Circle Of Fits

A Letter to My Son

noreply@blogger.com (Seano) — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 09:04:00 +0000

Hudson,

I’m so sorry that I’m so sad all of the time. I try my best to keep it from you, masking it with silliness and conversations about truss rods and You Tube videos about how to make your little plastic guitar sound better. Like we did last night. I’m sorry that we had to wait in the cold for a bus home from your school yesterday. We made the best of it eating a soft pretzel, and you furiously embedded in ipod games, playing with your cold little hands, on a bench as all the nice cars whizzed by. But really I was ashamed. I was ashamed that I didn’t have enough money to pay my parking tickets and the city put a boot on my car, right out in front of our apartment where you can see it and will ask about it.

I’m so sorry that I lied to you and told you it was being fixed, I didn’t know what to do and had to think fast to figure out a way to pick you up from school. I just wanted to be there at the normal time so you wouldn’t worry. You seem so resilient, mostly happy in our small apartment for which I am perpetually behind on the rent. In which there are no kitchen cabinets, and the heat goes off every once in a while without you noticing. It is very different from a 3500 square foot house, but there is more love here in our little space. We make due, but barely. It makes Dad really tired all of the time. Too tired to play with you sometimes. Too tired to figure out a way to make the best of our free time without any money. My creative brain is bombarded with stress every day. I know you see it. It makes me raise my voice when I shouldn’t. It makes me distant and exhausted.

Hudson, I may have to get a roommate. I’m going to give up my room and rent it out. I’m going to pull out the trundle bed which adjoins yours, and sleep next to you in your room when you’re here with me, and sleep there when you’re not. It’s the only way I can figure out how to lower my expenses so you don’t have to choose between mac and cheese and turkey sandwiches all of the time, so we don’t have to skip every other birthday you are invited to. So I can buy something brand new for you and not wake up every Saturday morning to go to garage sales. So I can take you on a vacation away from this city. So I can be less sad for a while. There will be another person here sometimes when you’re here. Sharing this small space, crowding your two tiny play areas. Another situation for you to question. Another adjustment for you to make on this 4 year hell of an unsteady roller coaster. I always wonder when you are going to fall off, but you never do. It is I who rides hands free.

Dad loves you Hudson. Dad loves you more than anything else in the world. Dad will make this easier for you, even if you don’t really see it. Dad can’t see any other way right now. Dad has tried so many other ways…….

The 100 Most Influential Albums: A Response

noreply@blogger.com (Seano) — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 20:41:00 +0000

Do I Have any thoughts on being the curator of this list?

It is an impossible task. Let's face it. Some of the choices are just pure fact. If you poll a thousand pundits, over 70 of the ones that made the cut would also be on this list for a large variety of reasons much to long winded and counterproductive to the aim of this little blog. You can do the research on your own. I did, and that's why Loveless and Daydream Nation made the list. They are both in my opinion ponderous and highly unlistenable, but there would be no shoegaze, noise rock or even post punk without them.

I was on my fifth draft of the list and didn't even note the years that these albums were released, and probably could have explained the process a little better, but I'm medicated most of the time, so sorry about that... I will address the comments I received from the list as best as I can. First of all Derek...thanks for submitting your list, I can always count on you for input. And thanks to Andre, Erik, Sean, Anthony and anybody else I forgot.

Here's the deal. The era of influence I focused on is all of them from the birth of rock and roll as a popular form of music. Jazz and blues gave birth to rock and roll in the early 50s,however some rock is pop and some pop is rock. Big band music and Jazz was the "pop" music in the 20s, 30s and 40s, so pop(short for popular)as a genre has always been vague, overlapping and intertwined with a combination of sounds coming from one or more genres. I thought Jazz had to be included, so did everyone else...You can't have rock or pop without jazz and blues....so there BEGINS the influence I talk about on this list. I could have omitted the Everly Brothers and put Miles Davis- Kind of Blue in, I could have put Dave Brubeck in, but we chose Coltrane-A Love Supreme, and Bitches Brew. I could have put Bill Haley in but instead Robert Johnson makes the cut. So...making the cut in some cases can and will be based entirely on opinion, but for this list I really went with a law of averages from the lists submitted for at least 89-95% of the choices.

That being said, 50 some odd years is a lot to cover...or is it? It is really just a blip in time and compared to other genres of music, rock/pop is a youngster. So the fact that this list may lean heavy on what some may deem "Classic Rock" may just seem that way because SO MANY classic rock albums were almost instantaneously , massively influential because of the very age of the music. More legitimate, historically significant genres and sub genres were being created during 1967-1980 than any other time covered on this list. Power pop, punk,heavy metal,rockabilly, country rock, prog ,reggae, disco and even hip- hop...all emerged within this bracket of time. These are like the main branches of a very big tree.

I believe that it's been much more difficult for anything after say, 1998 to have as much of an influence as the first massive branches stretching out from the stump of pop/rock. There are twice as many( 3x, 4x?) branches of genres,sub genres that have popped up since 1998 sure...new wave, trip hop, dub step, rap rock, trance, Swedish Death metal, murdercore, indie?. But as time goes on, it may come down to one factor that I believe presents an argument as to why in the realm of INFLUENCE as I defined it in the post, the bulk of anything after '98 will fall short of making this list. Time....will have to tell.

It's the Internet, stupid.

Technology- Sure the advent of the internet changed the face of music forever, but it also splintered it into an almost infinite cauldron of possibilities, rendering it good for, bad for or impartial to INFLUENCE. For the average consumer all the way up to the professional performers and the music fanatics, everything has fucking changed, and the morph continues with a pace and structure that is in constant construct/deconstruct mode.

It's simple math, really. For the masses(yes, I truly believe this) music of TODAY isn't even tangible, it's disposable or temporary, simply because of the ease of access to songs, band web pages with embedded media, online stores and you tube videos. Et cetera, et fucking cetera. We're up to several generations now( if you agree with me that a generation since the advent of the internet, is around five years)that have been bombarded with "faster, smaller, thinner, more storage, bigger screens, clouds", advertised in the very pages of magazines and on commercial TV, though on the cusp of making the "old way" of getting the word out using these vehicles...obsolete. By the time they get used to something,in the realm of technological ease and speed, the general public gets threatened by being left high and dry with the endless digital tsunami of new technology rolling out on a monthly basis.

Because of this technological vortex, the modern day attention span is nowhere near what it was even five years ago. How does this pertain to music and influence? It has forced many a brain to try and keep up, we live in an era of you snooze you lose, really, I mean, my 1st grade son mentioned Mozilla Firefox the other day. He has a new favorite song every other day because he CAN. It's out there if he wants it,at the swipe of a screen, with nothing to hold on to, nothing to look at, no pictures of rock stars to emulate unless you have a high speed internet connection or a parent who didn't digitize their entire collection and sell their CDs and cassettes at a yard sale for 25 cents each...The era of perusing your parents or big brother's record collection is over.You've got to head for the bins and hope your overprotective Mom or Dad lets you ride your bike there after school...More choices can lead to the simple lack of time spent on one song, one group, one genre. There's another screen over there that has every season of VH1's Behind The Music on it, and in the time you decide to click on it or swipe it, the tablet or phone you used to complete that task is already too slow and doesn't have the sleeker faster features that the cool kids have.

I sound like an old fogey, but I pay very close attention. I'm in my 40s. I'm a performer and a music nerd. I read 20 blogs a day, go to 30+ shows a year, still buy cds, while sampling and buying singles online, am immersed in social media and I STILL can't keep up with everything going on. There's a part of me that doesn't want to. Because even as a music junkie who partakes in Pandora, Spotify, Last FM, Facebook, Soundhound, Soundcloud, Twitter. I know that's already too much. I know they'll all be obsolete in five years or sooner. And the top tier geeks will say even those are passe. I'm the very last one in my 20-30 year group of friends who even has time for being influenced by anything musical from the last ten years and wanting to combine preservation of "the way it used to be" and "the way it is now" when it comes to being exposed to, being either appalled, inspired, fascinated, or INFLUENCED by music. I'm too busy collecting and arranging it to stop and listen to it.

For people of all ages, technology caused a gap in how a borderline Luddite, who's musical heyday or self -proclaimed "generation" (god forbid) was 20 years ago, even FINDS music, let alone enjoys it. Record stores are for dinosaurs and/ or vinyl junkies new and old...this lack of tangibility and the loss of the very emotion of that manic journey to the mall or the record shop to buy the new album on the day it comes out...ALL of that...has been replaced with a click.

How is anyone younger than a fucking thirty something going to even relate to that? That emotion is lost. Its a critical piece of how influence is spread. Most teenagers buy singles on iTunes now. They don't know what a record store is. But what about that large(yes still large) part of the population in the small towns, the fly-over states or those families who can't afford the internet? What do they do when they want to listen to music, if there's no record store? If there's no screen to look at? If there's no newspaper advertising the new album by Shania Twain or Linkin Park. The commerce behind music marketing and absorption has drastically shifted because of technology, to the point where it has trickled down to an immense lack of exposure to those less fortunate. Believe it.

These are just some of my thoughts on how much harder it is for anything to do with music to be "influential" to the masses. I'm talking genre exploding, band building, total immersing INFLUENCE. Its gone for now.

So back to the list. Derek, If we put J-Dilla or Yo La Tengo on there, what do we take off? There can only be 100. I can't see either of those in the top 100, even 300 for that matter. Hugs and kisses to you though.

TAD- Van Halen I merely caused around 20 million teenage boys to pick up a guitar(more than MR. Hendrix)..and countless other already budding axemen to emulate EVH. It changed electric guitar forever, just like Are You Experienced did. Its on every list...everywhere.

The Eagles' 71-'75 is the best selling album of all time. Around 30 million copies. That's a fuck of a lot of influence. That transcends album sales.

As for the Grateful Dead, American Beauty is a vastly influential album. But it sounds very different than anything else they ever did. It could be (along with Eagles-On the Border and Flying Burritos) one of the first country rock albums of all time. For most deadheads, though it was about the jams...the live shows. They(along with the Allmans to some extent) were the first jam band. They created a genre, which is evidenced quite clearly on Europe 72.

Thats all I got today peoples. Let me have it, if you've got it.

Seano

The 100 Most Influential Albums

noreply@blogger.com (Seano) — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 22:54:00 +0000

There was a peculiar "quiz" that surfaced on Facebook about a month back called 100 Influential Albums http://www.influentialalbums.com/ which reeked of being written by a 20 something with a fondness for Brit pop. I asked my friends and self proclaimed rock/pop pundits to help me come up with a true list of our own...your own everyone's own. This was compiled with no particular intent other than to school that young lad across the pond but really just to amuse ourselves, and possibly throw stones at each other like bullyish rock snobs.

I really hope you do two things with this list. Steal all of the music on here and play it for someone who really has no clue, and is mired down in the sugary sweet excesses of processed pop, or argue with me.

Either way, the list wins.

To be clear. INFLUENCE has zero to do with album sales....sure, there will be plenty of platinum on this list, but these albums for the most part ignited a genre that previously didn't exist, or inspired a very large percentage of musicians/writers/artists within the generation of the release of an album on the list, or future generations in garage and basements galore until the end of time.

To be clear part Two. INFLUENCE and "favorite" some of the time do not go hand in hand. There will be entries, you don't own, you've forgotten about or were appalled with in the first place. Respectfully, I've tried to cover as many genres as I could with the help of my brethren in the know. So here goes in no particular order

1) Chuck Berry- After School Sessions

2) Elvis Presley-Self titled

3) Buddy Holly-Self Titled

4) Aretha Franklin-Lady Soul

5) The Beatles-Revolver

6) Bob Dylan –Highway 61 Revisited

7) John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers Featuring Eric Clapton

8) Beach Boys-Pet Sounds

9) James Brown-Live at the Apollo

10) The Everly Brothers.-Self titled

11) Van Morrison-Astral Weeks

12) Byrds-Sweetheart of the Rodeo

13) Big Brother-Cheap Thrills

14) The Beatles-Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

15) The Doors-Debut album

16) Love-Forever Changes

17) Rolling Stones-Let it Bleed

18) Bob Dylan-Blood on the Tracks

19) Jimi Hendrix Experience-Are You Experienced

20) Led Zeppelin- IV

21) The Stooges-Debut Album

22) New York Dolls Debut

23) Joni Mitchell-Blue

24) Stones-Exile on Main Street

25) The Who-Who’s Next

26) Led Zeppelin- I

27) CSNY- Déjà Vu

28) Sex Pistols-Never Mind The Bollocks

29) Miles Davis-Bitches Brew

30) Pink Floyd-Dark Side of the Moon

31) Neil Young-Harvest

32) Bob Marley and the Wailers-Natty Dread

33) Iggy and the Stooges-Raw Power

34) Black Sabbath-Debut

35) John Coletrane- A Love Supreme

36) Deep Purple-Machine Head

37) The Eagles- Greatest Hits 1971-1975

38) Yes-Fragile

39) Simon and Garfunkel-Bridge Over Troubled Water

40) Sly and the Family Stone-Theres a Riot Goin' On

41) Marvin Gaye-What’s Going On

42) Cream-Disraeli Gears

43) David Bowie- The Rise of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars

44) Big Star-#1 Record

45) Roxy Music-Debut

46) CCR-Cosmos Factory

47) Ramones-Debut album

48) Fleetwood Mac-Rumours

49) Brian Eno-Another Green World

50 The Clash-London Calling

51) Wire-Pink Flag

52) Elvis Costello-My Aim Is True

53) The Cars-Debut album

54) Frank Zappa-Apostrophe

55) Funkadelic-Maggot Brain

56) Velvet Underground and Nico

57) Television-Marquee Moon

58) Lou Reed-Transformer

59) REM- Murmur

60) U2-War

61) Guns and Roses-Appetite For Destruction

62) Prince-1999

63) Beastie Boys-Paul's Boutique

64) Sonic Youth-Daydream Nation

65) AC/DC-Let There Be Rock

66) Slayer-Reign in Blood

67) Lynyrd Skynyrd-Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd

68) The Allman Brothers Band- Live at the Fillmore East

69) Bruce Springsteen-Born to Run

70) My Bloody Valentine-Loveless

71) Nirvana-Nevermind

72) Radiohead-OK Computer

73) Metallica-Master of Puppets

74) Kyuss-Blues For the Red Sun

75) Public Enemy-Fear of a Black Planet

76) Grandmaster Flash-The Message

77) Johnny Cash-At Folsom Prison

78) Van Halen-Debut

79) White Stripes-White Blood Cells

80) Pixies-Doolittle

81) Queen-A Night at The Opera

82) Weezer-Blue Album

83) Wilco-Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

84) The Replacements-Let It Be

85) Joy Division-Closer

86) Michael Jackson-Thriller

87) Talking Heads-Remain in Light

88) Saturday Night Fever- Soundtrack

89) Kraftwerk-Trans Europe Express

90) T Rex-Electric Warrior

91) Grateful Dead-Europe ‘72

92) Bad Brains-I Against I

93) Minor Threat-Self titled EP

94) Willie Nelson- Red Headed Stranger

95) Robert Johnson-King of the Delta Blues Singers

96) The Police-Outlandos d' Amour

97) The Smiths-Meat is Murder

98) The Band-Music From Big Pink

99) Nine Inch Nails-Pretty Hate Machine

100) King Crimson-In the Court of the Crimson King

Missed the Cut but would Probably be in the next 50

The Cure-Disintegration

The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society

Elton John-Tumbleweed Connection

Daft Punk-Daft Punk

Iron Maiden-Number of The Beast

Jane's Addiction -Nothing's Shocking

Boston-Debut Album

The Beatles-Rubber Soul

Husker Du-Zen Arcade

Pretenders-Debut Album

Patti Smith-Horses

Curtis Mayfield-Superfly

Rush -2112

Madonna-Like a Virgin

Genesis-The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

Pearl Jam-Ten

Stevie Ray Vaughan-Texas Flood

The Flying Burrito Brothers-Guilded Palace of Sin

U2-The Joshua Tree

Frank Zappa-We're Only In It For the Money

The Feelies-Crazy Rhythms

Beck-Odelay

Jeff Buckley-Grace

Soundgarden-Badmotorfinger

Jimi Hendrix-Electric Ladyland

Pink Floyd-The Wall

Tom Waits-Rain Dogs

Joy Division- Unknown Pleasures

The Buzzcocks-Singles Going Steady

The Faces-A Nod is as Good As A Wink.....

The Minutemen-Double Nickels on the Dime

Devo-Are We Not Men

The ratio of those I missed on your list to those you missed on my list should cancel each other out, no?

Personally I can't get through 5 minutes of #s 70, 80,95, 97 and 99 without wanting to launch myself out a window and impale myself on the nearest fencepost...while using a nail gun to my forehead on the way down.

But let's argue the omissions anyway.

In the meantime, I'll be kidnapping Beliebers, scratch that....I'll be rounding up random tweens in my neighborhood for brainwashing..err, listening session in my living room....with their parents permission of course. For reals, most of the parents should be forced to attend as well...

Seano

More, More, More (how do you like it)

noreply@blogger.com (Seano) — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 23:09:00 +0000

These are all floating around my crystal balled semi- hallucinogenic anticipatory hype/ wishlist for 2013. My future ( and yours,should we choose to accept it) looks amazeballs....

More More More

of a non- perspiratory existence with the obligatory small stuff/ having those final eight more hours with Walter White/ of what Josh Homme has up his gifted sleeves/ Rube Goldberg machines/ who the fuck is directing the new Star Wars movie/ removal of training wheels(metaphorically and no)/ deep cuts on the spring Soundgarden tour/ vast improvements in voice texting / Sound City!/ background checks/ an oasis called Obamacare/ parkour fails/ virtual cupcakes/ of the 50th state/ listening not hearing/ reading not skimming/ purple states?/ Rainbow Ribbons/ critics who've gigged/ knocking on(down)(through) the door of the elusive truth/ upgrading my bullshit filter/ Adventure Time!!(real AND animated)/ of anything that has to do with Austin TX/ Man of Steel in June/ World War Z in June/Sin City in October/ Anonymous vs. anybody/ The Kurt Cobain Documentary/ anti-snoring technology/using reclaimed wood and pissing off lumberjacks/ WHITE WALKERS!/ Rebuilding the Jersey Shore/demolishing "The Jersey Shore"/ mermaids/ Atoms For Peace/The real return of Beck/ a Son's first guitar lesson...../ More...of less.

(Much, Much) Less Continued

noreply@blogger.com (Seano) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 21:13:00 +0000

This should be your resolution : Less.......

Housewives / Pokes/ Bud Lite Commercials/ Skrillex appearances at festivals/ Viral videos with allegedly cute domestic animals/cliffs/valleys/ "amazeballs"/ spanx/ Beliebers/ pregnancy press coverage/ Gronk/ Norquist/ Hefner/Trump/Jenner/ Boo Boo/ Boenertears and tantrums/ Swift faux surprise/ Kimye/ bangs/ Pitbull(2 legs)/ Pitbull (4 legs)/ "who are you wearing?"/ handlebar mustaches/ striped tanktops/ grown men wearing docksiders/ east coast hurricanes/ Mindi Kaling/ pageant moms/teen moms/tan moms/ 8- bit anything/ tollbooths/surcharges/ subpar hip hop endorsed bright colored headphones/ corn and soybeans/ one person shooter video games/one person who shoots/ Fred and Michael Phelps/ birthers and/or breeders/ Vampire weekdays and Vampire Weekend/ circling the drain for Superhero movies/ planking/ Joseph Gordon Levitt/Carly Rae Jepsen/ Bromances/ Superfoods/ Kidz Bop/ J Pop/ bald action heroes/ dancing supermodels/ Suburbia/ "Jeah"/ YOLO/ "redonkculous"/ "legitimate rape"/ meggings/ vajazzle/ canoodle/ Leo Decaprio+ Marty Scorsese/ self- proclaimed somalliers/ The Golf Channel/ metermaids/ commercials featuring DJs/ dark chocolate/ "ginormous"/ duos/ Arizona/ Kevin Smith,Hart and James/Dora and Diego/ EDM/TMZ/ KKK/NRA/OPP/ GBV/ sloths/ guitar face/ unibrows/ ALL CAPS/Apple Maps/ Pinterest Cupcakes/ Hoodies/ "Lil anything"/ Basketball felons/ Stephen Colbert/ vest rock/ trilogies/ coconut water/autobiographies from musicians with one album to their name/ Fun/ Betty Fucking White/ Rebecca Black/ Blue Ivy/ 90s Nostalgia/ fibromyalgia/ who cares about My Bloody Valentine/ this track "featuring" that artist/ How You Met Your Mother/ child stars who find god/ Florida and Flo Rida/ Zynga/

End of the Year Rant

noreply@blogger.com (Seano) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 01:37:00 +0000

Less

Praise of Alabama Shakes: 4th Grade lyrics, bland blues by an open jam band and too much hype for the heavy chick.

Sloppy Duos like Japandroids and Jeff the Brotherhood: Get a fucking bass player, sing in tune.

Critics who actually like Japandroids -spent way too much time in their basements without a bass player.

Rhianna-Take a yearlong break without a goddamn release, put on a shirt and visit a shelter for battered women.

"songs" from Bob Dylan masquerading as bad poetry night croakings presented by an asthmatic with blood in his throat, pushing verse through crusty polyps, from albums that make best of lists without fail.

comparing Gary Clark Jr. to a variety of famous Texas blues guitarists by using the word incediary or because he's from Texas. Not worthy of the comparison or the adjective.

Billy Corgan criticizing the bands who came up in the same era as his did, that allowed him to be famous enough to get press in the first place by criticizing them. This criticism of "playing oldies" doesn't hide the fact that Oceania was worse than any of the music that made him famous.

Beyonce at the Superbowl. Dancing those thick legs around while making millions of drunk white men angry as she's singing "Single Ladies" and "should have put a ring on it" Makes sense.

Less Rick Ross. He's bloated, cliche-ridden, his bling has crumbs and ketchup on it, oh, and he's talentless.
Much like the bulk of poular hip hop, his output contributes to the complete dumbing down of society.

eh, I could go on and on about what's wrong with music. I sound like a cliche.

Top Ten Albums of 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Seano) — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 16:37:00 +0000

Another commencing year leaves so much to be desired, so much yet to be consumed then forgotten and of course, so much to chuck to the proverbial curb. Here is Circle of Fits' best albums of the year list to sum it up from our perspective.

Top Ten Albums of 2012

1) Blunderbuss-Jack White- A piano and prophecy prominent collection of purely beautiful and sometimes savage song craft. What can't this boy do? Weary, lovelorn, protective, private, jubilant, boogified..its all here. The most played album in our cardboard cubicle this year. Choice cuts "Hypocritical Kiss", "Sixteen Saltines".

2) The Russian Wilds- Howlin Rain- Highly under radar and under rated Northern Cali band bust through with a Rick Rubin produced?( Yes) masterpiece somewhere on the fringes of a jam band/blues crammed fringe. Impeccable harmonies, grace and gruff included. Choice cuts include "Self Made Man" and "Cherokee Werewolf".

3) Blues Funeral-Mark Lanegan Band- One of our perennial favorites returns with his most diverse and emotionally stretched -out set of songs of his career. Quite simply, if his charred and seasoned voice and sullen bliss don't take you somewhere else(anywhere but here) you've got to be having a hard time finding a pulse. Choice Cuts include "St. Louis Elegy" and the darkest dance floor anthem of all time "Ode to Sad Disco".

4) Arrow-Heartless Bastards-Please, I beg of you, forget the Alabama Shakes. This is the real deal. We beat you over your hard heads with the importance of a standout vocalist often here at Circle of Fits and Erika Wennerstrom from Austin's Heartless Bastards fills that void. This is the strongest outing yet from the band with chock fucking full of soaring melodies and tight super singable song structure, with just enough moody Texas gritty groove for y'all. But the centerpiece is Erika and her one of a kind silky warble vocals, just smacking you into the stratosphere. Choice cuts " Simple Feeling", "Only For You".

5) King Animal-Soundgarden- A straight- up surprisingly brilliant return from the NW fearsome foursome. Four guys hovering around fifty show the kids how to plug in, rock hard or stay home. Chris Cornell, even having lost a step in his sonic sustain, still sweeps aside most vocalists with a mere exhale. Kim Thayil still weirds us out with his psychedelic rhino stomp style, Ben Shepherd shakes the bottom through with brutal force, but the real hero of this epically varied set, rolled out of the studio for the first time in 16 years is drummer Matt Cameron. Finally he's truly showcased as a monster of switching time structures and unheard of precision, his chops in check from years of riding the throne in Pearl Jam (albeit with much simpler beat structures) King Animal puts his prowess and style in the spotlight, and into the high echelon of skin men, he goes. Choice Cuts- the eerily elegant frailty of "Bones of Birds" (our most played song of the year), "Crooked Steps" and "Rowing".

6) Harmonicraft- Torche- A metal meets powerpop cauldron of curiosities from the Floridian band of bros. The myriad of tonal washes over gutty crunch(with a peppering of prog thrown in) should be enough for you to love this album. Or you could just stare at the cover while basement bound in the midst of a bath salt rush. Choice cuts "Kicking", "Reverse Inverted".

7) Lonerism- Tame Impala- The latest outing from the Aussie wunderkind kids was the last entry to this list. We were flabbergasted with the production and the sheer depth of beauty for these dreamy pop songs and while we don't like to attach "esque" to the end of an adjective comparing another band with these lads, yet a few talented Liverpudlians come to mind. Choice cuts " Apocalypse Dream", "Endors Toi".

8) Kill My Blues- Corin Tucker Band- Nobody is talking about this debut album from the recently birthed band from the former Sleater -Kinney frontwoman, and we wish we knew why. I know Wild Flag and Portlandia have put a certain Ms. Brownstein on a much broader map, but this set of tracks rocks socks. Don't put Corin in a corner. She'll bust out with her baby and knock you over with a bottle of husky punk and bruisey blues. Choice cuts " Summer Jams", "Kill My Blues".

9) A Different Kind Of Truth-Van Halen -Yeah, a lot of it is rehashed demos and Diamond Dave's lustre is a bit glassy but it makes the list for putting the I Can't Believe This Album Doesn't Suck Meter into the red over and over again. EVH is still pretty much untouchable, even while being sober and without Frankenguitar. And after pre- ragging on Wolfie not being able to do Michael Anthony's back up voxes a solid, we were sorta proven wrong. Shit, puberty must have contributed in some way. Anyhoo, we bought it. Choice Cuts- "She's The Woman" (holds up to the '77 demo] and "Big River"

10) Lovelessness-Bison- A brutal,slayful album about a dog dying. ("Is Don on the Phone??-very inside reference)
The cover has a pic of the tumor that guitarist/vocalist James Farwell's dog succumbed to, yeah, that brutal. This crushing,dynamic metal band from Vancouver has yet to get its due, and damn it people let's give it to 'em! Or at least give them a shower the morning after they sleep on your floor. Choice Cuts- "Clozapine Dream", "Anxiety Puke/Lovelessness"

H.Ms

Locked Down-Dr. John
Ugly-Screaming Females
I Bet On Sky-Dinosaur JR.
Open Your Heart-The Men

What'choo got?

Soundgarden Returns

noreply@blogger.com (Seano) — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 12:53:00 +0000

This is what rock sounds like. Rock thrashed out by a quartet of late forty- somethings who took a decade and a half off to pursue Pearl Jams and be Audio slaves. Four men with something to prove to the vastly changed landscape chock full of processed schlock pop and skip hop,among the festering plague of ADD teens attached to their screens and lazy button pushers with wacked haircuts.

At first through tenth listen, the track is laced with a little more grit and gruff than the density of the Badmotorfinger stuff, but I'm not bored, I'm on board.

Icky Thump

noreply@blogger.com (Seano) — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 20:23:00 +0000

I am an avid complainer. I have honed its qualities down to a sharp tip and have plunged them deep into the femoral vein of many targets, mostly of a musical nature.

Today's complaint may very well be deemed racist by those of you who embrace hip hop as anything but a background for blunt consumption and bleary head nodding, but no. No

It is an observance of a well researched and unwillingly tolerated activity that is so mind boggling and rude to me that I just have to comment...as well as question it's purpose.

Why do many hip hop afficionados, (many of whom just happen to be African American, but clearly not ALL... in the neighborhood where my research was conducted) have to expose every last person in a two block radius to the braggadocios- laden, bass heavy, soul- sucking hoodified thump of that blasphemous rap that most selfish of noise pollution known to man while driving.....anywhere, at any time...and at maximum volume?

What purpose is served by having all of the windows in the vehicle you own, rolled all of the way down while you enjoy your wretched, grammatical fail laden hip hop in the privacy of your vehicle, at the calm, relaxed expense of every human around you?

I cannot fathom that this activity is in any way connected to an aversion to air conditioning, nor is it strictly reserved for warmer weather and within the guidelines for the activity known as "cruising". I've seen it in a swirl of falling leaves on a crisp and quiet Sunday morning in October. I've seen it in quaint boring neighborhoods while people walk their dogs with expectations of peace and solace. Places where there is nothing to "cruise" and even less to do. Places where people people just want to live their lives without a slow rush and deafening roar of some half assed aggressive poetry expounding upon the merits of acquiring wealth and self congratulating.

Frankly, I don't get it. Is there a "fuck you" attached to the mindset of this extreme selfishness? Is there a certain disruptive plan of payback by blanketing the world around you with a good old rousing chorus containing a handful of "niggas" and "muthafuckas" while kids in strollers are within earshot?

I'm a man who needs reasons.

Please give me a reason that may help me understand you. It may prevent a potato from being mysteriously places in the tail pipe of your LeSabre. It may prevent your rims from being spray painted pink while you sleep.

Because from my vantage point, as a musician and a fanatical loud music lover, I'm just not as fucking stupid as you. I would gladly keep my truck windows all the way up if I wanted to crank the fuck out of something so loud that my steering wheel vibrates, yet in private as to not offend anyone around me just trying to enjoy their day.

The Queen Is Not Dead

noreply@blogger.com (Seano) — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 19:38:00 +0000

Top 44 at 44

noreply@blogger.com (Seano) — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 23:51:00 +0000

My dad broke his neck. 4th vertebrae. My divorce is almost 4 years old. I haven't spoken to my mother for another 4. Meg's been dead for 4 years. It's been 4 score and 4 ever since I gave a fuck about music, this blog, writing anything except my name on medical forms, and ....yeah. You get it.

What is it about four? Nothing but a gimmick for a blog post, that's what.

I did a Top 40 at 40 on the 40 days leading up to my 40th back in the daze.
http://www.seanoandjefe.blogspot.com/2008/06/top-40-at-40.html

It was a simpler time then (even though subconsciously entrenched in a survival plot for the rest of my life) and it surprisingly prefaced the end of my sweet sister.

I know now how foolish coasting through life without a back up for a backup plan can be.

I know what Michael Bolton sang of in his suberb hit "Fools Game".

I know now what Bon Scott meant when he said, "Hell Ain't A Bad Place to Be."

Hell would be like an unreachable paradise. A staycation I would relish to the fucking hilt. Mai Tais and a bucket of grenades in a basket next to me to lob at simpletons, the one percenters, the overly tan......

Ehh. Maybe thats the drugs( that are supposed to keep me baselined, yet fail on the front line) talking...

Half Empty headspace overdoing the negativity again. Strike that. Reverse it.

So be it.

No time like the present to put out a list of my top 44 at 44. Top 44 songs, that is. A song = Verse, chorus, verse, one voice hovering over your fucking thoughts and engraving your memories with pomp, circumstance, glissandro and god given guitar solo always on deck, painstakingly and purely put to analog tape, entwined in messianic melody and having nothing to do with a fucking dance move or a dub step or a fist pump.

On the brink of a half empty birthday, in the car today as I was singing Bicycle Race at the top of my lungs hoping my six year old would love Freddy Mercury even one percent as much as I did growing up, I decided to compare and then compile then and now.

Goosebumps and guffaws as I read all of that nonsense.

This list is not a love story.

Not like then. I was hugging and kissing those songs after a lifelong courtship.We were companions. Like an old married couple sitting alone, in silence in a comfortable room admiring each other.

This is a survival guide. Dodge the bombs every day with headphones on. Plant the seeds for truth when I catch my breath. This is my map for battle in 44 steps. A tactical plan for avoiding a plague of triggers...

#44) Unfinished Plan-Alain Johannes- solemn soliloquy for a lost love one.

#43) Astral Weeks-Van Morrison- just takes me places where clouds break and panoramas are dusty through dilapidated row homes.

#42) Thirteen-Big Star- youth's innocence in a perfect picture frame.Hung in your locker.

#41) Why Can't I Touch It-Buzzcocks- because it avoids me.

#40) Little One-Elliott Smith- deep in the hole of self medication, through the eyes of a melting butterfly.

#39) Lazy-Deep Purple- anything but, motherfucker.

#38) Bastard Samaurai- High On Fire- soundtrtack for the people who deserve a head removal.

#37) Out on the Weekend-Neil Young- longing personified.

#36) Albuquerque- Neil Young- a long and craggy road for a tired soul looking for solace and some fried eggs and country ham.

#35) Cafe- Tim Buckley- one of the most divine voices I've ever heard spooking me outside in.

#34) Borracho-Mark Lanegan -borracho means "drunk" en espanol.

#33) Can't Find My Way Home-Blind Faith- If I believed in bumper stickers...

#32) Lawyers Guns and Money-Warren Zevon- Yes, Yes, Yes.

#31) How To Disappear Completely-Radiohead- self/ help section-emphasis on neither.

#30) No Surprises-Radiohead- self/ help section, emphasis on everything.

#29) Lucky- Radiohead-ends the trilogy.

#28) Pure Imagination-Willie Wonka Soundtrack- A 100 percent pure cacao song of hope and wonder.
.
#27) Ain't Wastin' Time No More-Allman Bros.- regret and retrospect through years of intellectual neglect.

#26) Dreaming From the Waist- The Who- Pete and I talking over a couple warm brandys.

#25) A Song For the Dead -Queens of the Stone Age-If you're dead, wake up, regurgitate the poison that fell you and wholeheartedly annihilate the world.

#24) These Are My Dress Clothes-Bison BC- judge me and I judge thee. Radiant in the finest denim.

#23) Smashing Pumpkins-XYU- shooting metallic poison quills with every thought.

#22) Kyle Petty,Son of Richard(live version)- Soundgarden-remember what your daddy told you. Punch hard, fast and early.

#21) Play the Game-Queen- know the rules. Know better than those who live to break them.

#20) Pigs(3 different ones)- Pink Floyd- We are Animal Farm. Who are the farmers?

#19) Hooker With a Penis-Tool- What does your t-shirt really mean, asshole. We've all sold out.

#18) Mother Puncher-Mastodon- She is my favorite speed bag.

#17) Coney Island Baby-Lou Reed- I wanna play football for the coach.

#16) Thumb-Kyuss- I don't give two shits on how you feel.

#15) 30 Days in the Hole-Humble Pie- revelry gives temporary gains and no returns on your initial investment.

#14) Cassidy- Bob Weir- Roll the windows down and witness the beauty vicariously. Even if it isnt there.

#13) Junkhead-Alice in Chains- What have you got?

#12) Evil- Cactus- this jam wrecks posture and depletes function.

#11) 1-1- Brian Eno- I cannot take a domestic flight without it.

#10) Sabbath Bloody Sabbath-Black Sabbath- What do you have underneath all of that shit you carry? with?
#9) Into the Void-Black Sabbath- What are you gonna do with it?

#8) You're a Big Girl Now-Bob Dylan- love song for people who need help knowing what love is.

#7) Whole Lotta Rosie-AC/DC- precursor to bar room brawl: played on jukebox after "Friends in Low Places"

#6) Abbey Road-whole album- Beatles- it is the longest song I know.

#5) Search and Destroy or Dirt- The Stooges- A New York bulletproof mean street shuffle soundtrack. For the well- read ticking time bombs of the world.

#4) Friends/Since I've Been Loving You- Led Zep- Sad stretch of the highest blues wailed from the throne of the golden god.

#3) Regular John/Avon- Queens of the Stone Age- a passion play for obliterating everything disguised as a riff.

#2) Can't You Hear Me Knocking- Stones- Straight on dirtiest jam in history. Wipe yourself off. Go back for seconds.

#1) Slaves and Bulldozers-Soundgarden-mantra of mantras. Everything I said...Is what I mean.

noreply@blogger.com (Seano) — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 22:14:00 +0000

Is it safe to come back?

You tell me.

Conceptual Low Tide

noreply@blogger.com (Seano) — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 14:25:00 +0000

Circle of Fits is a blog I created 4 years ago in hopes of sparking some healing creativity in the wake of my sister's death. Creativity channeled through the written word in the form of music commentary, social commentary, story telling, list making, bad poetry and plain old complaining about what is missing from me.

The creativity as well as the healing come in fits and spurts, centered around the world of rock music, which in my case, is the only thing that comes close to masquerading as a healing quotient for this wreck of a life since my mid twenties. Glass half full, sure. But you see, I'm clinging to a rough underbelly of healing, that keeps dragging on the ground. Even with the tools that Ive acquired to formulate a game plan of defense and good cerebral draft picks for a strong thought line- up for any subsequent season, I stumble, I get random sniper fire and walk into shrouds of shrapnel that pollute certain corners And the world of rock, that elixir of sonic meds, just isn't taking. The conversation I crave using music as a vehicle is all small talk here, it starts and stops here in the dusty space under this URL, and collects as sound bites thrown on the pile of anything but the truth.

I'm just not feelin' it.

Ive "threatened" to take a break before...ohhh five or six times. But I got hit with another cloudy buckshot of bad news yesterday...about someone who was a huge creative influence in my life, and I'm just tapped out.

This doesn't matter right now. Circle of Fits will just hover in the inter-ether until I hitch on to some sort of truer meaning, some real healing and conversation that cannot be found here.

There might be a post tomorrow. There might be a post a year from now.

See ya,

Seano

Radiohead Phinally comes to Philly!

noreply@blogger.com (Seano) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:20:00 +0000

Radiohead let loose with a slew of new June tour dates. Everything is in its Right Place!

Maybe your city is on the list, or maybe you'll be filling your Priuses with 4 dollar a gallon gas to get to one of these cities before Thom and co. go hibernating in an English manor basement for the next five years.

Radiohead in June

Fri 1

Prudential Center

Newark, NJ

USA

ON SALE 8 MAR

Sun 3

Verizon Center

Washington, DC

USA

ON SALE 8 MAR

Tue 5

Riverbend Music Center

Cincinnati, OH

USA

ON SALE 8 MAR

Wed 6

Blossom Music Center

Cuyahoga Falls, OH

USA

ON SALE 8 MAR

Fri 8

Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival

Manchester, TN

USA

ON SALE NOW

Sun 10

First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre

Tinley Park, IL

USA

ON SALE 8 MAR

Mon 11

The Palace of Auburn Hills

Auburn Hills, MI

USA

ON SALE 8 MAR

Wed 13

Susquehanna Bank Center

Camden, NJ

USA

ON SALE 8 MAR

ON SALE 8 MAR

ON SALE 8 MAR

Jack White Kicks Out the Jams on SNL

noreply@blogger.com (Seano) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 12:26:00 +0000

Jack White has a solo album coming out in April (weren't they all pretty much solo?)called Blunderbuss.

He turned up up on SNL this weekend to show the last three musical guests how it's done. sent them back to the nerdy blogs from which they came with a two song seminar from Rock 101.

Here's " Sixteen Saltines" from Saturday night.

High on Fire to release new album De Vermis Mysteriis on April 3rd

noreply@blogger.com (Seano) — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 16:50:00 +0000

In the "Holy Shitterific Surprise on a Saturday Dept!" An announcement of earth shattering epic-ness....

Press Release

February 23, 2012

For Immediate Release

HIGH ON FIRE To Release New Album "De Vermis Mysteriis" on April 3, 2012

Award-Winning Oakland Trio Announces Multiple Appearances at 2012 SXSW Festival

HIGH ON FIRE De Vermis Mysteriis

World renowned hard rock band HIGH ON FIRE will release its new studio album De Vermis Mysteriis on April 3 via eOne Music. Recorded in Salem, Massachusetts' GodCity Studios with producer and Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou, the 10 song effort -- touted as "direct, eye-opening and powerfully supernatural" -- is the band's sixth studio recording and the follow up to 2010's Snakes for the Divine which debuted at #62 on the Billboard Top 200 and has been called "wonderful" by The New York Times and "an exhilarating rush" by The Chicago Tribune.

De Vermis Mysteriis (or "Mysteries of the Worm") takes its title from a fictional grimoire created by Psycho author Robert Bloch and incorporated by H. P. Lovecraft into the lore of the Cthulhu Mythos (Lovecraft mentioned De Vermis Mysteriis as one of the books that "repeat the most hellish secrets learnt by early man"). The album carries a deeply mystical undercurrent, incorporating fantastical themes and lyrics detailing, among other things, time travel, a serum called liao that is made out of a black lotus and "a Jesus twin who can see the past through his ancestors' eyes." And that's just scratching the surface!

   Musically, De Vermis Mysteriis is absolutely explosive, showcasing the California power trio's thundering roar and expanded harmonic and rhythmic palettes while the songs move confidently through multiple riffs and movements. HIGH ON FIRE construct tough, burly stoner metal that is at once devastatingly epic and mercilessly metallic as superstar guitarist Matt Pike's sizzling ax and avenging-angel riffs fuse with Des Kensel's double-kick-drum onslaught and Jeff Matz's concrete crushing, Burton-esque bass guitar. Over the course of forty-five minutes, HIGH ON FIRE have created an amalgamation of fantastical lyrical ideas and brute force musicianship anchored in an endlessly captivating, punkishly frantic sound. Simply put, the band generates awesome on demand and has a virtual chokehold on monolithic-sounding, masterfully crafted epic music. HIGH ON FIRE is a savage bull in the china shop of modern metal.

When asked for comment on De Vermis Mysteriis, Pike somewhat cryptically replied, "Prepare for your dark journey."

HIGH ON FIRE (photo: Tom Couture)

The track listing for HIGH ON FIRE's De Vermis Mysteriis is as follows:

1.) Serums of Liao
2.) Bloody Knuckles
3.) Fertile Green
4.) Madness of an Architect
5.) Interlude
6.) Spiritual Rites
7.) King of Days
8.) De Vermis Mysteriis
9.) Romulus and Remus
10.) Warhorn

In advance of the new album's release, HIGH ON FIRE will perform a number of live dates as part of the 2012 SXSW Music and Media Festival in Austin, TX. The band is expected to preview new material at the SX shows. The just-announced dates are as follows:

March 13 Austin, TX Emo's East (Non-SXSW headline show)
March 14 Austin, TX SXSW (MetalSucks day party)
March 15 Houston, TX Fitzgerald's
March 16 Austin, TX SXSW (Brooklyn Vegan day party)
March 17 Austin, TX SXSW TBA
March 18 Austin, TX SXSW (High Times day party)

Finally, on June 30, HIGH ON FIRE will join Slayer, Slipknot, Anthrax and more as part of the 2012 Rockstar Energy Mayhem Tour. The 26 city jaunt will kick off in San Bernardino, CA and run through August 5 in Hartford, CT. The itinerary for the monster trek is as follows:

     June 30 San Bernardino, CA                 San Manuel Amphitheater
     July 1          Mountain View, CA                   Shoreline Amphitheatre
     July 3          Auburn, WA White River Amphitheatre
     July 4          Nampa, ID Idaho Center Amphitheatre
     July 6          Phoenix, AZ Ashley Furniture HomeStore Pavilion
     July 7          Albuquerque, NM Hard Rock Casino
     July 8          Greenwood Village, CO            Comfort Dental Amphitheatre
     July 10        Dallas, TX Gexa Energy Pavilion
     July 11        The Woodlands, TX                  Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
     July 13        Tampa, FL 1-800-ASK-GARY Amphitheatre
     July 14        Atlanta, GA Aaron's Amphitheatre at Lakewood
     July 15        Noblesville, IN Klipsch Music Center
     July 18        Oklahoma City, OK Zoo Amphitheatre
     July 20        Maryland Heights, MO             Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
     July 21        Tinley Park, IL First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
     July 22        Clarkston, MI DTE Energy Music Theatre
     July 24        Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center
     July 25        Cuyahoga Falls, OH Blossom Music Center
     July 27        Camden, NJ Susquehanna Bank Center
     July 28        Burgettstown, PA First Niagara Pavilion
     July 29        Bristow, Virginia Jiffy Lube Live
     July 31        Saratoga Springs, NY               Saratoga Performing Arts Center
     August 1     Corfu, NY Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
     August 3     Mansfield, MA Comcast Center
     August 4     Scranton, PA Toyota Pavilion
     August 5     Hartford, CT Comcast Theatre HIGH ON FIRE's work on De Vermis Mysteriis follows more than a year and a half of world touring in support of Snakes for the Divine which included multiple North American headlining jaunts and international festival appearances as well as tours alongside friends and peers in Metallica, Slayer, Mastodon and The Melvins, the latter of which saw the trio caught in both the February 22, 2011 6.3 magnitude earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand and the powerful earthquake and resulting tsunami in Tokyo, Japan on March 11, 2011. The popular U.S. group was unharmed, but shaken after surviving its second natural disaster in sixteen days and was able to return to its native Oakland a few days later.  NBC Bay Area spoke with Matt Pike following the Christchurch earthquake; that interview can be seen at this location.

About HIGH ON FIRE:

Universally recognized as one of the most potent acts in music today, HIGH ON FIRE creates modern heavy metal that merges primal fury and aggression, hesher bombast and hall of fame heaviness. Described as "a supersonic exercise in conquest by volume," HIGH ON FIRE has rewritten the hard rock rulebook since its formation in 1998, forging a style and sound that is both critically celebrated and absolutely unique. The group features vocalist and cult guitar hero Matt Pike, a founding member of the famed underground band SLEEP. Pike was named as one of Rolling Stone magazine's "New Guitar Gods" and is one of rock's most charismatic figures. HIGH ON FIRE will release its new album De Vermis Mysteriis this April.

HIGH ON FIRE is available to speak with interested media now. To chat with the band, simply contact Carl Schultz @ ACTION! PR via any of the means listed below. Updated news and tour information will be made available via HIGH ON FIRE online (website / facebook / twitter) and ACTION! PR online (website / facebook / twitter).

"a beautiful, untamable kind of band" - THE NEW YORK TIMES

"These Bay Area lifers have so fully internalized metal's sweep that the genre's catalog could go up in flames, and as long as the transcendentally intense "Snakes" survived, we'd be able to reverse-engineer the music's history." - SPIN

"music heavy enough to unbalance the Earth's rotation...Pike is one of the best guitarists you will ever hear...one the best live bands you will ever see." - CHICAGO TRIBUNE

"High on Fire are the sort of band who put devils or skulls or snake-demon ladies on their album covers just because those things are awesome, not because they illustrate any larger cultural point. And five albums in, they're very, very good at generating awesome on demand...High on Fire do it right." - PITCHFORK

   "it's not often something rocks this hard...stadium-sized" - STEREOGUM

   "magnificent...one of the best bands in the business." - THE ONION

     "a band that eats Motorhead, drinks Sabbath, and bleeds Slayer...at the absolute pinnacle of their game" - SAN FRANCISCO BAY GUARDIAN

     "High on Fire are the new Mötörhead. The trio never falter" - ALTERNATIVE PRESS

   "majestic...monolithic-sounding...on the cusp of attracting a much larger audience than ever before." - POPMATTERS

     "Oakland's (and possibly Earth's) heaviest band, High on Fire, is ready for its close-up." - SF WEEKLY

Carl Schultz
ACTION! Public Relations / Media & Marketing
P.O. Box 302709
Austin, TX 78703
(512) 926-4511
carl@action-pr.com

www.action-pr.com

noreply@blogger.com (Seano) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 01:22:00 +0000

Got a call from my pulmonologist out of the blue yesterday.

"How's your asthma doing.? " Uhh. Good I guess. "Good." Listen I was taking a closer look at your most recent chest x ray, and i took it to a radiologist. Looks like there's something small and smooth in your right lung. About 2 cm."

"I'm 98% sure its not something bad. Cancer isn't usually round." But knowing your concerns about what happened to your sister, I think we should do a CT scan next week."

So that's how I started my weekend.

Isn't this life just a dark comedy?

How much can a man take? Am I the Americanized version of a litmus test for humans who haven't been through war, plague,rape,murder or terrorism, but want to experience everything else that could possibly drive them completely insane?

Well it sure feels that way.

My playlist:

Lullaby-Sia
How to Disappear Completely-Radiohead
Cafe-Tim Buckley
Changes-Black Sabbath
2:45 am-Elliott Smith
Unfinished Plan- Alain Johannes
Evening Kitchen-Band of Horses
Borrowed Tune-Neil Young
Blindsided-Bon Iver
I'm so Lonesome I Could Cry-Cowboy Junkies

Baard Kolstad :Drummer

noreply@blogger.com (Seano) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:22:00 +0000

Get this kid a band. Stat. He's got almost every percussion style covered.

Conductor Dave and the Brown M&Ms Story

noreply@blogger.com (Seano) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:57:00 +0000

A semi- weird video of David Lee Roth whom had just gotten through with his late afternoon shift at the Reading Railroad and returned to his NY Penthouse just in time to find a camera crew there. With the help of city as his backlight, night shades and some stains on his Carhardtt overalls, he finally sets the record straight on the Van Halen "Brown M&M story" that's been part of rock folklore for almost as long as the Zeppelin "Mudshark Incident" rumor.....some of you have actually heard this, then again, no.

Brown M&Ms from Van Halen on Vimeo.

Bonnaroo 2012 Line- up

noreply@blogger.com (Seano) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:29:00 +0000

Radiohead
• Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Phish
The Beach Boys (Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston and David Marks)
Bon Iver
• The Avett Brothers
• The Shins
• Foster The People
• Skrillex
• Aziz Ansari
Dispatch
• Feist
• The Roots
• Alice Cooper
• Superjam
• Black Star
The Word (John Medeski, Robert Randolph and North Mississippi Allstars)
• Ludacris
Ben Folds Five
• Flogging Molly
Spectrum Road (Cindy Blackman Santana, Jack Bruce, John Medeski, and Vernon Reid)
Mac Miller
• Childish Gambino
• Major Lazer
• Tune-Yards
• AfroCubism
• Flying Lotus
Umphrey’s McGee
• Little Dragon
• St. Vincent
• City and Colour
• The Civil Wars
Young The Giant
• Two Door Cinema Club
• Punch Brothers
• Needtobreathe
Fitz & The Tantrums
• Bad Brains
• YelaWolf
• Dawes
• Battles
• Danny Brown
The Black Lips
• SBTRKT
• Phantogram
• Kendrick Lamar
Charles Bradley and His Extraordinaires
• The Kooks
• The Joy Formidable
• The Antlers
Kathleen Edwards
• MiMosa
• KURT VILE & THE VIOLATORS
• Alabama Shakes
• Das Racist
Delta Spirit
• Gary Clark Jr.
• Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk
• Laura Marling
Trampled by Turtles
• Mogwai
• The War on Drugs
• Ben Howard
• GROUPLOVE
• Blind Pilot
ALO
• The Devil Makes Three
• White Denim
• EMA
• Here We Go Magic
• K-Flay
The Lonely Forest
• MARIACHI EL BRONX
• Big Freedia
• DALE EARNHARDT JR. JR.
• The Soul Rebels
Kvelertak
• Soja
• Steven Bernstein's MTO Plays SLY
• Big Gigantic
• Sarah Jarosz
• Orgone
Darondo
• Fruit Bats
• Moon Taxi

To be held June 7-10 in Manchester, Tennessee. Tickets go on sale in 4 days on Feb 18, 2012. 260 bucks for the whole weekend.. A payment plan is available if you buy early.

Mark Lanegan Live on KCRW

noreply@blogger.com (Seano) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 18:43:00 +0000

A rare live performance by Mark Lanegan on the Radio KCRW in LA: (and now everywhere), doing Gravedigger's Song. I posted this because he did two US shows, NY/LA and then he's off to Europe( as usual). I got shut out of those and I wanted to see he and his band in real light. Now I'll research who the players are....

from Pod : A review of Van Halen- A Different Kind of Truth

noreply@blogger.com (Seano) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:47:00 +0000

I was going to sit down and review this massive surprise of an album, a throwback, mind you..all that's missing is Michael Anthony (physically). After seeing and hearing the new/old track Tattoo and tearing it a new asshole on C of F, I was worried. I put on my pinstriped spandex, and chaps and pressed on. I acquired, I listened, I allowed for marination..... But then, my friend Sean Coleman over at Pod nailed it, nailed my sentiment and addressed all of the worries of the Diamond Dave Army, better than I could, and for your pleasure. So, without further adieu....

Here is a link to his excellent review of Van Halen -A Different Kind of Truth

http://finnbros.blogspot.com/2012/02/van-halen.html

A Review: Mark Lanegan- Blues Funeral

noreply@blogger.com (Seano) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:19:00 +0000

A fuzzed hypnotic bass jackhammers recklessly through subterranean waves of gray. A gravelly dull roar rumbles through the speakers, confidently freezing the marrow of the lazy listener. The voice of Mark Lanegan and his smoky purr blurts the words "with piranha teeth, Ive been dreaming of you"..and we're leveled. Flatlined in attentive bliss. It's the start of Gravedigger's Song, the first track from Blues Funeral, Mr. Lanegans's first solo effort since 2004's Bubblegum.

There is a familiarity to the presentation. The basement window view of a day's weary underside in the hue of the melody and lyrics..".The magnolia blooms so sweet and it fades just the same"... Onto lines like "Muddy water, celestial flood, you know I feel ya, in my iron lung" from Bleeding Muddy Water...These cold panoramas jumpstart this album. It feels like comfort, a musty tattered sweater of protection reminiscent of his earlier work..Whiskey For the Holy Ghost, I'll Take Care of You...whisps of that era are evident here... A guide to many a broken overcast afternoon...We drift through the icy still of St. Louis Elegy, with its organ laden chorus ringing like a spaghetti western hymnal, .."Down here the winter, will cut you quick, these tears are liquor and I've drunk myself sick.".... it rings with comatose sadness, humming dreary and dried eyed with memory lapses.

And then, a blind spot right turn into a thick thud and screamy riff as "burnouts by the score, strung out in metal cages" line the hazy halls and pollute the ash dust couches of Riot in My House, a stand out track with a Josh Homme tone and migraine like solo that rips through the before during and aftermath of a seven day stretch in a Yakima high desert drug den. Is Lanegan behind this blurry camera, or a bit player in this meth-merizing scene?

We now come to the curveball and concrete cornerstone of the album, Ode to Sad Disco. Mark finds his faith among the lost mass of revelers dancing in half speed comas while powder driven rhythm makes a phoenix-ful rise from an Erasure- like synth and Linn drum bed . His uncharacteristic break from baritone to an almost falsetto preach is a revelation, soaring sleepily over lines like " A mountain of dust, burns in your mouth, here there's no north or south".

The help is legendary. From Eleven, the Queens and more, Alain Johannes appears as jack and master of all studio trades, Jack Irons(RHCP, Pearl Jam, Eleven) is on drums, Greg Dulli (the other gutter twin) and Masters of Reality king Chris Goss contribute vocals, and the aforementioned QOTSA mastermind and former Screaming Trees touring guitarist Josh Homme brings the thrift shop guitars. Within this collective, the vision and depth of these songs radiate with an ease of effort, allowing Lanegan's vastly under rated lyrical output, to finally stand on its own.

In Phantasmagoria Blues, a hushed clock tick drum and bobbing guitar brushes behind the exhausted introspect and dark shock of lines like "if you found a razor blade and took it to your wrist, then I'd be here in my electric chair because of this" Heavy load. Hardly lifted, emblazoned with an empty beauty.

Next, Quiver Syndrome, an alluring, overdriven dope sickened, allegoric anthem acts as a raced pulse Pt.2 to the fabulously frantic track Hit the City, from the Bubblegum album.

The muted thump of 80's drums and The Edge- like guitars lift the sigh and sag of Harborview Hospital, a wandering ode to outpatients, basking in the synth sirens, like ghosts of remorse.

Deep Black Vanishing Train veers into Lanegan and Mike Johnson timestamped acoustic guitar category from the Whiskey for the Holy Ghost era, a old man's requiem to the tracks of time, peppered with piccolo.

The electronic drums and three- tiered Rolands hum behind the dry ice haze and stage fog of Tiny Grain of Truth. This, the final track could be a travel log to the many lanes and collapsed veins of a city in afterglow, with nary a guitar to be found anywhere within its meandering 7 minutes. Neon blurs of endless expressways are connected by an almost Kraftwerk feel as we are led away. It is a jarring, cosmic end to this journey

The husky narration, breathtaking back line and sheer scope of sound presented this time out should shove Lanegan to an unseen level of respect and infamy with Blues Funeral, a purely massive achievement of an album full of bleak pastiches and beautiful burdens, all transported by a myriad of throwback rhythms and memories.

Shake Up, Spit Out

noreply@blogger.com (Seano) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:29:00 +0000

Circle of Fits in its shape and substance has been levitating on the bland side of a plateau for a while now. Our sweaty night visions of a makeover have been manifesting for some time, so over the next few weeks(months?) we will shed our skin template and run naked with dick swinging through the fields of re- invention.

We are looking for writers, of all shapes and sizes, whip smart and venomous, opinionated and hungry, to contribute to the style and flow of the site. Please look back on some posts, and if you can see anything that rings your writing bell, contact us @ circleoffits@gmail.com.

We will keep you posted with any new URL that may or may not take the place of the current one.

Thank you,

C of F

Video for Mark Lanegan's Gravedigger's Song

noreply@blogger.com (Seano) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:53:00 +0000

I'm going to keep beating it into your heads until you believe me. Mark Lanegan will change your life. Fortunately for you, his new album, Blues Funeral comes out next week. The only voice I've heard more in the last few days is the one or two in my noggin, reminding me to eat and bathe and pick up the pills on the floor before my son comes over. I will fully review it after it fully saturates. Until then, here is the video for the track "Gravedigger's Song". Disclaimer: None of the creepy children were harmed during the filming of this vid.