body And Not Your Soul", a seminal dutch-originating track. That second 7" together with the debut 7" was rereleased in 2000 on Op Art. They are on #7/12 for now, here's the new ATCB = All Time Cool Band list.

Claw Boys Claw is the best dutch band I ever saw and in my opinion the best ever dutch band. I luckily do have all vinyl they ever released. Anything they released in the 80s should be in your collection if you're dutch and if you're not you should definitely own a copy of that compilation LP on Au-Go-Go. Saw them first in The Burgerweeshuis in Deventer dec 24, 1987 and up to now I've seen 'm some 7 time sor so. Middle 80s garage guitar sound all around and man if I would have been a girl in 1988 I for certain would have thrown myself on Peter and John in order to have them deflower me asap. But hey I'm a man, back then as well, so that never happened, bad luck. The best dutch band ever is on #5/13, here's the new ATCB = All Time Cool Band list.

After today we have Brainbox at #11, Cuby at #8 and Claw Boys Claw at #5. No dutch band will get listed higher than CBC I think, though you never know. The ATCB list is an ongoing feature and any new band I hear or watch can enter at #1. No chartbustin' built up here, just my flavor of the day with a severe influence by "my personal music history".



wednesday, april 21, 2010

SF's Moon Duo defines #trancepsychkrautgaze

Ooh la la, there's a new band that I really love. Very appropriately discovered @ Elpee, Groningen last saturday on RecordStoreDay I instantly kinda fell in love with Moon Duo.

I bought their "Escape" LP on quality label Woodsist. It's their 3rd release after a 12" on Sacred Bones and a 12" on Sick Thirst, both released in 2009. Recently there's a new 7" on Agitated Records, with on the b-side a cover of the infamous Scientists' "Set It On Fire". I haven't heard that one either, only know that "Escape" LP.

The band is from San Francisco, USA and consists of two people (a proper duo, now really): Sanae Yamada on keys and Wooden Shjips' "Ripley" Johnson on guitars and vox.

There's hardly any vocals on the record though, some tracks are instrumental, I think. Kinda hard to tell since the vocals are clearly less important that the gritty vacuum-cleaner hummzingggg sound. It's kind of a trancey take on a mix of 60% Suicide (the non-boogie part of their legacy that is) and 40% The Jesus And Mary Chain. All sound and atmosphere, but a very great record, top 10 of the year for sure.

Recommended for fans of A Place To Bury Strangers, but I prefer Moon Duo. Check 'em out, but do play loud!

BTW Just found there's a RecordStoreDay split 7" with Moon Duo as well. The other band is Bitchin Bajas, the label is Permanent Records. They did not have that here, if you can help me getting a copy please do.

BTW2 Eppoh66 Heermans is right, there is a part of zZz in the sound of Moon Duo.

BTW3 Chloë Sevigny is not on any Sonic Youth-sleeve, but do you care? It was a nice pic anyway ;-)


monday, april 19, 2010

RecordStoreDay 2010

There you go, RecordStoreDay at Elpee Groningen was pretty cool. Funny to see that so many people over 1 day came in to buy records, made me feel that record collecting is not going to end any time soon. Lots of releases especially for RSD too, people especially came by to buy those. Almost all of 'em were vinyl, so no complaints there. Lots of press footage, for instance in national newspapers Trouw & De Volkskrant and in regional newpsaper Dagblad Van Het Noorden. The quiz went very well, though candidates should realise that giving away that you know the answer for sure instantly kills a question.

The attention for records resulted in some nice posts on the internet. First there's a list of the allegedly 15 best indie recordstores of the US @ spin.com. As I said through Twitter already I never was there (I only was at Waterloo, Austin) but I think I'd go for the Goner Store, Memphis. Another nice post was a post about the 20 most expensive records of all time @ nme.com. Funny list, though I think they missed quite a few releases of lesser known bands that would fetch that kind of amounts as well. And I wonder how anybody can make an estimate for the value of a record of which only 1 copy is known to exist, but funny to read nevertheless.


friday, april 16, 2010

RecordStoreDay = Saturday April 17 (= tomorrow)

HAHAHA tomorrow it is RecordStoreDay. Basic idea of this is to promote actual physically (not internet-only) existing recordstores. Worldwide all kinda recordstores participate. You can find all of them at RecordStoreDay.com. All at least 40 participating dutch recordstores are listed on the site and you can find all participating stores in the USA per state and per city. For instance 20 of 'em join in in Chicago.

Tomorrow a shipload of releases will be available on that particular day, only in stores and not through mailorder or websites. The dutch ones are listed and you can find lists of the internationally ones on the internet elsewhere. Lots of bigger bands involved, Bruce Springsteen and Sonic Youth (nice pic of Chloë Sevigny on the sleeve, see at the right) for instance. More indie-type of bands participate aswell, like Fucked Up and Dum Dum Girls.

Some labels do special compilations. Like the excellent Chicago-based Trouble In Mind, the dutch Excelsior (ao Moss on it for instance) and the dutch Suburban (ao Danko Jones and Peter Pan Speedrock on it) release a label compilation 7". Especially the Trouble In Mind one is worth hunting down since it has 4 really cool bands doing covers on it:

  1. Ty Segall does Bob Seger System's "2+2=?"
  2. Awesome CoCoComa does "Messenger" by the Wipers
  3. White Wires do Ohio Express "That's the Way A Woman Is"
  4. Charlie And the Moonhearts do "7 & 7 Is" by Love

Lots of stores worldwide have inhouse bands. The Jans from local recordstore Elpee, Groningen asked me and Luuk Verpaalen to do an instore popquiz. We'll start tomorrow at 11:30 and each hour there will be a quiz. At the end of the day there'll be a big final and loads of prizes. Each winner of a round between 11:30 and 4:30 will get a Monroes 7" on High Maintenance. Every customer at Elpee gets a free RSD CD with amongst others Customs, Tim Knol, Sivert Hoyem, Mad Trist en Beans & Fatback.
ENJOY!

Be sure to keep buying records and to keep buying them at your local recordstore aswell, otherwise we'll end up with internet-shops only and I'd really hate that.

For the Twitter-afficionados see @recordstoreday and for the dutch ones, see @RSDNL. And popquizzers of tomorrow, see @elpeegroningen and your quizmasters @luukv and @GrunnenRocks.



tuesday, april 13, 2010

ATCB #4/10 Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers

Well, Times New Viking did a great show. Does not happen that much anymore but now and then I really like to see an non Grunnen Rocks Core (that is garage and punk) band. TNV made my day and got me into playing all sorts of indiepop and kinda like that stuff. Today's post is clearly due to TNV.

One of the best records I have is the debut album by The Modern Lovers. It was recorded in 1972 and rerecorded in 1976 or so, you can find that somewhere else on the internet. I'll just state: GREAT RECORD! Indiepop avant la lettre and no indiepop without that record. Great lyrics, great sound, great atmosphere, great vocals, EVERYTHING IS GREAT! Main man in the band was Jonathan Richman. He later on recorded under various other names like Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers and Jonathan Richman. All good stuff, saw him play VERA once and this man is a true and deserved legend. To honour him I added the Modern Lovers to the ATCB = All Time Cool Band list. At #4 out of 10 listed up til today, very high imho, but very deserved aswell.

sunday, april 11, 2010

De Verrukkelijke 15

Well this probably is cool for (a few) dutchies only.
Back when I was young, like 12 or 13 I read about the famous Talking Heads' movie and LP "Stop Making Sense" in De Volkskrant. The movie was reviewed very positively and that is one of the 5 key-things to ever shove me into alternative/indie/whatever music. In about the same time the VARA, dutch public broadcasting organization, started a self-organised voting hitlist called "De Verrukkelijke 15". They got me into (dutch) alternative music. Later I started collecting Talking Heads and dutch bands on vinyl.

And then when I moved to Groningen in 1987 I managed not to start going to VERA on a weekly basis. That made me miss Nirvana when they opened for Tad back in 1989. Early 1992 I bought an Antiseen 7" at Elpee Groningen because there was "Psycho Killer", a Talking Heads cover, on it. That was my first "Grunnen Rocks Core" release ever (besides bigger bands like Ramones and Cramps). At some point in 1992/1993 I debuted as a DJ in Simplon, Groningen. In 1993 I finished my chemistry study and I became volunteer in VERA. In 1994 I debuted as a DJ in VERA. In august 1995 I was DJ for Guided By Voices (aug 30). In september 1995 I was DJ for Railroad Jerk (friday sept 22). inbetween, on monday september 18, 1995, I had a friend query the Altavista for Railroad Jerk, I saw a bio and a pic of the band that I was going to DJ for. The day after I started this website, therefore the website will celebrate its 15 years jubilee in less than half a year. And I find it really funny that I'm 3/4 years older than Google or 3voor12.

Now you can find most of the lists of that 80s dutch hitlist called "De Verrukkelijke 15" on the internet. Click on the logo to the upper-right and you'll see. I know it is not important for musical history whatsoever, but me personally makes a very funny time-travel seeing those lists. Funny to see a band like The Thought (post-Rousers and pre-Shavers) being so high in early 1985. If you can help getting the lists of "De Verrukkelijke 15" complete go and help 'em at Hits Allertijden.



saturday, april 10, 2010

Malcolm McLaren Died: ATCB #6+7/9 New York Dolls + Sex Pistols

Well what to say, another dead guy in music-history. Last thursday Malcolm McLaren sadly died in NYC. Of course he is best known for his work as manager, 1st for the New York Dolls and later on for the Sex Pistols. To honour him I've added those 2 bands to the All Time Cool Bands List. And yes I added all his chartbustin' vinyl I have at home at his newly created own page: Malcolm McLaren.

I must say I severely dislike what is generally written and thought about the Sex Pistols. OK band, cool debut record, true, but way-too-much marketing and image-building involved. And you always hear the same people talking about the Sex Pistols forgetting about the Ramones. Those very same people usually pretend punk to be started in 1976 and dying, together with my dad, in 1979. Well my dad died for sure in 1979 but punk didn't, and punk didn't start in 1976 and it didn't start with the Sex Pistols or the Ramones. The latter have a way stronger claim than the Sex Pistols though, especially since they were way earlier. The Ramones actually recorded their seminal debut album february 1976, the Pistols hardly played outside school back then. Oddly enough Johnny Rotten unwillingly supports my point by (I quote) saying this: "[The Ramones] were all long-haired and of no interest to me. I didn't like their image, what they stood for, or anything about them".
Anyway I think the closest Malcolm McLaren ever got to the Ramones is getting his "Something's Jumpin' In Your Shirt" 7" (+ the LP it's on, 7" sleeve is pictured on the right) co-produced by Phil Ramone. And this producer Phil is no closer to the punkband than Purple Ramone from the Disney-movie Cars. Anyway the roots of punk are to be found in the 60s, most notable with The Sonics, and not with Malcolm McLaren, being sadly dead or alive.

Enough of that, here's the new and updated ATCB = All Time Cool Band list.

At #6 (of 9 for the time being) are the New York Dolls. They had a whole slew of later-to-be-famous people among their ranks. I actually only have 2 tracks by them, both on a compilation LP, oddly enough called "New Wave". The tracks are "Personality Crisis" and "Who Are The Mystery Girls?", especially the 1st one is a seminal track. The band is covered throughout the "Grunnen Rocks Scene", see the New York Dolls Cover Page.

At #7 it is The Sex Pistols. Their claim to fame of course is their debut LP, some pretty good tracks on that, especially "Pretty Vacant" and "God Save The Queen" are good. The Pistols also got covered quite a lot, though happily a little less than the New York Dolls, see the Sex Pistols Cover Page. Especially cool is the cover of "Anarchy In The UK" by Billy Childish With The Blackhands, if possible you should try to get your hands on that one. As far as I'm concerned Billy Childish is way more punk than the Sex Pistols ever were, or The Clash for that matter.



friday, april 9, 2010

ATCB #2/7 The Sonics

Well here's an even more lazy post. You all should know about them for years. If not why be at this website then? Anyway The Sonics are among the best bands of all time. And this should be taken literally. Years ago (see GRR #36) they were #7, but since they are the best band of the 60s without a doubt, the best band before The Ramones ever played 1 song, ... they now are #2 (so far). Here's the new and updated ATCB = All Time Cool Band list.

Reactions, comments, etc, everything goes through Twitter.
Except for factual updates, that is tracklists, catalogue numbers, things that should be stated on the website literally and not on the newspage, those go through email.

thursday, april 8, 2010

ATCB #6 The Rousers

Allrighty, a bit of a lazy post today.

As much as I like sleeves/recordcovers I hardly ever buy records because of their cover. Some exceptions to the rule, a big one will follow sometime soon, but last week there was the 2nd exception of 2010 to this general rule.

This post is about The Rousers. This dutch wavey band released their debut album back in 1980. That album's sleeve might be the coollest dutch-made recordsleeve ever, since it was drawned/designed/artworked/whatever by the mighty cool dutch artist Joost Swarte. The local Grafisch Museum (=graphical art museum) last year had an exposition of his work and they didn't even have this sleeve at that particular exposition. Well I now have it at home and I do like that a lot ;-) The music is not very much up my alley (the vocals are way too 80s-dutchies-do-english for instance) but man what a great sleeve. So I added them to the ATCB list, position #6 of course. I mean a cool sleeve can get you somewhere but not higher than Delta 5 for sure. For the locals: be sure to go and see Times New Viking (in VERA of course) upcoming sunday. Dutch band Bombay Show Pig will play too, I'll be DJ and both bands will blow me away for sure.


tuesday, april 6, 2010

The Sonics, Paradiso, Amsterdam, NL, march 30, 2010

Allright, allright, allright, finally a small piece on last week tuesday (march 30)'s gig in Paradiso by The Sonics.
Well after an exhausting day at the DevDays in The Hague me and colleague Albert were right in time, half an hour early, in Amsterdam. For years this seminal band called The Sonics has been "the best band I never saw". This status abruptly ended when they walked in on the mainstage of beautiful club (a former church actually) Paradiso. They looked surprisingly young considering that they should be around 65 (same age as my father-in-law for instance). The lineup had 3 out of 5 original members, the other 2 are not able to travel. The gig was a little troublesome, Larry's guitar amp was blown up during the third song, "Cinderella", with mighty cool vocals by new member Freddie Dennis. Of course they played the song up to the end without guitar. Later on some lunatic stagedived and hit the ground like The Sonics probably did hit the r'n'r-scnene back in 64. This meant another 10 minute or so break but they returned in the best possible form. All tracks were cool, though I thought their own tracks were a bit stronger than the covers. Best tracks were "Strychnine" (probably their best song), "The Witch" (biggest hit), "Show Down" (that really got me by the balls), "Psycho", "Bad Attitude" (once again with great vocals by Freddie), "He's Waitin'", "Boss Hoss", and the best cover of the night "Have Love Will Travel". "Cinderella" made it to the best songs later on in the encores, correctly done, with guitar that is. Later on they even thanked me for reminding them to play "Cinderella" with guitar. Well no thanks to me boys, all thanks and credits to one of the greatest bands in garagepunk/r'n'r-history. Have to say this: sadly this band is often overlooked by the music writers. Especially the dutch ones made a bad impression last week, notable exceptions: Menno P, Peter B, David K (on paper in the Vrij Nederland) and ketelmuziek. I mean 3voor12.vpro.nl didn't even mention this gig with 800+ people attending. Last thing: the gig was organised and/or promoted by the Amsterdam Beatclub. Two hot girls, I take it they belong to the club, made it to the stage twice for some severe gogo-dancing. A great night indeed, no complaints here. Afterwards Albert stated the band to be pretty rough and strong and he normally only likes metal, hardhouse and hardcore, so there's hope for us young people: you can be a punkrocker if you're 65. And now this 40-year old is gonna take some rest.


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