tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45540557885657628402012-02-16T17:37:07.824-08:00Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.comBlogger401100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-10825596774008702022007-11-05T18:56:00.000-08:002008-11-13T11:38:51.573-08:00

The first time I saw the Black Lips was at the Bowery Ballroom on March 26 where they opened for the Ponys. I didn’t get around to hearing Let it Bloom until December of the past year and although I enjoyed it, for some reason it did not stick with me until I saw the Black Lips live. As I look back on past posts over the course of the year, I’ve come to realize this is a trend for me. Naturally,

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-44710931879050013782007-10-31T20:15:00.000-07:002008-11-13T11:38:51.701-08:00

Here we have the Danzig era lineup. This was probably sometime in 1982 because ex-Black Flag drummer Robo is said to have just joined. Alas, when will he and Jerry Only swallow their pride? I remember Halloween...

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-49326740308884717682007-10-17T18:59:00.000-07:002008-11-13T11:38:51.776-08:00

I was just saying the other day how uninterested I am in albums these days. The album to me is a relic of the big 70s rock era. "Oh, you have to appreciate this song within the context of the album." Yeah, I guess. If a band can produce 3-5 good songs every few years, and I mean 3-5 really really good songs and amass a collection of them, I am way more satisfied with that prospect than buying or

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-84651436615467235602007-10-17T18:34:00.000-07:002008-11-13T11:38:51.869-08:00

To my fans out there, all three of you, fear not. Culture Vulture is back! After 3 months of delay, personal issues, soul searching, and mainly, sheer laziness, I have emerged from my self imposed exile because I miss being loud and opinionated about pop music. Don't worry, I've had my pulse on what's been buzzing on the scene lately. We got some interviews from Black Lips and Le Rug, the new

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-9357502940684121242007-07-25T23:42:00.000-07:002008-11-13T11:38:52.273-08:00

Ah, the power of advertising. A new show on AMC called Mad Men examines the cunning nature of the ad man during the Eisenhower/Kennedy years. If you are like me, you have been oddly attracted to that M & M commercial where all the M & M's are "rebelling" and finding their true selves. For instance, one M & M gets a mohawk. This is all set, mind you, to a damn catchy song. Recently, I discovered

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-12077667719936625452007-07-14T17:56:00.000-07:002008-11-13T11:38:52.399-08:00

Look at them! They formed a band. And, a damn good one. I didn't really get Art Brut the first time I heard them. It began to come together at last year's Sirenfest where they were for me the highlight. Last week, I became a full believer. Bang Bang Rock and Roll has become one of my favorite albums of the decade. The Brut's tactics are deceptively simple serving as both a deconstruction of rock

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-77867006833098445632007-06-27T18:32:00.001-07:002008-11-13T11:38:52.488-08:00

When asked whether the Verve would reunite anytime soon, Richard Ashcroft responded "you'll have an easier time getting all four Beatles back on stage." Yesterday it was announced the Verve would be reuniting with an album planned for the late summer and a tour beginning November. How do those words taste Ritchie? I'm not surprised. Ashcroft's solo career, while racking up some hit singles in the

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-56434877971410681312007-06-27T18:09:00.000-07:002008-11-13T11:38:52.628-08:00

Who would have thought that a film about a tortured, budding rock star dying too young shot all in black and white would have cleaned up at Cannes? Wait a minute...but seriously, Anton Corbijn's biopic about Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis is admittingly the only biopic that I am interested in seeing. The obvious reason me being a fan of Joy Division, but also Corbijn actually knew Curtis on

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-39122672096873547912007-06-22T19:40:00.000-07:002008-11-13T11:38:53.012-08:00

Sympathy for the Devil. It's not just a lionized Rolling Stones song or cultural artifact of the growing influence of rock as recognized by filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard in his 1968 short film of the same name. It is what Classic "Rawk"-heads would accuse veteran NME writer Simon Reynolds giving to the much maligned period of music, the 1980s. I believe the scientific term is "post-punk." In Rip It

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-24787950104351931372007-06-20T19:07:00.000-07:002007-06-20T20:31:00.076-07:00

The whole glasses and nerdy demeanor and obsession with electronics should have made him a dead ringer for Mark Mothersbaugh, a one man Devo. And the name of his official breakthrough album, Spiderman of the Rings, boldly strives for Phillip Glass. Wham City's mayor, Dan Deacon revels in his electro-theater of the absurd. The Wham City collective (originally populated by a wildly inventive bunch

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-10939796136716356642007-06-13T18:50:00.001-07:002008-11-13T11:38:53.148-08:00

Every generation needs (or more like wants) their very own singer-songwriter. You know, the voice of a generation, the type that elegantly puts into verse every young person's hopes, fears, hang ups, distrust of thirty somethings and joy of being a lost twenty something. Essentially, their very own Dylan. Is Ryan Adams our Bob Dylan? No sir, he is not. Just as well, the only thing he has in

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-1380491966713803932007-06-04T20:09:00.001-07:002008-11-13T11:38:53.327-08:00

Whole lotta talk about immigration these days. Of course there is. We've got a presidential election just round the corner and from now till November 2008 will we be bombarded with candidates positions on immigration ranging from "Knock on the front door because the back door's closed!" to "Come on in!" from various politicians. I for one want to know what Gogol Bordello frontman and mastermind,

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-12075154665614382352007-05-14T22:44:00.000-07:002008-11-13T11:38:53.489-08:00

New Order pioneered it, LCD Soundsystem is taking it to dangerous new levels...sound levels that is. Rock & roll and dance music can co-exist. Their love child is known as "dance-punk," and it appeals to both ends of the music spectrum. To the right of me was the dance raver, to the left of me, the hip, bespectacled indie chick nodding her head, and to the back of me, the rock stoners who kept

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-24645315494534076682007-05-04T20:02:00.000-07:002008-11-13T11:38:53.946-08:00

Think that whistling in a pop song is pretty much dead? Think again. Peter Bjorn and John have made pursing your lips together hip and relevant once more. These Swedish pop smiths are coming after hand claps and "sha-la-la's" next. "Young Folks" is by far one of the prettiest and catchiest singles to have been released within the past few years and it gained further distinction as being the

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-34887646253802784252007-05-03T20:12:00.000-07:002008-11-13T11:38:54.063-08:00

Give them credit. The Ramones gave us 20 years of "Gabba Gabba Hey" without ever really changing a damn thing. First punk band? Yes. Of course. I can hear it now "[H]old on a second! What about the MC5? What about the Stooges, man? No wait, you're forgetting the Velvet Underground and the New York Dolls! How can you leave out the Dolls? Jeez!" Did I hear the Sonics thrown in there somewhere? All

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-78593294003742730562007-05-01T21:22:00.000-07:002008-11-13T11:38:54.787-08:00

There is a little place I'd like to tell you all about, a slice of hipster heaven known as "the Silent Barn" aka "Raven's Den." The name of the place keeps changing but that doesn't matter. All you have to do is take the L train to Halsey St., take a left on Wykoff until you see a giant gray door next to a Spanish bar/restaurant and there you are. Once inside, you will be treated (or subjected)

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-91324610023652362832007-04-24T19:37:00.000-07:002008-11-13T11:38:55.758-08:00

Tonight is the premiere of a little feature that I like to call the "Scandinavian Showcase." The land of fjords, smörgåsbord, trolls, IKEA, Bergman and that jerky chef from the Muppet Show has been a hot spot of interesting music as of late. This region, no stranger to the pop world, produced arguably the biggest group of the 1970s, ABBA. Love them or hate them, they existed and sold a gajillion

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-6076447291137232142007-04-23T19:47:00.000-07:002008-11-13T11:38:55.910-08:00

The sun might have set on Britain after the Second World War, but it quickly rose again between 1963-67 when Britain's youth culture strove to reconquer the world not with guns or soap ("cleanliness is next to godliness") but with ringing power chords, mop top hair cuts, mini skirts and mini beetles, and suave secret agents. All these were the hallmarks of "Cool Britannia" which would reach its

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-84668513906424647762007-04-22T20:52:00.000-07:002008-11-13T11:38:55.984-08:00

Iggy Pop, often referred to as the "Godfather of Punk," turned 60 years old yesterday. And he doesn't look that bad (I say that somewhat cautiously) considering years of drug abuse, slicing open his body with broken glass, countless stage dives, smearing his chest with peanut butter and surviving David Bowie's ego. He celebrated knowing the only way he knew how, by playing balls to the wall rock

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-68514292453947846712007-04-22T19:52:00.000-07:002008-11-13T11:38:56.458-08:00

Beginning over the summer and stretching over in the fall of last year, I developed a fascination with the 33 1/3 music series. These pocket size books take on one seminal album after the other and have been for the most part have been excellent. There have been some occasional flops but overall the series is worth checking out. Considering I was constantly interviewing for jobs over the summer,

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-48605878378123889662007-04-19T20:22:00.000-07:002007-05-04T16:28:57.499-07:00

I was taken aback this week when I was browsing through new releases, one of them being self-proclaimed "brat" Avril Lavigne's latest album, The Best Damn Thing and saw a GLOWING review of 4 1/2 stars from Allmusic.com critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine. STE (that is how I will refer to him from now on) has been a critic I have always been fond of and respect. There is no question that the man has a

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-15189351473420108732007-04-17T23:17:00.000-07:002008-11-13T11:38:56.571-08:00

While everyone was wisely staying indoors on Sunday and keeping dry, I chose to do the opposite and brave the elements. If you had non-refundable tickets to go see a one of rock's most famous outsider artists, Roky Erickson, you'd take what Mother Nature was dishing out too. Roky Erickson began his signing career with the Texan garage/psychedelic (and electric jug pioneering) band, the 13th Floor

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-84561010289426793312007-04-10T20:40:00.000-07:002008-11-13T11:38:56.758-08:00

It's true. Uncle Mike digs these kids and their fresh new sound. Well, if its good enough for Mike Watt, it's good enough for me! You should have listened to to the Go! Team by now. You may have already. "Huddle Formation," one of the singles off their first full length player, Thunder, Lighting, Strike has been featured in a car commercial. I'm not sure whether its Toyota or Honda but if you

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-22207751740303647552007-04-08T20:03:00.000-07:002008-11-13T11:38:57.009-08:00

Sometimes I make hasty decisions. I instantly disliked the National when I first heard them 2 years ago. The album I was listening to was their second album, Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers. As of 2007, I'm still not too crazy about that album, some exceptions being the strong opener "Cardinal Song" & the lovely closer "Lucky You," but, honestly, everything in the middle of that to me is still kinda

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-63865608249362328572007-04-04T21:26:00.000-07:002008-11-13T11:38:57.241-08:00

The Stranglers were the kind of band that made a career of latching onto trends and exploiting the hell out of them; quite often with varied results. Although their dangerous lunkhead image often suggested otherwise, the Stranglers were, in fact, accomplished musicians with backgrounds ranging from jazz, classical guitar and blues. In addition to having legit music talent, the Stranglers were

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-27120231114048996132007-04-03T22:10:00.000-07:002008-11-13T11:38:57.359-08:00

Culture Vulture will be your ears at the following live shows:- Roky Erickson & the Explosives @ the Bowery, 4/15- Modest Mouse @ United Palace Theater, 4/30- LCD Soundsystem @ Webster Hall, 5/14- Daniel Johnston/Bang on a Can/Legendary Stardust Cowboy @ Highline Theater, 5/16- The National @ the Bowery, 5/28- Dinosaur Jr. @ Irving Plaza, 6/7 Culture Vulture will let you know how they

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-63193445936288661012007-04-02T20:53:00.000-07:002007-04-02T21:28:16.478-07:00

Often associated with the Sex Pistols (their EP was produced by Steve Jones and they opened for the band at their last show at the Winterland), the Avengers, while only existing very briefly released some great songs. While they did not really stray from the basic punk format, their politically tinged tirades helped give their fast paced numbers, "We Are the Ones," "The American in Me," and "

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-64897429557527094872007-03-28T21:38:00.000-07:002008-11-13T11:38:57.762-08:00

Tennessee Williams described Southern Gothic as having an "intuition of an underlying dreadfulness in modern experience." With their unkempt hair, wiry frames, and complete disregard for dental hygiene (one of the guitarists had grillz), the Black Lips look like they crawled out of a backwater swamp. Hailing straight from Atlanta, the Black Lips promise us self described "flower punk." I'm going

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-28257807642072497732007-03-25T20:34:00.000-07:002008-11-13T11:38:58.091-08:00

"Double Vision"- The PonysI've just had a vision...me being blown away by this song live tomorrow night when I go see the Ponys at the Bowery. Man am I hip. But mainly, I'm just in awe. This is one of the first rock singles of the year to really grab me from the get go. What a cliche, but it was worth it! If you like garage rock, if you like bands that names begin with "the" and are compared to

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-80345068972991490602007-03-11T09:07:00.000-07:002008-11-13T11:38:58.353-08:00

On December 1, 1976, the Sex Pistols were called in as last minute replacements for Queen to appear on the popular Today show with veteran British TV personality Bill Grundy. Both the band and Grundy were severely intoxicated. The interview was a disaster. Asking if Mozart, Bach, or Beethoven were influences on the band, a sarcastic Johnny Rotten rolled his eyes, "Yeah they really turn us on" and

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-32297477180877268982007-03-10T20:07:00.000-08:002008-11-13T11:38:58.543-08:00

We've been here before, "I don't know much, but I know I just want to dance with you...all we have is tonight etc." All those cliches about meeting a stranger on the dance floor or at a party and just "groovin'" to the music have been done before. This is Whitney Houston territory. And yet, who would have thought that the dance-pop song would be getting a nice touch up from a pair of quiet and

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-78136074561380168862007-02-21T22:52:00.000-08:002008-11-13T11:38:58.882-08:00

(Black Sea, 1980)Perhaps one of XTC's greatest singles, at least the ones released in the UK, "Respectable Street" launched the band headfirst into ground already paved by Ray Davies, minus the musical throwback to British dance hall, British folk, and chamber music. Oh, sure, the song starts with a scratchy Victrola, like something coming out of late Victorian and Edwardian England, or The

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-57292220494954386272007-02-18T20:30:00.000-08:002008-11-13T11:38:59.051-08:00

I hope I say this first before Pitchfork, AllMusic, Rolling Stone etc. all do. (Antichrist Television Blues) off Neon Bible (out sometime in March) owes a considerable debt to Springsteen. In fact, this song would have fit comfortably on some of the Boss's darker albums, Darkness on the Edge of Town & Nebraska, being the first to come to mind. Maybe even as a darker number on The River or Born in

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-64356727057856506202007-02-18T19:15:00.000-08:002008-11-13T11:38:59.428-08:00

Tower Records passed away on December 22, 2006 after a long battle with bankruptcy. It was 46*. The Tower Records in Nanuet, NY & Tower Records on 68th & Broadway were my stores of choice. I can't tell you how many important albums in my life as well as movies & pop culture literature I bought in both those stores. Even in the age of downloading I still would regularly visit there, especially the

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-52197056318639495732007-02-18T18:39:00.000-08:002008-11-13T11:38:59.690-08:00

Ricky Gervais (The Office (UK), Extras) decided before entering comedy that he would have a go at the synth-pop heavy British pop world. The band, Seona Dancing, existed briefly between 1982-84.What's catchier? David Brent's "Free Love Freeway" or Seona Dancing's...I don't know the name of this song actually.Oddly enough, the band found success a year after they disbanded in 1985 with a hit

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-54231555653868517362007-02-14T21:49:00.000-08:002007-02-14T22:57:09.125-08:00

Before Bill Murray, there was Charles Bronson. Check out this Japanese ad (circa 1970) for an aftershave called "Mandom" being plugged by the iconic 70s action star. Even a "shoot first, ask questions later" kinda guy like Bronson needs a sensitive yet appropriately manly aftershave to compliment a smooth shave.

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-28203868786787452162007-02-14T21:18:00.000-08:002008-11-13T11:38:59.825-08:00

Whether you have been inspired, intrigued, or angered by the posting below and are now willing to delve into the music underworld, your best bet is to start with the excellent book Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991 by Michael Azerrad. The book chronicles the birth of American indie and "college" rock. It's title, taken from The Minutemen song "

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-62544578435588937592007-02-14T19:34:00.000-08:002007-02-19T00:02:40.473-08:00

If you're understanding of rock and/or roll comes from Rolling Stone or classic rock radio then you just might believe the following: Rock peaked creatively sometime in the mid-70's and soon plunged into a dark age starting in the latter half of the 70s and all of the 1980s. All was lost until a savior known as Kurt of Aberdeen ressurrected rock during that fateful year, 1991. But then, he too

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-26519100703537176032007-02-14T18:08:00.000-08:002008-11-13T11:38:59.943-08:00

If you are truly interested in music then you should check out a wonderful little series, 33 1/3, published by Continuum Press. These books analyze seminal albums by different bands and musicians, old and new, well known and forgotten. So far there are 41 titles in the series with more on the way, all big enough to fit inside of your pocket. Wild! For more check out their blog:http://www

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554055788565762840.post-68458552548354689172007-02-13T21:58:00.000-08:002008-11-13T11:39:02.493-08:00

Here at Culture Vulture we pick at the bones of pop culture until they bleach and dry up enough to become high art. How's that for a metaphor? Zowey!

Culture Vulturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13982240056979140905noreply@blogger.com0