Sink Tapes Played Brighton Bar with The Skullers, 1/2/17. New Year, Same Me.

Sink Tapes

First!

Here's just a quick note to commemorate the first show I attended in 2017. Sink Tapes kicked off their latest tour with an early show at Brighton Bar in Long Branch last night. Joining them were the new power trio, The Skullers, fronted by former solo artist, Jack Skuller.

Jack Skuller

The Skullers played some blues-y rock. The songs that stood out most to me were a couple in the middle of the set that had a kind of surfy / spaghetti western vibe. This was one of the first sets for the band in its current form, and I think they'll have an eventful 2017.

The Skullers

Sink Tapes aren't the most talkative or interactive live band in the world, but they get up there and do their thing extremely well. I've said before that the band are so prolific, with a huge catalog of existing songs and new ones always in the pipeline, that they never play the same set twice. Last night was no exception, and the band have definitely evolved by spreading out the lead vocal responsibilities and exploring some more twangy, even countrified, sounds.

Sink Tapes

Sink Tapes

Sink Tapes

One of the best parts of last night? I was in my car headed home by about 9:45. Two good bands and in bed at a normal hour on a school night. Nice way to ease into what is going to be a big 2017.

All the pics from both sets are in the Flickr galleries.

Here are the dates for Sink Tapes' current tour.

Sniffling Indie Kids and Mint 400 Records Announce The North Jersey Indie Rock Fest

Jersey City's Cathedral Hall, September 10th

Over the last year or two, we've grown pretty close here with our friends at Sniffling Indie Kids and Mint 400 Records. Their stable of acts includes many of the bands we feature often here like dollys, Sink Tapes, LKFFCT, C.R. & The Degenerates, NGHTCRWLRS, YJY, and more. Honestly, CoolDad Music would be a much more boring place without the work that SIK and Mint 400 do to bring the music of these bands into the world. That's why it's so exciting to me that the two labels will be teaming up to bring us The North Jersey Indie Rock Festival on September 10th from noon to 8pm at Jersey City's Cathedral Hall.

CoolDad Music and Sniffling Indie Kids co-presented the Indie Pop Winter Formal back in January.

The event is being presented in association with Jersey City's 4th Street Arts Organization, BGT Enterprises, and The Rock-It Docket. I'm also really excited that CoolDad Music, along with just about every New Jersey music website and music publication you can think of, will be co-sponsoring the festival.

Cathedral Hall is a newly-renovated arts space at the corner of Montgomery and Brunswick Streets in the heart of Downtown Jersey City. The former church will play host to 20 bands representing both labels. There will be two levels of live music in addition to North Jersey craft vendors, food vendors, and beer and spirits vendors. Bands run the gamut from scene veterans to new acts, from bluegrass to punk to indie rock. The event promises to be a showcase for the North Jersey arts community. The organizers hope that this can evolve into an annual event that brings in more bands, labels, and vendors as it grows.

Check out the event poster below for the full line-up of bands, and keep it tuned here for more information.

Pics from 2016's First Happy Monday at Wonder Bar with Smoking Loon, Sink Tapes, and Centennials

Sink Tapes kicked off their January tour at Wonder Bar.

Getting Back Into It

It's been kind of a slow start for me here since the holidays. I'm rolling some new ideas for CoolDad Music around in my mind and trying to kick things back into gear. When I saw that one of my favorites, Sink Tapes, were playing Happy Mondays last night, I figured that it was a great excuse to get out, hear some music, and take some pictures. Also on last night's bill were perennial weekly listings denizens, Centennials, and the new project of Joshua Mark, Smoking Loon.

I always enjoy a chance to catch a band like Centennials, whose name I see week after week, for the first time. They delivered a kinetic set of ambient indie rock and closed the evening out on a high note. Sink Tapes drew from their vast catalog of songs for a set that was short on conversation but long on great sounds. Smoking Loon were a solid acoustic opener, and it will be interesting to see what they do next.

You can catch Centennials at The Stone Pony on January 22nd. Sink Tapes just left for a tour that goes through January 13th. We'll have to wait and see what Smoking Loon get up to next.

Check out pics from the evening in the galleries below.

Smoking Loon

Sink Tapes

Centennials

Sink Tapes, Window Unit Blues, 2015

Album Review

Whatever you're doing, you have time to do more. That's the message I get from Sink Tapes. The most prolific band in New Jersey crank out song after song, EP after EP, LP after LP while I sit here drinking coffee wondering what I'm going to do for lunch.

Window Unit Blues, by my count of titles on Bandcamp, is Sink Tapes' fifth full-length album since 2012 and second this year. Throw in a couple of EPs, some singles and demo comps; and you've got a band that write and record music at an amazing clip. And it's not one of those "let's throw everything against the wall and see what sticks" kind of things. Sink Tapes and principal songwriter Gabe Chiarello hit the mark with a regularity that's mind-blowing. Window Unit Blues shows the band spreading their wings a little bit and even moving beyond the 1,2, or 3-minute pop song in a couple of instances to produce their most diverse and, possibly, best album to date.

The album opens with "Window Unit" and the sounds of sitting by an open window as traffic rolls past. Those sounds are followed by acoustic guitar and some distant and wispy vocals from Chiarello. The song fades, and we move into the indie pop of "You Shouldn't Have." The song contains hints of the twang and jangle of R.E.M., but the vocals place it somewhere dreamier and more ethereal.

"Haskell Heavy Hitters" moves into the realm of jangly, retro pop as it goes out on the repeated call and response of "You're an honorary member... ...of the Haskell Heavy Hitters." "Spacecraft Theatrical" sways on a vaguely country vibe, and both songs owe a great deal to that Guided By Voices thing of building a coherent and infectious pop song around a strange or nonsensical phrase.

By the time "Indicating Laughter" and "Few Things" roll around, I start to think the the sequencing is important here. We move from a pair of jangly tracks into a pair that rely a bit more heavily on distorted chords and walls of noise. "Few Things" gets positively psychedelic or shoegazy as it motors along on a krautrocky beat embellished by some reverb-heavy guitar leads.

I've often lamented the fact that Sink Tapes' songs can be so short. "Wanting One Blues," at about seven minutes, is -- following another quick Bandcamp search -- I think the second longest song in the entire Sink Tapes catalog and the longest in about five years. The vocals are buried deep beneath the guitars, including a solo that kicks in at about the two minute mark and gets more frantic and prominent as the song moves along. It's a bluesy, classic rock (Pink Floyd?)-inspired song in which it's pretty easy to get lost.

Single "Plastic Lover" gets a re-worked version here, less acoustic with a bigger, more up-front guitar solo. Another hallmark of Sink Tapes' MO is that songs appear to be living things, never finished, always ripe for a re-working.

The title track closes out Window Unit Blues and brings things full-circle. It's a fleshed out rocked out reprise of the album-opener and -- sequencing again -- sums up the band's evolution over the course of the record from gentle jangle pop to something a little noisier where lead guitar takes a bigger role. As the song fades out, we're back to the same outdoor noises streaming into our window unit.

I've said before that Sink Tapes are one of my favorite bands right now. They pump out material with a consistency that's hard to comprehend. As evidenced on Window Unit Blues, consistency doesn't mean "sameness." Sink Tapes are a band that try new things, even with old songs, and make them work. They deserve a following and a fanbase that extends way beyond the Garden State, and I think they'll get it.

Window Unit Blues is out now on Sniffling Indie Kids and Mint 400 Records.

Photo Highlights of Deaf Rhino, Overlake, Sink Tapes at Wonder Bar, 6/8/15

Overlake were back in Asbury Park for Happy Mondays.

Happy Mondays

The weather's warming up and the crowds at Wonder Bar's weekly Happy Mondays series are starting to grow. It wasn't just the weather, I'm sure. Last night's bill included three excellent and very different bands.

Hailing from that Bergen County rock mecca of Glen Rock, Deaf Rhino brought their heavy (and LOUD) rock music that ranged from 1990s-inspired alt-rock to heavy jams. Overlake didn't give anyone's eardrums a break as they mesmerized again with their whirling shoegaze. New Brunswick's Sink Tapes rattled off Pollard-like indie pop gem after indie pop gem to close things out.

I've got lots of stuff to work on over the next couple of days, so I'll just leave you with with some pics from last night. The rest of the shots are up at Flickr.

New Single from Sink Tapes

"Plastic Lover"

Have I mentioned how much I like Sink Tapes? Probably.

It's been barely two months since the release of the 25-song Creases, and the prolific Sink Tapes are back with another single available for the low low price of Name Your Price (aka, free).

"I'm poorly read and ignorant," sings Gabe Chiarello as the title song begins. I have trouble believing that. Anyone who writes so much has to have some book learnin' under his belt. The song comes down on the quieter side of the Sink Tapes catalog and switches over to a waltz as the outro kicks in.

"Home's a Chore" --  the b-side, to the extent that there are any "sides" to a digital-only release -- is a little more electric, a little more psychedelic. It's still pretty easygoing and calls to mind Guided By Voices at their most Beatle-y. Lots of lyrics about language and writing and communication.

It seems like no Sink Tapes release would be complete without a demo or alternate track; and here we get "Few Things (demo)." It's a jangly, reverby idea that comes in at just under a minute and a half. It sounds beautiful as it is which makes me wonder what the band will do with it going forward, if anything.

You can head over to Sink Tapes' Bandcamp page to grab "Plastic Lover." Why wouldn't you?

The band will be in Sea Bright next Friday at Aidan's Garage with Teenage Halloween, Corrina Corrina, All People, Loser Year, and Admissible Arsonist.

Overlake and Sink Tapes Played Brooklyn's Gutter. Overlake at Wonder Bar TONIGHT.

Overlake at Brooklyn's Gutter on Saturday. They're at Wonder Bar tonight.

Happy Monday

Someone told me yesterday that AccuWeather says this will be our last week with daily highs below 40 degrees. That's something to hang your hat on, I guess, as we hear rumblings of something wintry and unpleasant approaching us on Thursday.

Sink Tapes

On Saturday, following the Screaming Females release show over at Brooklyn's Knitting Factory, I slipped and slid my way on top of some stubborn sheets of ice over to The Gutter to see if I could catch two of my New Jersey favorites, New Brunswick's Sink Tapes and our friends from Jersey City in Overlake. I did make it in time to hear the last few songs of Sink Tapes' set, and I think I heard something new. I also managed to catch Overlake in all their shoegazy glory.

Even if I missed Overlake, I would have been okay since they're making one of their far too infrequent Asbury Park appearances tonight at Wonder Bar for Happy Mondays. They'll be joining The Drive Home and I Have Been Floated for another great one in the local series of free shows, which are free. The shows are free. Free.

So get over there tonight. I'll buy you a beverage, and we can listen to some great music and talk all about how great it will be when spring and summer finally get here.

Sink Tapes, Creases, 2015

Album Review

It was exactly two weeks ago that I finally made good on my attempts to catch a Sink Tapes live show. The band played a nice, early show at Long Branch's Brighton Bar; and I took the opportunity to spend a few minutes with drummer / singer / songwriter Gabe Chiarello. We talked about the band's staggering output, and Chiarello mentioned that he takes his inspiration from Guided By Voices, just writing and recording as many songs as he can.

I'd never noticed it before, but there are definite similarities between Sink Tapes and Guided By Voices. It's not just the sheer number of songs. It's also the fact that Sink Tapes seem to realize that you can say everything you need to say in somewhere between 90 seconds and (under) 3 minutes. If you listen closely, you may find that Chiarello's vocals even bear a similar affectation to Robert Pollard's.

Sink Tapes' latest, Creases, opens with one of the band's longest songs in "Maybe Gray." The track bounces along on an infectious guitar riff, the intertwining of acoustic and electric guitar giving things an open and airy feel. I said in my review of Touchdown Buffalo that Sink Tapes really excel when they extend their ideas out past the three-minute mark, and that's true here.

That arbitrary three-minute number is just that, though, -- arbitrary. There isn't another song among the 12 main tracks on Creases that hits that mark, and the collection is a wonderful example of jangly, indie pop. "Bugs" has an ambling, easy-going vibe with its backing "ooohs," while upbeat single "Blow Me a Kiss" (which premiered right here) takes a simple idea and makes it into an early contender for best indie pop song of 2015.

"Dr. B," an electrified re-imagining of the dreamy "Doc Botnik's Housecall Band" from 2013's Mattress Cowboys EP, catalogs the medical and musical instruments employed by Dr. B and showcases Chiarello's surreal, Sgt. Pepper-y lyrical ability ("Take a sip of his medicine and you'll be feeling grand."). Similarly, Touchdown Buffalo standout "Dishes In The Dark" gets a slightly different treatment here. It's bigger, louder; and the "la la las" are hidden deep within a crescendo of electric guitars that lingers just a little bit longer than the original. Both of the original tracks appear among the thirteen bonus tracks included on Creases.

Most of the songs on the record have alternate or demo versions that can be found among the bonus tracks. The final version of "Small Lipped Bird" falls somewhere between the sound of the two bonus versions. There's a mostly acoustic demo of the shoegaze-y "Little Wriglys" that gives the song an entirely different flavor. The ideas in the Real Estate-esque "Pool Kid" show up in "Wet Trunks (Pool Kid Hooks Another)."

Creases does an excellent job, I think, of showing what Sink Tapes are about. Chiarello's vocals float in and out of the twin guitars of Ricky Kuczynski and Alex Kielmanski, creating some of the most engaging jangly dream pop I've heard in a long time. And not only do Sink Tapes write tons and tons of songs, but it would also appear that they record everything. After making the "final" decision on how a song should sound, the band provide listeners with everything. They allow listeners a window into their songwriting / recording process, while revealing their songs to be living, changing things.

January releases often suffer at year-end list time. Try not to forget about this one as the months go on, though I'm sure we'll have something else from these guys before too too long. That's just how they operate.

Creases is out now on New Jersey's Sniffling Indie Kids. It's out digitally tomorrow via Mint 400 Records, and you can begin downloading it from your favorite outlet for such things then.

Photos of Sink Tapes, Grand Mariner at The Brighton Bar, 1/5/15

Love the Early Monday Show

Following the release of their latest single, "Blow Me a Kiss," New Brunswick's Sink Tapes started a short, East Coast tour last night at The Brighton Bar. They had help from Grand Mariner, Moth Puppy, and Agumon. Swim carpooling commitments had me walking in the door just as Moth Puppy was finishing her solo acoustic set.

I managed to catch full sets from Howell's Grand Mariner and Sink Tapes. This was the second time I'd gotten to see Grand Mariner, and their surf / garage / psych rock once again caught my attention. I picked up what ended up being the last cassette of their Happy to Birth release. After many failed attempts, last night ended up being my first chance to catch Sink Tapes live. Once I threw caution to the wind and removed my earplugs, I started hearing the sounds that drew me to the band in the first place.

Things were done nice and early at around 9:35. That gave me time to chat a bit with Frank Defranco, one of the founders of Sink Tapes' current label, Sniffling Indie Kids. I could tell that what they're doing there is a labor of love, and I wish them luck.

Here are some shots from last night. You can see the full set at Flickr.

EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE: Sink Tapes, "Blow Me A Kiss." Playing The Brighton TONIGHT.

Creases Out January 17th

New Brunswick's Sink Tapes release music at a relentless clip. Nothing they produce ever feels tossed off or thrown together, though. Instead, Sink Tapes have obviously worked hard to achieve an aesthetic all their own, and they're remarkably consistent considering the amount of music they've released over the last several years.

The band combine influences like their New Jersey forebears in Yo La Tengo, The Feelies, and The Wrens with some of the classic sounds of The Jesus and Mary Chain or even The Replacements at Paul Westerberg's most introspective. The results are a dreamy, lo-fi sound and a series of releases -- Please Touch, Mattress Cowboys, How You Mean, Touchdown Buffalo, and more -- that have consistently topped my favorites lists.

Sink Tapes are about to release, maybe, their most ambitious album later this month. Creases will contain 12 tracks along with a collection of 13 bonus tracks that includes alternate versions, demos, and acoustic versions of both Creases tracks and some earlier Sink Tapes songs. The new collection arrives January 17th on cassette and CD via Sniffling Indie Kids, but you can stream the first single right here.

"Blow Me a Kiss" is an upbeat bit of indie pop showing the band at their best. Drummer / vocalist Gabe Chiarello breathily makes the title request over the twin guitars of Alex Kielmanski and Ricky Kuczynski while everything bounces atop Thomas Dalzell's bass.



You also have the opportunity to catch Sink Tapes live TONIGHT when they kick off a short tour at The Brighton Bar with help from Grand Mariner, Moth Puppy, and Agumon. Doors for the show (18+) are at 7pm. $6 gets you inside. I'll see you there.

Check out the rest of Sink Tapes' tour dates below:

Sink Tapes, Touchdown Buffalo, 2014

Monday Run Album Review

Part of the reason that the Sunday Run Album Review disappeared from this space was that I'd found it nearly impossible to run consistently without aggravating one or more of a few nagging injuries. Most of that sad episode seems to be behind me now, so I've been trying to get back after it. I had big plans for Sunday, but a Saturday run coupled with about 6 straight hours of standing on Saturday night made Sunday a rest day for me. Monday, though, I was back at it; and I took the latest from Sink Tapes out with me.

Sink Tapes are slowly but surely growing into one of my favorite not just New Jersey bands, but bands overall. Over just the last two years, the New Brunswick quartet have churned out three excellent full-length albums and a fantastic EP. The band's latest, Touchdown Buffalo, reaches back into Sink Tapes' deep well of influences and continues a staggeringly consistent run of solid output.

The album opens with the percussive noise and trem-enhanced guitar chords of "I Told You to Trade It." The track finds Sink Tapes at their most Jesus and Mary Chain, and that continues through the roomy-sounding "Small Thought." Third track and lush album standout "Vegas Hotel Yoga Spa" (where you can socialize, get moisturized, dry your eyes, be institutionalized) moves into Psychedelic Furs territory and -- like its album-closing, acoustic demo version or How You Mean's "Your Mouth Is On My Mind" -- shows what Sink Tapes can do when they extend their ideas past the three-minute mark.

And if I have one complaint about Touch Down Buffalo, it's that the songs are too, damn short. Just as the "La la la" comes in on the Beulah-tinged "Dishes In The Dark," the song begins its fade. Similarly, "What Wants, What Needs" disappears just as it kicks in its mini crescendo. Many of the songs here are like something delicious that you pop into your mouth only to have it dissolve away, leaving you rifling through the package for just one more crumb. Always leave them wanting more, I guess.

And, on the plus side, I'm such a slow runner now that I was able to get through almost two full listens over the course of 5K.

Touchdown Bufflalo is out now on Front Row Records / Mint 400 Records and available as a cassette / digital download from Sink Tapes' Bandcamp page. You can also get it from your favorite retailer of downloadable music.

Don't Miss Upcoming Releases from The Great American Novel, Lost Romance, Sunday Guts, Sink Tapes

Attention, Please

Back in the summer of 2002, The New York Times asked then White House Chief of Staff Andy Card why we hadn't yet seen a big push for action against Iraq.

"You don't release new products in August," was his famous response.

That appears to be true in the music industry as well. After an August during which I had some trouble finding new things to write about, new release after new release started to drop; and it became hard to keep up. Diarrhea Planet, Superchunk, No Age, Crocodiles, Neko Case, Okkervil River,... ...even The Pixies. The world has new releases from MGMT and Arcade Fire to look forward to later this year.

I hope to get around to saying something about all of those; but first, I'd like to direct your attention to a few releases coming out in the next week or two from bands who may or may not get reviewed by Pitchfork or Rolling Stone. I've spent some time with each of these over the last several weeks; and, as big as this fall looks in terms of big name releases, I think it's also shaping up as a banner season for some up and comers.

The Great American Novel, :( (The Frown Album) (September 10th) -- Fun. Funny. Fast-paced. Concise. Layne Montgomery and his New York bandmates deliver a collection of power pop that rarely takes its foot off the gas.

The album ranges from the early Elvis Costello inspired opener "This Song Will Make You Love Me" to the pop punk of closer "Ubik." Beneath the upbeat arrangements, though, Montgomery sneers out lines like "sitting at home on Facebook / Just staring at your face," making you realize why -- as you bop around enjoying yourself -- this album isn't called :).

Lost Romance, The Light and The Dark EP (September 14th) -- Lost Romance, the brainchild of songwriter / guitarist Gerry Perlinski, have been at it since 2010. I got a chance to see them perform as part of the Tiny Giant Artist Collective's Summer Bummer back in June, and the New Brunswick trio's brand of guitar-heavy alternative rock makes for an exciting live show.

This four-song studio debut goes a long way toward capturing some of that energy. Taking Hüsker Dü-type wall of sound guitar and passing it through the filter of 1990s alternative rock, Lost Romance come up with a big sound that remains accessible. The best example of this is opener "Silver Bullet," which packs a big, rock and roll punch into its 2+ minute running time.

Sunday Guts, Leave It Go EP (September 17th) -- The Bethlehem, PA duo of Billy Kilgannon and Victor Berger IV produce pristine pop reminiscent of Beatles or Brian Wilson-inspired acts like The Smithereens or XTC / Dukes of Stratosphear.

The four-song Leave It Go EP features keys, synths, guitar, and a vocal style that come together extremely well on the collection's center piece "Edge of the Universe." Each of the tracks here, though, reveal that Kilgannon and Berger understand how to craft a pop song.

Sink Tapes, How You Mean (September 17th) -- This New Brunswick, NJ band melds the jangle of REM, the deadpan vocals of The Velvet Underground, and the alterna-pop of Tim-era Replacements to produce a contender for "CoolDad's Favorite Album of 2013 By a New Jersey Band."

Standout tracks "Super Happy" and "Your Mouth Is On My Mind" make me feel like the New Jersey indie pop tradition of bands like The Feelies and The Wrens is in safe hands. Together with this spring's Mattress Cowboys EP, How You Mean forms a collection as solid as almost anything else I've heard so far in 2013.



There you go. Four releases over the next two weeks that don't deserve to get lost in the deluge of post-August product launches.

3-Day Weekend Edition

Labor Day 2013

It's taken me a lot longer than I expected to shake off the dust (literally) following my trip to LA for FYF Fest. If you haven't already, you can check out my recaps and some pics of:

Day 1
Day 2

I've got several hundred pics I never posted in the interest of keeping CoolDad Music load times manageable. Still trying to figure out what to do with those.

Anyway, to the business at hand.

Summer's ending, and we've got a huge Friday night of music ahead of us to kick off the holiday weekend followed by a Monday BLOWOUT.

Bergen County Folk Pop / Pop Punkers, The Front Bottoms, are playing a sold out show tonight at The Stone Pony.



If you missed out on those tickets, though, there's still plenty to do.

Later this evening, you can head over to Langosta Lounge if you'd like to catch The Ribeye Brothers.

Langosta's sister location, The Berkeley Bar, will be hosting The Riverwinds and Harper's Fellow.

And the Brighton Bar in Long Branch has got New Brunswick's Sink Tapes. I'm going to see if I can't make it to that one following the Front Bottoms show.

The big event of the weekend for me, though, will be taking place at Asbury Lanes on Labor Day when The So So Glos (from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn just like yours truly) and Nashville's Diarrhea Planet send Summer 2013 packing with a punk rock bang. That bill will also feature the last local performance by area favorites, Elevator Art.

I hope your summer was everything you wanted it to be. Start sharpening those number 2 pencils and...

...Rock on.

Sink Tapes: New Single, New Video, Album This Fall

"Famous Glitching Clan"

New Brunswick's Sink Tapes have a new LP, How You Mean, coming on September 17th. Last night, the band released the record's first single along with its accompanying video.

"Famous Glitching Clan" goes for kind of a mellow, surf vibe and continues to show that Sink Tapes won't be pigeonholed into a single genre. And if the video is any indication, only 25% of the band is able to sit still for a passport photo.

See that? Even when I'm out of town and nervous over CoolDaughter #1's upcoming race, I point you to those sweet, sweet Jersey tunes...

Sink Tapes Release Free, 5-Song EP

Mattress Cowboys

In the tradition of other New Jersey bands like The Feelies and Yo La Tengo, New Brunswick's Sink Tapes pass some sounds of the past through their own filter to come up with a sound that is totally their own.

The quartet's latest EP displays influences from The Velvet Underground, the acoustic indie pop of Evan Dando, early shoegaze like The Jesus and Mary Chain, and, yes, Yo La Tengo. Mattress Cowboys provides a bit of a contrast to Sink Tapes' 2012 full-length, Please Touch, by focusing a bit on the band's quieter side.

On opening track, "A Carnival's a Sure Thing," Ricky Kuczynski vocally channels Lou Reed over distant electric guitar and keyboards. The EP's other songs are mostly acoustic, culminating in the psychedelic, short interlude of closer "Doc Botnik's House Call Band."

The 5-song Mattress Cowboys is available as a "Name Your Price" (which means FREE) download from Sink Tapes' Bandcamp page. If you've got about ten minutes and not much cash, I honestly can't think of a better use of those two resources today.

Finally Home and a New Album Review

Cold with a Cold

After about ten days straight of travel for business and pleasure, I'm back home in frigid New Jersey.  This cold that I acquired along the way is really dampening my happiness at being able to sleep in my own bed, but I'll deal with it like I always do:  whine and complain to CoolMom and to anyone else who will listen until it's gone.

I did manage to cobble together a review of the very first solo album by one of my guitar heroes, Johnny Marr, for Speak Into My Good Eye.  Check that out if you like.

I feel like I missed out on quite a bit while I was gone, but there are some interesting things happening this week.  If you're not like me and you're not planning to bury yourself under a pile made up of your family and your dog until the morning, you should go check out Sink Tapes at The Brighton Bar in Long Branch tonight.  They do a nice job of carrying on the tradition of VU-influenced New Jersey acts like The Feelies and Yo La Tengo.

Provided I'm sufficiently recovered, I'm trying to get CoolMom to join me on Friday for a free show at Asbury Park's Berkeley Bar featuring Accidental Seabirds and River City Extension sister band, Thanks.  If you make it to that one, come find me and I'll buy you a beverage.

Finally, I almost forgot that it was Kurt Cobain's birthday today.