Vinyl Vednesday 8/17/2011

[Vinyl Vednesday is a weekly feature about three favorite vinyl finds. It’s not meant to be a dick-measuring contest, but it usually turns out that way. As always, e-mail pelonej1@gmail.com with your own big finds!]

Records: Terence Trent D’Arby’s Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D’Arby (1987) on black, Gustav Holst’s The Planets, as performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra with William Steinberg, conductor (1970), on black with a sweet shiny, trippy cover, and the compilation The Right to Assemble Volume Two: A Hardcore Punk Compilation From New Brunswick, N.J. (2008) on clear.

Place of Purchase: D’Arby was purchased at Disc World (R.I.P.) in Conshohocken. Holst was obtained from Impact! Thrift Store back when it was still located in East Norriton. Right to Assemble came from my homies at Chunksaah Records.

Thoughts: While he burned himself out creatively pretty quickly, Terence Trent D’Arby put out one hell of a debut record. Yeah, it’s a little ’80s-ish in production, but the dude had a clean, soulful voice and a songwriting style that skipped along the border between pretentious and hilariously awesome (Sample lyric, from “Dance Little Sister,”: “GET UP OUTTA YA CHAIR GRANDMA! / Or rather, would you prefer to dance, grandmother?” This is a spoken word into, by the way. D’Arby loves spoken word intros). While the guy never quite topped Prince or Michael Jackson, he certainly had the confidence needed to try on this first album. Plus it’s got the super catchy “Wishing Well.” That song is so sparsely arranged but so infectious.

While I haven’t done this in a while, for a period of time I used to love digging through crates of vinyl at thrift stores. The success ratio was practically nil, but the few finds were so cheap that it felt validating. Also I love looking at all of the crappy Christmas records people donate. One day, a creepy dude saddled up to me and started going off about how classical is the best musical genre. He talked at me for maybe 10-15 minutes, long enough to scare my then-girlfriend, now-fiancée, Michelle. I was looking for classic rock and ’80s pop on the cheap, but this dude kept pushing Holst’s The Planets on me with a vengeance. I finally caved – it only cost a few cents anyway. Besides, hey, maybe I could dig classical too. While I’ve come to since love the orchestral works of Hans Zimmer, Planets is merely one of those once-in-a-while kind of albums. It has some amazing swelling moments. Those strings are, um, really stringy. Also, I kind of like the random looks it gets when people flip through my collection.

OK, back to the punk rock. Man, 2008 was a great year for Hub City Hardcore, and Right to Assemble boasts exclusive tracks from a ton of bands that I was obsessed with then: The Ergs!, The Measure [SA], Static Radio NJ. There’s a bunch of other shouty, distorted guitary type groups, and the whole thing is just a real fun listen. Throw in a cool zine and a download for the first volume of Right to Assemble, and you’ve got yourself a real deal in stereo. Punkrockneverstop.

Vinyl Vednesday 1/19/2011

[Vinyl Vednesday is a weekly feature about three favorite vinyl finds. It’s not meant to be a dick-measuring contest, but it usually turns out that way. This week’s edition is dedicated to The Measure [SA], a pretty nifty punk band in the process of breaking up. E-mail pelonej1@gmail.com with your own big finds!]

Records: The Measure [SA]’s seven-inch split with The Modern Machines (2007) on black, Songs About People… and Fruit N’ Shit (2008) on clear orange, and seven-inch split with The Ergs! (2009) on purple marble.

Place of Purchase: THE INTERNETS. I’m pretty sure all three came from No Idea Records.

Thoughts: While they only have two full-lengths to their credit, The Measure [SA] was constantly putting out material via seven-inches. This split with The Modern Machines is a good example of their style – “Portland” kicks off the release with pep and insight. The Measure was really good at covers too (They once joked that people always liked them more anyway). Here, they take on Bob Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me Babe.” It’s sloppy, silly, and totally rocking. I love when they switch to cut time near the end of the last chorus. So good. While they’ve since released a seven-inch collection (with a second volume promised for this year), “It Ain’t Me Babe” has never been re-released, so this baby is a treasured find.

My favorite Measure release, though, is Songs About People. It’s perfect at eight songs, and while the band was shitting gold at this point, I love that they chose not to mess with such a solid tracklisting. Side One is pretty catchy, with rockers like “Drunk By Noon” and “Drama-Free Youth,” but I prefer the flipside. “singleseriesnumberzero” is the rare political tune from the band (It’s anti-Bush, natch). I feel bad for “Roof Beers” because it’s nice, but it gets in the way of “Hello Bastards,” probably one of my favorite songs of all time. It’s about growing up and trying to find a place in the punk community that raised you, and it’s catchy as all heck. “practice jam” is half the speed and just as emotionally resonant.

The Ergs! broke up in 2008, but much like Notorious B.I.G., they keep putting out releases. While That’s It… Bye contains their final recordings, they recorded four songs for a two-part split with The Measure prior to that. They cover each other’s songs, with the highlight being “Workage,” a Measure tune. The original appears on the second seventh-inch. While The Ergs! turn it into a big rock production, thereby juxtaposing the sad lyrics, Lauren Measure just lets the words hit full force. The chorus is “It’s the winter streets that kill me / And all the bars we hide in / ’Cause I know you won’t be there / And I get so much more done now.” This song reminds me of a lot of people.

regarding The Measure [SA].

We're only two weeks into 2011 and I already have my first rock 'n' roll casualty: New Jersey's seven-inch enthusiasts The Measure [SA] are breaking up. They promise a few farewell shows sporadically throughout the year, including The Fest X in October, as well as a final seven-inch anthology, but other than that, the band is done.

I first heard of The Measure through O Pioneers!!!, a folk-punk act from Texas with line-up issues like whoa. OP!!! frontman Eric Solomon is the kind of dude who doesn't just push his band, he represents all of his friends' bands too, and he actually talked me into picking up Historical Fiction, The Measure's full-length debut. While I dabble in a lot of genres, pop-punk is my lifeblood, so I was enticed by the album's passion and hooks. Lauren Measure quickly became one of my favorite songwriters with tunes like "Union Pool," "Hello Bastards," and "Letters." I started snatching up the group's copious collection of seven-inches.

Songs About People... and Fruit 'N Shit was the EP that really made me fall in love with the band. It was just a perfect collection of songs that seemed to improbably get better with each track. After that, though, The Measure took a creative slide. They released a few more seven-inches, but their next full-length, Notes, just seemed really monotonous and dull. Less than a year later, the band called it quits.

A whole batch of New Jersey punk bands have come and gone. The Ergs! broke up. Static Radio NJ faded away. The Gaslight Anthem turned into a classic rock tribute band. Now The Measure joins them. Well, at least The Bouncing Souls are still together.

Vinyl Vednesday 11/17/2010

[Vinyl Vednesday is a weekly feature about three favorite vinyl finds. It’s not meant to be a dick-measuring contest, but it usually turns out that way. E-mail pelonej1@gmail.com with your own big finds!]

Records: Baroness’ Red Album (2007) on red and white, The Measure [SA]’s Art of the Underground Single Series Volume: 37 seven-inch (2009) on black, and Nico’s The End (1974) on black.

Place of Purchase: Baroness and Nico were purchased through eBay. I picked up the Measure single when I saw them live at the Fire.

Thoughts: I bought the Red Album on CD earlier this year after reading a great article about the Savannah, Ga. metal scene by David Peisner for Spin. The rest of the band’s discography quickly entered my collection as well. I have this stupid habit of doubling up on my favorite albums, as in purchasing them on CD and vinyl. I’m trying to knock it off because it’s a pretty expensive habit… but Red Album came in some nifty colors. I was surprised to see Relapse Records selling it through their eBay store, since the record has been out of print for a while. Turns out they were surprised too – according to their inventory, they were cleaned out. Just as the label was about to refund my money, though, they found two copies in like a supply closet or something. They let me choose my color. I went with red ‘n’ white, because look at it, it looks cool. Then they gave me some extra merch for my troubles, which was awfully nice of them. This is starting to sound like a commercial, but seriously, I love Relapse. I’ve had trouble with ordering from labels before, but they really went out of their way to help me out. And look at those colors! The colors!

Usually, calling a group a “singles band” is meant to be an insult because it implies their records lack substance beyond a few songs. Not so for The Measure [SA]. These guys (and gal) crap out great songs every couple months. While I was let down by their live show earlier this month, I perked right back up after listening to their entry in Art of the Underground’s “Single Series.” “We’ve Upped Our Standards, Now Up Yours” packs a wallop of a hook, as does B-side “The Five Chimes.” Is it time for another singles collection yet?

I used to make fun of drone music a lot, mostly because when done wrong it comes off as formless, pretentious, and boring. But I took a chance on one of the genre’s progenitors, Nico, and so far it’s paid off well. My most recent purchase, The End, is my favorite Nico record so far. The experimental atmosphere she worked with on The Marble Index is better fleshed out (She worked with John Cale AND Brian Eno here. How many people can boast that?), creating a record that feels threatening and dark and proto-goth. It’s mostly spoken word on the originals, which adds a nice layer of theatricality.

It’s the two covers at that record’s end that leave the biggest impression, however. First up is The Doors’ “The End.” Now, I respect The Doors as an influence on West coast punk. And they even wrote a handful of good songs. But frontman Jim Morrison was full of crap, and his lyrics are among the worst in mainstream rock ‘n’ roll. Nico’s deliberate interpretation of the song forces everything Morrison tried to say to the forefront. Everything that worked (The “father/son” bit, the intro), everything that didn’t (That whole section about California being totally awesome or whatever) is exposed. It’s so over-the-top that I have to assume Nico knew she was turning “The End” into a camp classic, even though they were lovers and “You Forgot to Answer” was about missing him. Yet she does the exact opposite with “Das Lied Der Deutschen,” turning it into a chilling, riveting piece. It’s the German national anthem, written in 1922, a decade or so before the rise of Nazi Germany, but if you know your history, you know that anything associated with that period is controversial by default. It lends the song extra gravity as it bathes the song in vocals and harmonium.

The Measure [SA] at The Fire

I arrived slightly late for an all-ages show at the Fire in Philadelphia, Pa. Sun., Nov. 7. A couple of dogs wandered the bar. The crowd was sparse, but at least people were buying drinks. I caught the last three or four songs from the local opening act, Factors of Four, and regretted not having arrived sooner. The group dealt in riotous female-fronted pop-punk. Think Discount and Tsunami Bomb, although on record they sound more like something off of K Records. Maybe Mirah. Frontwoman Naomi Davidoff bounced on a perpetual musical high while drummer Frank Hafto played with the biggest, goofiest grin I’d see all night. It was a good set.

What drew me to the Fire, however, was the Measure [SA]. Like Factors of Four, they sport a lady lead singer and up the punx. They’ve dropped an insane number of seven-inches over the years, and tunes like “Union Pool” and “Historical Fiction” rank among the finest songs to come out of New Jersey in recent years. I was excited to finally see them live, but I still had a few more opening acts to get through.

Worn in Red followed Factors of Four. They toured with the Measure down to the Fest in Florida, and now they were touring back up the east coast as well. This act played competent post-hardcore. They were alright; honestly, I was more concerned with getting pizza at this point in the evening. While Worn in Red has a sound that should prove palatable with fans of bearded bands that may or may not be Hot Water Music, consuming pizza is perhaps one of my top three overriding impulses.

Two slices later, I was back in time for Omar, a guy/gal Ramonsey two-piece. They were a little sloppy, but also self-deprecating and fun. Besides, who am I to deny the allure of buzzsaw guitars, thundering drums and short, loud, fast songs?

The sets were brief throughout the night, with each band playing 20-30 minutes. This was disappointingly also the case for the Measure. The band gave off this aura of indifference. Granted, they were wrapping up a pretty intense travel schedule. They soundchecked a single note together so they could do shots at the bar, which was funny at the time… until the vocals came out a bit more buried in the mix than they were for the other bands. Even in the brief time, though, the set still brought the hits, with half of the band’s excellent Songs About People… And Fruit N’ Shit showing up. “Hello Bastards” remains their best song, an anthem that serves as a mission statement, origin story and party jam. It kicked butt live. But considering the group just dropped a new record, Notes, you’d think they’d be eager to play it. Instead, they tried wrapping things up 12 minutes in. What the Measure bothered to play was good, but also perfunctory and underwhelming overall.