Some Covers from Yawn Mower

Yawn Mower at The Saint in August 2015.

"Little Honda" / "Lust for Life"

I was one of those in attendance to witness the first-ever public performance by Asbury Park duo Yawn Mower back in August. Mike Chick (baritone guitar) and Biff Swenson (drums) bring the sometimes surfy / sometimes garage-y noise along with lots of hair. To ring in 2016, Yawn Mower have released a pair of covers for free download via their Bandcamp page.

The pair give us two songs that, coincidentally, rank very, very highly on my list of personal favorites. First up is a noisy and distorted take on The Beach Boys' "Little Honda" that owes a great deal to the version Yo La Tengo had on their 1997 masterpiece, I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One. I absolutely wore that CD out when CoolMom and I were living in Seattle in the late 90s. Next we get one of my all-time favorites in Girls' "Lust for Life." Imagine Dinosaur Jr. playing that one and you've got the idea of what's going on here.

Check out / download both songs and check out Yawn Mower live next month when they play APYC on February 20th.

CoolDad's Top 5 Favorite Choruses of 2013

All For "One"

The chorus is the most important part of any pop song. If it's a good one, then you remember the song and turn up the radio every time the song comes on, waiting for your chance to sing along when the chorus comes around. I'm not talking about silly earworm type things like, "I live for the applause, applause, applause. / I live for the applause -plause. / Live for the applause -plause." For me, a great chorus comes from either setting some clever wordplay to a memorable melody or from getting a big idea into, maybe, just a few words that stay with you.

I'm gonna come right out and confess something: This list is really just a vehicle designed to let me tell you how much I love my number 1 chorus of 2013. I think, though, that building a list just so that you can have something sit at number 1 is a useful exercise. It made me think about all of the other great choruses from this year and why number 1 stood out from the crowd.

Oh, and there won't be any Katy Perry or Maroon 5 on here. Nothing against them, but I really only hear those things in the minivan. I'm gonna stick to the stuff I really loved.

5. "Life" -- Modern Hut

"I'm not proud of the things that I've done in this life. / But that's alright / 'Cause I will die."

Joe Steinhardt and Screaming Females' Marissa Paternoster take turns on this line both to open the song and after each of the verses. I guess -- like most of the record -- it's kind of a downer.

This can be read as, "I'm worthless, but that's ok. Eventually the world will be rid of me." I prefer to take the slightly more upbeat angle of, "Life is short, so I'm gonna keep plugging away, doing the best I can, even though I kinda suck at it."



4. "I Need My Girl" -- The National

"I need my girl. / I need my girl."

It makes sense that one of Matt Berninger's simplest, most easily understood songs would contain this very simple statement about missing his wife. I know that when I'm separated from CoolMom for any length of time -- even though I keep myself busy with the kids and other things -- I find myself saying the same thing to myself in the quiet moments.



3. "Runner" -- Laura Stevenson

"The summer hurts! / The summer hurts! / The summer hurts! / The summer hurts! / The summer hurts! / The summer hurts!"

Stevenson's Wheel isn't about the cycle of life or the changing of seasons. Instead, it's often about futility, plodding, and dealing with life's relentless beat downs. When it first comes around, this chorus is preceded by the phrase, "Like a steady beating."

I think we can all remember periods characterized by personal lows from which we thought we'd never dig ourselves out, and this chorus captures that for me.



2. "Ohm" -- Yo La Tengo

"'Cause this is it for all we know / So say goodnight to me / And lose no more time / No time. / Resisting the flow."

This chorus is, basically, the mission statement for Fade. Indie rock veterans, Yo La Tengo, made an album about aging and the passage of time. To me, anyway, Fade tells us that life is really just a collection of moments. Some of the smallest can be the most special, and it's important to recognize and remember them.



1. "Step" -- Vampire Weekend

"The gloves are off. / The wisdom teeth are out. / What you on about? / I feel it in my bones. / I feel it in my bones. / I'm stronger now. / I'm ready for the house. / Such a modest mouse. / I can't do it alone. / I can't do it alone."

Maybe, for my money, the best song in the Vampire Weekend catalog. There's a lot going on here, but I love this chorus. When Ezra Koenig says that "What you on about?" I smirk every time. I'm not even sure why -- just the way he says it, maybe.

"Step" and its chorus contain all that people love and hate about Vampire Weekend: The precious chamber pop, the overly literate lyrics, and a density of references. I tend to like all those things.

Ezra and the band are older now. They're not kids anymore, and Modern Vampires of the City really has them exploring some of life's bigger issues. "Step" harkens back to some of the stuff on their first record, like "M79," and almost makes fun of that product of the younger Vampire Weekend while improving upon it by leaps and bounds.

Things Have Been Slow

Not For Long, I Hope

Things have been kind of slow around here of late. I guess there are fewer releases towards the end of the year, or maybe it's just that I haven't been particularly inspired. I'm hoping that will all change as the end of the year is packed full of shows and things to do.

Starting this Friday, CoolMom, CD #1 and I will be catching an early showing of Catching Fire, part 2 in the Hunger Games saga. This is actually quite a big deal for them, and I'm going along for the ride. Later that evening, I hope to make it over to The Saint for Speed The Plough, The Glenn Mercer Band, and Wild Carnation.

Then, on Thanksgiving Eve, November 27th, Tom's River's River City Extension will be holding their fourth annual Simple Gifts homecoming show with support from Kevin Devine, Those Mockingbirds, and Harper's Fellow. Frontman Joe Michelini promised in a recent interview with Speak Into My Good Eye that the set will go down as the longest that River City Extension have ever played. That may make it difficult to catch all the bands (Dentist, The Drive Home, Mad Feather Group) at the unofficial after party at Asbury Lanes, but I'll try.

The Asbury Music Awards come to The Stone Pony on December 12th. Jeff Raspe hosts the event and the bill always includes performances from many of the best that our area has to offer. That same weekend, on December 14th, I'll be heading to Brooklyn's Bell House for one of Yo La Tengo's post-Hanukkah shows there. They're doing three nights instead of eight this year and not at Maxwell's, of course.

Nicole Atkins will be bringing a full live performance of her debut album, Neptune City, to The Stone Pony to celebrate the holidays on December 20th. She's bringing along a full string section.

I'll be closing out the year at The Stone Pony for two nights of The Bouncing Souls' Home for the Holidays residency on December 27th and December 28th. The 27th features openers Laura Stevenson and Molly and the Zombies (a band name which many are hoping is a cover for some permutation of a certain New Brunswick band whose frontman / songwriter is a native of Red Bank, NJ). Appropriately, the 28th -- which will probably be my final show of the year -- features support from Titus Andronicus, a band whose shirt I'm wearing as I write and that accounts for a good percentage of the space here at CoolDad Music.

I'll write something about all of this stuff. Of course, I'll probably do at least one year-end post as well. And, remember: If things ever get slow around here, I usually keep my stream of consciousness going on Twitter and Facebook. You can give a follow or a like at either place if you want to make sure that I'm still alive.

I hope to see you at one or two of these upcoming shows.

Come say hi. I'll buy you a beverage, and we can toast 2013.

FYF Fest Day 2: Jonathan Richman, Yo La Tengo, Beach House, My Bloody Valentine, Sound Issues, and Mindie Kids (PHOTOS)

CoolDad's LA Adventure, Part 2

"This guy seems like he's pretty popular, but I have no idea who he is."

"Nah. People are just going over there 'cause he's the only one playing right now."

Whatever their reasons, the people who did make it over to Miranda to spend some time with Jonathan Richman and drummer Tommy Larkins got a treat. Richman can give you the feeling that his songs are made up right on the spot -- some of the lyrics are -- so his sets always feel special and spontaneous. Whether he's singing about an evening stroll through the plaza or the human body's innate desire to be outside, Richman is able to get to the essence of what it means to be human. He just makes everyone feel good. Getting to sit through his short set made the whole festival experience worthwhile.

I'd planned on taking it kind of easy for the next hour or so as I waited for the Carrie Stage sets to get started. As I sipped my $14 tequila, lime, cucumber, jalapeño, cilantro, agave, cayenne cocktail in the VIP area, though, I started to hear the pop / post-punk stylings of Brighton, UK quartet Fear of Men from over on the Charlotte Stage. After quickly downing my cocktail (nothing allowed out of the VIP area, you know), I made my way to the stage and really enjoyed what I heard. Fear of Men are one of the bands at the festival that definitely sold me a few records.

After quick snippets of Mac DeMarco and The Orwells, I decided to walk toward Carrie to stake out a spot for the day's headliners. Guards were finishing up and I was able to walk right up to the front and grab a spot just one row off of the barricade. Little did I know that this was very poor planning.

Kurt Vile was next and sounded great. I've always enjoyed his records. You really do get a much better sense of what a good musician Vile is when seeing him live. But as I looked around, I noticed the eye-rolling and pantomimed nap-taking of the mindie kids all around me. I realized that I had positioned myself among the early arrivals for Beach House and MGMT, each of whom were scheduled to go on later in the evening, about 3 hours later.

The full meaning of this didn't register with me because Yo La Tengo were up next, and I probably had a better view of the band than I ever did at even Maxwell's. It was daylight, and the festival style stage meant that I didn't have to contend with being blocked by some basketball player in front of me.

"Play 'Cherry Chapstick!!'" someone shouted. Guitarist Ira Kaplan, citing the tight festival scheduling, pointed out that the band would be playing a set comprised of scientifically chosen and focus grouped songs designed to produce the guaranteed most appropriate set for the day. No "Cherry Chapstick," but several other Yo La Tengo "hits" like "Autumn Sweater," "Ohm," "Stockholm Syndrome," and "Tom Courtenay."

"I thought they were gonna be lame, but they weren't bad," said one of my neighbors.

Then the degree of my misjudgment began to dawn on me as more mindie kids than I would have thought possible squeezed up front in preparation for Beach House. Barely able to move my arms, I decided to ride out the set from my position. I was beginning to worry that I really had no choice.

Beach House made me forget everything for a while as Victoria LeGrand's voice wormed its way into my brain and executed its patented hypnotic effect. I've never considered myself to be a Beach House fan, but hearing their songs back to back made me realize just how strong their catalog really is. They deserve their position as dream-pop standard bearers.

As soon as Beach House finished, things got serious. There was a crush as the crowd, thousands strong at this point, surged forward and pushed those of us in the front against the barricades. Again and again, there were groans as the entire crowd heaved itself forward in anticipation of MGMT. MGMT. I'm not kidding.

I couldn't take it any more and feigned illness so that the security guards would help me over the rail to freedom. It worked, and I bolted for the VIP section. From there, I got to hear all of the big hits from Oracular Spectacular. At one point, strangely, Henry Winkler joined the band on stage to play giant cowbell.

My plans to see My Bloody Valentine up close and personal had been trumped by my desire to survive, and I was feeling a bit depressed. I looked up at the end of MGMT's set, though, and saw a sea of mindie kids flowing away from the stage. Apparently, they were making their way to see Holy Ghost! on the Charlotte stage. I got up and got close, but not too close, to the stage for the act I'd been waiting to see for two days.

When the "Wear Earplugs" warning went up on the big screen, I heard folks foolishly wondering if earplugs were really necessary. I inserted my own.

My Bloody Valentine opened with "I Only Said," and I could feel the breeze created by the sound waves. People actually started leaving the immediate area with fingers in their ears. Then the unforgivable started to happen.

I don't remember exactly when it started, but the sound began to cut out for several seconds at a time. Most memorable and crushing to me was the moment, just after the opening riff on "Soon," when the PA went silent muting the guitar dive bomb at the beginning of the song. Kevin Shields was visibly angry, but the band continued.

After a short break to deal with the technical issues -- after which, the issues persisted -- the band played the rest of their set, apologizing just before the last song and thanking the audience for understanding. That last song was "You Made Me Realize."

For five straight minutes in the middle of the song, the band created a sonic storm that washed over the crowd and could be felt physically. My glasses vibrated on the bridge of my nose. The PA held out, and My Bloody Valentine got to leave their lasting impression. I have no idea how those not wearing earplugs withstood the barrage.

In all, I guess I enjoyed my first festival experience in twenty years. At FYF, I made some discoveries like Lemuria, Charles Bradley, and Fear of Men. Bands went on on time. Lines were minimal. Sound was, mostly, good. But essentially ruining My Bloody Valentine's set with sound problems cast a dark cloud over everything for me.

Given the choice between a festival and one, great, two- or three-hour evening with one of my favorite bands, I know what I'd choose every time.

Yo La Tengo Video for "Ohm"

The Radio Edit

Yo La Tengo have released the official video for Fade single "Ohm." Written and directed by Simpsons writer Donick Carey and animated by Sugarshack Animation, the video features Ira trees, Georgia seahorses, and James mushrooms (?) as part of a psychedelic trip led by a cigar-smoking baby.

I recently saw Yo La Tengo perform their last scheduled set at Maxwell's, and this just has me pining to see them again. Ira, Georgia, James, if you're reading this, how about moving Hanukkah to Asbury Park this year? I know a nice place where you can stay.

The Last Weeks of Maxwell's, Part 1: Condo F*cks / Yo La Tengo, 6/15/13

This Is Where I Belong

"This band does not exist without this club." That was Ira Kaplan / Kid Condo in the final moments of a double bill that saw both Yo La Tengo's final performance at Maxwell's as well as the realization of The Condo Fucks' career-long dream to headline the back room. A last minute edition to the bill following a cancellation by the Pastels, Yo La Tengo took advantage of probably their first opening slot at Maxwell's in decades to focus on the quieter, more melancholy portions of their catalog. The Condo Fucks provided a contrast, making the most of their first and only Maxwell's headlining set by turning in an ear-splitting performance of garage rock covers.

WFMU's Gaylord acted as the evening's emcee and made reference to Yo La Tengo's long history as Maxwell's de facto house band, recalling an early performance by their pre-YLT incarnation as A Worrying Thing. Guitarist Ira Kaplan pointed out that the band's first performance at the club as Yo La Tengo took place in 1984. Then, armed with the acoustic guitar he would use for the entire set, Kaplan, along with drummer Georgia Hubley and bassist James McNew, opened with "Big Day Coming" from 1993's Painful.

The band acknowledged Maxwell's co-owner Todd Abramson several times, at one point noting that he may be the only show promoter in America still calling himself a "booker" instead of a "curator." Yo La Tengo, said Kaplan, had moved with the times. No more would they use a "set list." Instead, they'd work from a "libretto."

The night's libretto pulled songs from the entirety of Yo La Tengo's discography, including what will likely be James McNew's only performance of "3 Blocks from Grove Street" from 1987's New Wave Hot Dogs, "Speeding Motorcycle," and the acoustic, Georgia Hubley-sung version of "Tom Courtenay." The songs from this year's Fade, an album that deals with aging and the passage of time, -- "The Point of It," "I'll Be Around," and set-closer "Ohm" -- took on a subtle power given the context of the evening.

At the end of the set, the band climbed down from the stage and made that walk, as Yo La Tengo, through the Maxwell's crowd for the final time.

At about 8:15, The Condo Fucks -- guitarist Kid Condo, drummer Georgia Condo, and bassist James McNew -- took their positions on stage. Gaylord returned and provided a bit of the band's history, noting their rise from the streets of New London, CT to the headlining slot at the New Jersey rock institution.

"1! 2! 3! 4!" counted off Kid Condo, and the squall of his electric guitar sent a few folks to the bar, buck in hand, to grab some ear plugs. The set, comprised totally of covers, included selections from the band's 2009 Fuckbook (don't  Google that one) along with searing renditions of obscure cuts run through the filter of garage and psych-rock. James McNew took lead vocals on Fuckbook cuts like The Electric Eels' "Accident" and Slade's "Gudbuy T'Jane." Georgia Condo managed most of the lyrics to the Troggs' "With a Girl Like You," but missing a few words just added to The Condo Fucks' overall wonderfully ragged feel.

The Connecticut trio left it all on the stage, but managed to come out for one more song. Ira / Kid Condo picked up the acoustic one last time, and the band delivered a cover of The Kinks' "This is Where I Belong" that set more than a few eyes watering.

There are six weeks worth of shows left on the Maxwell's schedule. Many of those will be truly great and just as emotional as last night. But a big Maxwell's chapter closed last night. Yo La Tengo will never play there again. At least The Condo Fucks finally got their big shot.

80 Degree Edition: Crowd Funding, Book Review, Vampire Weekend

Recap Friday

Just wanted to point out a few things:

There are a couple of crowd funding campaigns going on right now that I think deserve your attention:

Eternal Summers have a pre-order project going on PledgeMusic to finish their third LP. Correct Behavior is one of my favorite albums from last year, and the band's singer / guitarist, Nicole Yun, was kind enough to answer some questions over email for me.

Local Americana act Harper's Fellow are doing something similar over at IndieGoGo. They'll be using some local Asbury businesses to complete their record, and they'll be donating 10% of the proceeds from the sale of the record to help with Hurricane Sandy relief.

I also did a review of Jesse Jarnow's book, Big Day Coming: Yo La Tengo and the Rise of Indie Rock.

Speak Into My Good Eye has the review I did of the upcoming album from Vampire Weekend, Modern Vampires of the City.

So have a look at all of those if you like.

And rock on...

Book Review: Big Day Coming: Yo La Tengo and the Rise of Indie Rock by Jesse Jarnow

No Sex, No Drugs, Some Rock and Roll

To paraphrase the introduction at the beginning of each episode of Brian Fellow's Safari Planet on Saturday Night Live: "CoolDad is not a trained music journalist, nor does he hold an advanced degree in any of the media arts. He is simply an enthusiastic middle-aged man with a masters degree in economics and an abiding love for popular music."

Placed up against the encyclopedic knowledge of the members of Yo La Tengo or their biographer Jesse Jarnow, my personal level of indie music knowledge should disqualify me from ever writing another word about it. One outcome of reading Mr. Jarnow's book for me, therefore, has been to add to my reading / listening list many of the selections in Big Day Coming's bibliography. Jarnow's knowledge, research, and attention to detail help take what could be a relatively narrow subject and expand it to show the part that New Jersey, and Hoboken in particular, have played in the development of the musical genre we now describe with the catchall term "indie."

Yo La Tengo have meant a lot to me over the years. Part of their appeal for me, I think, has been their low key public persona and their "normalness." Understandably, this makes for probably the tamest rock biography ever written. Anecdotes range from the band's annoyance with the constant misspelling of their name to singer/guitarist Ira Kaplan's losing his wallet in the snow upon jumping out of the car. While this may not make for a voyeuristic page-turner, the story of Yo La Tengo and their steady persistence over nearly 30 years is inspiring on a certain level.

Jarnow points out that, at any given point in time, Yo La Tengo could be a cover band, a folk duo, a power pop trio, or a shoegaze noise machine. Kaplan is usually the guitarist; spouse Georgia Hubley is usually the drummer; James McNew is usually the bassist. But they may change that around at any time. Basically, Yo La Tengo are a group of people who have been able to make a living doing what they love pretty much the way they want to do it for almost three decades.

In order to provide some context for his main subject, Jarnow also chronicles the development of indie rock. He discusses the elements that were present in Hoboken (and Minneapolis and Athens, etc.) that made the development of a scene possible: a low cost of living, a college radio station in nearby WFMU, and a homebase in the form of Maxwell's. In addition to individual biographies of each member of Yo La Tengo, Jarnow covers fanzine culture, the history of the important Matador records, the effects of the Internet, MP3's, and indie taste-making sites like Pitchfork.

Jarnow does sound (justifiably) wary of the developments in the world of indie rock over the past decade: NPR's purchasing of much former independent college radio bandwidth, blog culture, coporate sponsorship of artists, the importance of a Pitchfork rating, and the compartmentalization of music via outlets like SiriusXM; but he doesn't come off as overly curmudgeonly.

Everything is covered with an impressive level of detail. That detail, while valuable, can also make the book drag in some places; but I'm glad it's all in there. And a book about a band who, according to the author, have performed over 1,000 different covers in their career just couldn't skimp on the minutiae.

Fans of Yo La Tengo or those interested in the part New Jersey has played in popular music beyond Frank Sinatra, Bon Jovi, and Bruce Springsteen will get the most out of this book. And if you think you know your indie music history, Big Day Coming could provide you with a nice reality check.

Worth the Wait Edition

Yo La Tengo Video Friday

I didn't think it was possible.  Maybe my perspective has changed as I've grown older with the band; but in their first proper music video since 1997, Yo La Tengo may have topped "Sugarcube"'s classic collaboration with Mr. Show.

The video for "I'll Be Around," shot by Junebug director Phil Morrison, almost perfectly captures the overall feeling of the band's lastest album Fade while still showcasing Yo La Tengo's trademark sense of humor.

Just smile quietly to yourself as you watch, but don't forget to...

Rock on.

First, Big 2013 Release Day

So Many Things to Spend Money On

At the end of last year, I was wondering which records I was looking forward to in 2013.  Maybe it was a sluggishness of mind brought on by the holidays, but I honestly had trouble thinking of anything.  Then, today, a whole bunch of interesting stuff arrived at the record store.  Well, as usual, it didn't actually arrive at my local record store; but we knew that already.

California X, California X -- Guitar-heavy sludge punk from Amherst, MA.  How could I say no?

Christopher Owens, Lysandre -- First solo effort from the former Girls frontman.

Parquet Courts, Light Up Gold (really the second release for this record) -- Jangly pop post-punk.  Or is it post pop-punk?

Free Energy, Love Sign -- Power pop from The City of Brotherly Love.

And of course...

Yo La Tengo, Fade -- Pre-ordered this one from Matador and wrote it up for Speak Into My Good Eye.

Maybe you actually live near a record store that will have some or all of these.  If not, they should be available in all the usual places.  It's gonna be a good year.

Speak Into My Good Eye

New Year, New Developments

The great people over at the Asbury Music Award-winning Speak Into My Good Eye have graciously given me a bit of space from which to spout at a considerably larger audience.  My first post, this week's "Sunday Run Album Review," went up there today.  I listened to Yo La Tengo's Fade.

The team at SIMGE do a great job covering the local, Asbury Park music scene.  They're much more on top of national, breaking music news than I could ever hope to be; they take some great photos; and they just work really, really hard.  Go check out the site.  Follow them on Twitter.  Like them on Facebook.

For the time being, I think, the plan is for me to post over there from time to time while keeping this site going.  We'll see what happens.

Exciting times.

Yo La Tengo Streaming at P4K

Fade

Godfathers of indie rock and pride of Hoboken, NJ, Yo La Tengo, have made their upcoming Fade available for streaming over at Pitchfork Advance.

I'll have plenty to say about the record, I'm sure, following its release via Matador on January 15th; but so far, I'm enjoying the preview immensely.  While you listen, you may also want to check out Jesse Jarnow's Big Day Coming:  Yo La Tengo and the Rise of Indie Rock.  It's a great history not only of the band, but also of the indie music industry and the part of its origin story that takes place in the great state of New Jersey.

Back to Basics

"Sugarcube"

Made a few abortive attempts at blogging about some not that interesting to me things today.  Maybe I'm feeling a little down as the end of summer approaches and the fall business travel schedules of CoolMom and me begin to fill, but nothing's been grabbing me lately.

One of the things I've found as I've tried to learn to play the guitar over the last year-plus is that, when you're in a rut, sometimes it's good to get back to basics and to start from the beginning.  With that in mind, here's, probably, my favorite music video of all time.  Even without the video, hearing this song brings back memories of the years CoolMom and I spent together in Seattle during the 1990's.  There's something funny and predictable about the fact that the song that never fails to take me back to the only time in my life I've spent outside the New York Metropolitan Area is by a band from New Jersey.