NEWS

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Sheena and the Rokkets

I wish more band sites looked like this. Rokk n' Roll indeed. So much more fun to explore than some designer's idea of stark and powerful.

Poke around long enough, and you'll find these:

Sheena and the Rokkets - Oldsmobile Rock

Sheena and the Rokkets - Stiff Lips

They've got a ton of music up there, a lot of it in RealAudio. And it squirms back and forth between Grease Soundtrack doo-wop and punk. Then there is the ska take on the Ramones. Wow, another obscure Japanese bank takes apart rock and roll and puts it back together in it's own excellent way. This band has been doing it for 25 years.

posted by bendy @ 10/30/2005 12:54:00 AM [permanent link]

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blackstrap still bass fishing, playing Cramps covers

Well, we've had two different bass-playing madmen sit in with us for two different gigs. And and the gigs went well and they're continuing on in Eliza and Mr Surly's other musical projects. But me and Eliza and Mr Surly had a power lunch at the Blackstrap.org dining hall, and decided to continue our search. So if you, dear reader, also live in these parts, and play bass in these parts, and are liking of what you are hearing on this website, get in touch.

Email us at bassplayer(at)blackstrap.org

In the meantime, we're working on doing our own recording, and some recordings-in-progress will be posted on this website for your advice and abuse. But here's a mono practice take from August. We were contemplating performing as the Cramps at an all-covers show. This is a run through a number by Durham-born Link Wray, which the Cramps refashioned into "Sunglasses After Dark".

Blackstrap - Link's Sunglasses

Hear that? There's no bass! Call us up and insert your thunder.

posted by bendy @ 10/26/2005 12:27:00 AM [permanent link]

We're getting hits on this post because of Link Wray's death. I'm truly sad. He was one of my heros, and I'm still kicking myself that I didn't make it to the Wray/Flat Duo Jets show at the Local 506 about seven years ago. A freind saw him that same time in NYC, and said that Link possesed the skinniest palest set of guitar arms he'd ever seen.

Blogger Reverend Frost has posted the songs you'll want to be playing.

said bendy, at 11/21/2005  

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Electroclash moves on

Three years ago, ADULT. and Ladytron were at the head of the pack in the sorta-80s sounding synth-based music tagged Electroclash. Part of the appeal of both bands was how emotionless the music was- they took the stiff delivery of early new-wavers like
Lena Lovich and Flying Lizards and made it even less rocking, more oppressive.

Both bands have released records this year that are noticeably closer to rock. There were clues to the change- ADULT did a split with the Dirtbombs, and Ladytron curated a comp of their favorite music featuring the likes of The Fall and My Bloody Valentine. ADULT. has added a bassist, their latest tracks feature murky, heavily chorused basslines. And some of the new Ladytron sounds like, well, MBV. Unfortunately, Ladytron doesn't add a whole lot to that approach. If Witching Hour doesn't have anything as fashion-runway detached as their earlier "Seventeen" and "Blue Jeans", the latest single "Destroy Everything You Touch" is a pretty good continuation of their ABBA on heroin sound. "amTV" is even better- hope it's the next track they push.

ADULT, though, they're onto something- they're recovering goth and industrial sounds from the food court. The couple who are the principles of the band also restore old houses in Detroit, and I gotta assume that this provided the setting for the great video for "In My Nerves". It reminds me of Flowers of Romance era PiL. Anti-rock at it's most corpselike.

posted by bendy @ 10/18/2005 12:18:00 AM [permanent link]

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Blackstrap gig: Early on Saturday, Oct. 15

Marvfest is a benefit for leukemia and lymphoma, organized by Shirle from Gerty, to help out the cause and her "second dad" Marv Savage.

We're playing on the second night of the fund raiser. Saturday, October 15, 2005 at 305 South, Durham. It starts at 7:00 PM, and we'll be towared the earlier part of the night.

Also with:

• Cantwell Gomez & Jordan, our area's premier purveyors of instro madness that isn't really jazz, but can be just as hot. Here's Sans-a-Belt.


• Pulsoptional, who are a collective of composers. Listen to 'Stain


• Art Lord and The Self Portraits. Check out the plinky synth rock of Lantern Sigh


• North Elementary - Slow grind guitar and sweet harmonies? Must be from Chapel Hill 'don'cha know. Looks like it will be one member of North Elementary on this night, doing the solo singer with guitar thing. Track: Parachute Away


• Fashion Design can do a killer cover of Siouxsie's "Spellbound" but for now, settle for me linking a second time to Dirty Young Virgin 'cause it's so good.


• The Sames are from Durham, and were among the first bands I remember proclaiming it. They could probably do some serious damage to a Siouxsie song too, but their big sound throbs more and finds little filigrees, like on Heart Pine. It's like they got some modern composer working for them in there somewhere.


• Schooner strums more on their other tracks, but Stunts and Showmanship and Codes fits better with the songs above.

I think I better turn up the reverb and compressor for this gig, if we're gonna fit in. Sustaining seems to be the theme.

posted by bendy @ 10/13/2005 10:05:00 AM [permanent link]

I think your guitar tone is insane enough as it is, man.

said Dan, at 10/25/2005  

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Mr. Surly has started blogging too

Mr. Surly, drum pounder and all-around bullshit detector for Blackstrap, is also doing some music blogging. His first post can be detected here: Cold Off the Press.

posted by bendy @ 10/11/2005 01:04:00 AM [permanent link]

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How much do they rock?

Ning, a new online service lets you create little social applications on the fly. Here's a nifty hot-or-not one that let's you be the judge of how much they rock

http://doirock.ning.com/

posted by bendy @ 10/05/2005 10:11:00 AM [permanent link]

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White Williamsburg

Interesting editorial about "Kill Whitey" hip hop parties in Brooklyn. This has the ring of truth to it, but who knows what the reality is? Ugly, very ugly the more I think about it, the sort of thing you hear college fraternities busted for. Nerd kids move to NYC, become the popular kids of their own boho scene, and get just as viscous, and try to pass it off as wit.

To compare and contrast: freak-folk artist Devendra Banhart has a new song called "Chinese Children" that's so joyfully air-headed it transcends it racial weirdness, though it's probably his delivery that makes the song work. There's not a hint of the fear and exclusivity that make the parties described above sound so mean-spirited.

posted by bendy @ 10/04/2005 09:32:00 AM [permanent link]

Some more info on this from the Village Voice. One of the organizers is black.

said bendy, at 10/07/2005  

This post has been removed by the author.

said Miss Tanya, at 10/18/2005  

You know, you read _Rip It Up and Start Again_ and you realize that many of the original post-punks *revered* black culture without patronizing it. They'd speak with awe, and not a little trepidation, of going to illegal reggae parties in London and early rap jams in the Bronx. You can tell how much they loved the music. Today's white hipsters would rather engage in minstrel shenanigans (in a location not far from the actual ghetto) with their white friends. "Kill Whitey?" Ha. More like "Indulge Your Inner Whitey."

said Miss Tanya, at 10/19/2005  

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