we don't want no gay goth scene in this house...

...except we do.

Nine-and-a-half years or so later, The Hidden Cameras are finally ready to unleash "No Gay Goth Scene" - now shortened in title to "Gay Goth Scene" - upon the world. 

A live favorite for the band and fans since the tour for 'The Smell of Our Own' - if not before - this one has somehow managed to avoid being captured for record for nearly a decade. Today - the 10th anniversary of the release of 'The Smell of Our Own' in the US if you're keeping track at home - the band posted this on their various social media pages:

--

WE DON’T WANT NO GAY GOTH SCENE IN THIS HOUSE

The first glimpse of the new record is in sight. “Gay Goth Scene” - already known to live audiences – will be previewed first as a short film. Toronto fans will get the chance to preview the new single from the forthcoming album Age (set for release in the fall of 2013) this month at Inside Out LGBT Film Festival. The video was directed by Kai Stänicke and shot in Berlin last winter. More information coming soon.

--

2013 has already continually delivered the goods musically, but this one might take the cake...perhaps even above 'LSXX'.

Well, maybe not.

...but maybe. They're at least tied.

we have come for light

"Hi. We're going to play 'Last Splash' for you."

This is what Kim Deal says as she takes the stage of the Bell House in Brookyln last night, as if it's just another gig on just another Friday night.

It is, of course, a very special gig on a very special Friday night. Joining her on stage is the rest of the "classic" line up of the Breeders. Josephine Wiggs to her immediate left and Kelley to hers, Carrie Bradley on Kim's right and Jim MacPherson behind the drums. This is only the second public performance of this line up in almost 18 years - the first being two nights earlier in Kentucky - brought back together to celebrate 20 years of 'Last Splash'. This is a Big - *ahem* - Deal.

Except, in typical Breeders fashion, it's not. The line up that should not exist - between the drugs and the fights and the alcohol and more drugs and more line up changes and losing touch for decades and whatever else they've been through over the years - except somehow it does.

The opening chimes of "New Year" suggest that we're in for a glorified rehearsal - which, if you've seen the band before, is the feeling all of their gigs give, and I mean that in a very good way. It's a bit unsure, Kim's vocals aren't high enough in the mix, and there's a palpable nervousness coming from the stage. However, when the song kicks into high gear a third of the way through, all of that is gone and they are fucking KILLING it and the audience is eating it up, shouting along to each and every word. The song ends and we erupt into a cheer usually saved for after the Big Single - which we all know is coming next - but we can't help ourselves. We're actually here, actually seeing the Breeders actually play 'Last Splash' start to finish - and, it must be said, doing better than they ever did the first time around.

And it continues. Say what you will about overexposure or whatever - and I've gone over that before - but "Cannonball" still SLAYS and is an absolute monster with this crowd. Next up, "Invisible Man", at which point my friend Steve leans over to me and says: "Holy shit, I can't believe they're actually playing it start to finish." But oh yes, they are.

"Invisible Man" is noticeably slower than on album - it wasn't exactly a set regular back in the day so probably required a bit more re-learning than some of the others on the album - but it's still amazing to hear. They've even brought the chimes for the end except Jim misses his cue, causing Kim to tell us the first of many stories of the night about how they brought these chimes all the way from San Francisco so Jim could do the interlude and he missed it so let's give him another chance. He takes a dramatic swoop of the chimes and the room explodes. Yes, they have us eating out of the palm of their hands and we know it, but no one cares. We still can't believe we're actually seeing this.

"No Aloha" is next and it may as well be "Cannonball" again with the massive reception it gets. And now, my moment - "Roi". It does. not. disappoint. 

But wait. We notice Josephine is getting behind the kit and Jim has a bass strapped on. What's going on? "Josephine plays drums on the record for this so she has to tonight." I feel like somewhere I knew that but had forgotten it over the years, but it's a total treat to watch Jim out from behind the kit play the bass for "Roi". There's also a story about a mini-Moog that didn't travel well and how Jim is now playing the replacement "mini-Moog" - in quotes, I think suggesting the bass is being processed to sound like one? I'm not really sure what was going on. Oh, and Carrie is playing violin again on this one, doing the chug chug parts at the end of the song on it. Yes. It works. Kelley is thrashing her guitar like a madwoman and I'm in heaven. "Roi" has always been #1 on my wishlist for a Breeders show, and now I've gotten it and it alone is worth the ticket price.

"OK, OK. 'If I saw..'" (hysterical laughter). Whoops, they messed up the beginning of "Do You Love Me Now?" No one cares. There's a lot of onstage discussion to get the cues right, and when they do they nail it. 

"This is the last song on the first side. It's called 'Flipside'." (giggles) It's a bit slow - which is odd, because during the 2002 tour it felt like they were trying to play it as fast as they possibly could just to see if they could do it. Slightly disappointing, but hardly soul crushing.

"Kelley sings this one." Yes. Yes. YES. Another obvious crowd favorite, "I Just Wanna Get Along" come and goes too quickly. 

Next, the moment of truth - what are they going to do with "Mad Lucas"? On record it's all about the texture and atmosphere - and, let's be honest, a bit slow and go-nowhere for a live set - and friend Nick and I had had lengthy discussion about how we were very, very curious to see how it translates live. (Had they ever done it before this tour? I don't think they had.) 

No worries, though - it is fucking GORGEOUS. Carrie played a CRAZY violin to do that scraggling guitar line that goes through the whole song, and the whole thing is just a thing of beauty. It also gives us the best crowd interaction of the night, when halfway through and everything drops out but Josephine's bass for a solid 20 seconds, part of the crowd starts to hoot and holler like the song is over - suggesting that perhaps not everyone there is as intimately familiar with the album as at first suggested - and Josephine shoots a look out into the crowd and gives a hand motion to cut it out, it's not over. Amazingly, it everyone's in a reverential hush for the rest of the song. "Roi" was the one I was waiting for, but "Mad Lucas" was the revelation and possible highlight of the night. Yes, I said it - three cheers for "Mad Lucas". (It does also contain my favorite line of the whole album - "You're a nuisance, and I don't. like. dirt.")

Big Single #2 next - "Divine Hammer", as always, is divine. The second biggest surprise of the night, though, is "S.O.S." which is just a beast. Any hesitation that might have caused them to play "Flipside" a bit slow is gone and this one threatens to get away from them multiple times, but they always manage to hang on. Completely unexpected, but WOW.

Carrie plays some sort of weird interlude/bridge ambient thing on her keyboard as the band get ready for "Hag", the tempo of which suggests that this one is going to be brought down a notch as well. However, Jim clicks in and it's played proper speed and it is wonderful. For the first time of the night, they instantly transition to the next one, and Kelley let's the opening riff of "Saints" fly. The room, of course, explodes once again and it is beyond glorious.

As they're getting ready for the next one, Kelley says something about how the show sold out, like, super fast and thanks us for coming. Someone in the crowd shouts: "THANK YOU FOR DOING THIS" and everyone goes NUTS. There's a definite pause on stage as everyone takes the adoration in. It's a very touching moment and even though it's been apparent all night, it's now very clear that this is a very special tour - a gift from the band to us, but also a gift from us to the band by allowing them the ability to do it.

"Drivin On 9" comes up and we know the end is getting near. It's a bit somber tonight, Kim telling a story about how it was written by a friend of theirs that has passed, and you can see her singing it to him tonight. (Side note: somehow, "Drivin On 9" is one of the only songs they've done each and every time I've seen them.)

And then - oh, yes - "Roi (Reprise)". Josephine and Jim stay on their proper instruments this time and it's only 45 seconds or so, but it is the perfect ending to the set, just as it's a perfect ending to the album. A little wink to the crowd, a little thank you for coming. I really can't put it into words, but it's kind of everything.

They leave, we scream, they come back. Kim talks about the upcoming 'LSXX' reissue and says they're going to play some songs from it.

BAM! "Shocker in Gloomtown"!

BAM! "Head to Toe"! (It's SO nice to hear this one again, having been absent from the sets since 2002. And to hear Josephine KILL that bass line makes it even more of a treat.)

BAM! "Happiness is a Warm Gun"! (OK, not from 'LSXX' but very welcome. Kelley and Kim trade share vocal duties on this one, I forget if they've done that in previous tours.)

BAM! "Safari"!

"We're going to play some songs from 'Pod' now."

BAM! "Lime House"!

"A few more."

BAM! "Oh!" (I've gone on record saying that this is my least favorite Breeders song overall, but it is wonderful tonight.)

"One more."

BAM! "Don't. Call. Home!" I knew it was coming, but it still caught me off guard. A total blast with it's stop/start nature - a chance for the band to play with the crowd one more time. At the end, it's just a wall of sound as Kim shouts: "Don't! Even! WRITE!" and everything just stops.

Except, of course, our love for it. The room explodes one last time as Jim comes out from behind his kit and they take a group bow, soaking it all in. We love them, they love us, and they've just given us a performance for the books.

I'm determined to get a picture with Kelley to pair with my picture with her from 2002, so we watch the room. Jim and Josephine come out first but they're instantly engaged in conversation with people, so I don't want to be rude. As we walk around, I notice Kelley come out on to the stage with her coat and purse to grab another bag from the stage and sneak off behind the curtain, so it's probably not going to happen.

That's OK - Carrie is standing in the doorway. Something I forgot to mention - whenever she wasn't playing on stage, she was dancing along to the band as their biggest fan, and it was a total blast to watch. Steve goes: "I want to tell her how much I loved her dancing." I say: "Do it." He says: "You want to see me? OK." So we go over and he mentions to her how great he thought her dancing and the show was and we get in a bit of a conversation with her about the show. She mentions that the stage was a bit small and she had to hold back a bit, and I say well, the stage at Webster Hall (where they're playing in May) is bigger so she'll have room to really go for it. She says, OK, maybe, and I say well look, the show's on my birthday and I'm super excited to get to spend it with them, so she looks at me and says, OK, for you, I'll really go for it.

*melt*

Here's the thing - on a certain level, there are shows that define you, that feel like they were put on solely for you. Tour packages that you wouldn't dare put together in your wildest dreams because there's no way they could actually happen. For me, this is one of them. Until last night, my favorite show I had ever seen was the Breeders on the 'Title TK' tour in July of 2002 at Lee's Palace in Toronto. Hands down, don't even have to think about it. And while I could never pick an actual favorite Breeders album, 'Last Splash' is certainly the most special to me. So I went in with INSANE expectations for this show, fully expecting to have some of them deflated a little. Somehow, it was even better than I expected. A perfect storm of perfection. I could say: yeah, I wish they had done "Doe" or "Hoverin'" or whatever - and I do wish those things - but there was not a note wrong with anything we did get. Maybe they'll swap some encore stuff out for the main tour, maybe not. 

In any case, if you're even remotely a fan of this band or this record, you *need* to get to one of these shows. No questions. This is a Very Special Tour by a Very Special Band, a Very Special Gift to the fans. You will regret not going, this I promise you.

hell

The new Depeche Mode single has been out there for about a week now, but today it's "officially" out there for your purchasing dollar.

Should you have a need for a rewrite of "Condemnation" but slowed down to half-speed and over-emoted twice has much, then do I have the single for you!

On the bright side, if you loved the last two Depeche Mode albums, this is going to be right up your alley.

If you're actually looking for the 'Violator' meets 'Songs of Faith of Devotion' they've been claiming this is, however, remember that supposedly 'Sounds of the Universe' was also 'Violator' meets 'Songs of Faith and Devotion' and we all know how that turned out.

This is garbage. Hang it up, boys.

so, Shangela has a video

I've got to be honest: as much as I adore 'RuPaul's Drag Race' - and I have, more than once with complete sincerity, declared it the best show on television - this whole every-drag-queen-is-a-popstar thing is getting a little tiring.

However.

Shangela has just raised the bar. THIS is how you fucking do it, ladies:



It is the longest five minutes you'll ever sit through, true, but it's also a bit like an outtake from Geri Halliwell's masterpiece of insanity 'Scream If You Wanna Go Faster'. In drag. (Like, actual drag, not Geri Halliwell-always-looked-like-a-drag-queen-anyways drag.) With a gratuitous Popeye's cameo. Guest starring the insufferable Abby Lee Miller, who is actually perfect for this. On top of that, the video threatens to turn into "Cold Hearted Snake" for a few seconds.

Hot. Mess.

Fantastic.

(Thank you, Frank, for opening my eyes to this.)

Suede 6

And like that, the first new results of the Suede reunion are upon us. After pretty incessant teasing through their Twitter feed, this morning they announced new LP 'Bloodsports' - a horribly non-Suede Suede album title if you ask me - and free download of new single "Barriers". (NME reports an "official" single "It Starts And Ends With You" - such a cliche late-period Suede song title it's amazing it hasn't been used yet - is due in February.) 

They've been mouthing off about going back to a sound that's part 'Dog Man Star'/part 'Coming Up' and not releasing anything unless they get it right, which can only set you up for some sort of disappointment. (Really, both of those albums were lightning in a bottle for completely different reasons, it's absurd to think you could re-create either of them individually, let alone mash them together but I'll give it to Brett. He was excited.) On the bright side, the latter proves to be true enough - this is no grand slam Suede return, more a gentle toe dip to test the waters and see what people say, but a legacy tarnisher it is not.

I'm willing to accept not a total disaster - for now - but they're gonna have to do more than a fleshed-out re-write of "Oxygen" for the experiment to be a full-on success. I think they can do it, as long as they stay out of their own way and let the music do the talking. (And even more importantly, not completely distance themselves from work they're obviously proud of if public opinion doesn't mesh. coughcough"Attitude"coughcough)

Freemonster's 20 favorite records of 2012

2012 has come and gone - thank God, it was a bit of a rough one, wasn't it? As always though, there were plenty of good records coming out to soundtrack the year. Here are twenty of them in some sort of numerical order:


20: The Last Names - Wilderness


19: Gaz Coombes - Here Come The Bombs


18: The Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania


17: Ash - Little Infinity EP


16: The 2 Bears - Be Strong


15: Silversun Pickups - Neck of the Woods


14: Mirrors - This Year, Next Year, Sometime . . . ?


13: Pet Shop Boys - Elysium


12: Toy - Toy


11: Gotye - Making Mirrors 


10: Robbie Williams - Take The Crown


09: The Men - Open Your Heart


08: Lamps - Under The Water Under The Ground


07: The Frogs - Squirrel Bunny Jupiter Deluxe


06: Van She - Idea of Happiness


05: Pop Levi - Medicine


04: Sylver Tongue - Something Big EP


03: The Ting Tings - Sounds From Nowheresville


02: Imperial Teen - Feel The Sound


01: Ultrasound - Play For Today

2012 according to last.fm

An extremely well curated career spanning box set will do that, but I'm surprised to find Ultrasound so low - I feel like I listened the hell out of 'Play For Today'.

20 tracks from 2012

And here we are, the end of another year. Let's get to some list making, shall we?

First up: singles. Well, mostly singles - some non-singles pop up along the way - and one may or may not have actually been from 2011 but given a proper single release in 2012, so we're counting that too.

20.) Alphabeat - Vacation
The album was a bit of a dud, but this one sat on just the right side of being too sicky sweet. (Barely.)

19.) Will Young - I Just Want A Lover (Extended Mix)

So it's from 2011, really, but this version didn't appear until 2012 so we're counting it. Again, Richard X should be in charge of everything.

18.) Mirrors - Blood Diamond (Home Demo)

Things seem to have gone silent in Camp Mirrors, but this one shows that if they ever get a shot an album #2, they've got a good starting point.

17.) Little Boots - Headphones (Dimitri From Paris Remix)

The original is "For Tomorrow" goes to the club, but DJ Dimitri wraps that up in straight-up "Into The Groove 2012". Can we please have an album already?

16.) The Joy Formidable - Cholla

The wall of sound returns with album 2 ready to go just as the campaign for 1 is wrapping up. That's the way to do it. It's no "Whirring", but then again what is?

15.) Van She - Idea of Happiness

On the flip side, Van She sure took their time with album 2 but it was ultimately worth the wait - especially when the lead single comes with such a fantastic GusGus-esque video.

14.) Moonlight Matters - Come For Me (feat. Gustaph)

I just became aware of this one a few days back but it instantly shot up my list. Good to see someone continuing the early-90's house/pop revival that Alphabeat started with 'The Beat Is...'. 

13.) The Ting Tings - Hit Me Down Sonny

'Sounds From Nowheresville' is the most fantastic career suicide attempt this side of Elastica's 'The Menace', and this is one of its many highlights.

12.) Pop Levi - Strawberry Shake

After sitting silent for a few years, Pop Levi returns out of nowhere with a single as funkily weird as anything in his discography. Huzzah!

11.) Pet Shop Boys - Leaving

"Being boring 2012"? Kindasortanotreally. The highlight of an uneven album? Absolutely.

10.) Imperial Teen - Runaway

We may only get new Imperial Teen every four or five years, but when they reconvene they do it in a big way.

09.) Sylver Tongue - Creatures

Charlotte Hatherley adopts a synth/art-pop loving persona and decides that indie-jungle is the way to go. And it works.

08.) Steve Mason - Fight Them Back

Another late entry, Mr. Mason gives us a preview of what he's been working on the past few years.

07.) Dragonette - Untouchable

I had my issues with 'Bodyparts' and ultimately I couldn't come around to it. That said, this is 100% classic Dragonette and sends chills up my spine every time. Also, lyric of the year in "your divinity only makes me feel dirty".

(Not available for streaming anywhere? Lame!)

05.) TIE: R. Ring - Fall Out & Fire / Kim Deal - Walking With A Killer

While I'd love a new Breeders album - we're getting the 'LSXX' tour next year so at least I'll get a live show - I'm equally excited about new projects from both of the Deal twins. Kelley paired up with Mike Montgomery to bring us a slightly less sloppy take on the incredibly messy guitar pop the Kelley Deal 6000 excelled at, and Kim remains impossibly genius with the fractured anti-pop of "Walking With A Killer". More, please!

04.) Robbie Williams - Candy

Robbie's biggest pop moment in ages.

03.) Ultrasound - Beautiful Sadness

The reunion that should not be continues, following up last year's as-good-as-they-ever-were "Welfare State" with something even better.

02.) Blur - The Puritan

Everything you ever loved about Blur in under 4 minutes. This should be getting wayyyyyy more attention than it is.

01.) Death Grips - I've Seen Footage

Duh. Too bad about everything else.

first thoughts: Dragonette - Bodyparts

As expected, 'Bodyparts' is a solid third album from Dragonette...but it's not the album I want at all. Good for all those Solveig collabs for pretty much allowing this album to exist, but his inspiration has leaked all over this thing and it's so...not not them, but a very bright, streamlined version of them.

That said, "Untouchable" and perhaps "My Legs" are fucking fantastic, so maybe there's still hope they'll outgrow this phase.

I'm sad a Frog just died last night

Places are reporting that Dennis Frog is missing and presumed dead.

Funny how things work - you go to bed one night having just listened to the first new Frogs albums in over a decade thinking how glad you are to have them, then you wake up and half of the band has pulled a Jeff Buckley in a Wisconsin lake. (He totally would have written a triple concept album about it before you accuse me of being insensitive.)

Rest in peace, Evil Jack.

slave to the hula hoop

Usually, if the internet can't shut up about something it's not worth your time. I'm struggling to think of a specific example right now - thanks, wine! - but generally if it is "trending on Facebook", it's something that was interesting at first but has long past its expiration date.

BUT!

This has shown up countless times in the past few days and is worth every post and then some:




Grace Jones. Hula hooping through the whole of "Slave to the Rhythm". Wishing the Queen a "happy birthday!" for her Diamond Jubilee.

G.E.N.I.U.S.

The bar has been raised for every performance ever, in the world.

Blur, boxed

Blur have gone and put this together.

For any sane fan, it's a wet dream of Blur goodness. OK, so we're re-buying 14 discs of material we already have to get three discs of new stuff plus a few DVDs we'll watch once, possibly rip the audio from and then shelve, but still. This turned out better than we had dared hope for...however, would it *really* have killed them to give us the complete Singles night? We get it, you hate "Bang", get over it.

(What, no tuning forks? What a rip off!)

i've seen footage

+

+

+ a little of

=

The rest of the album is nowhere near as amazeballs at this - there's a track near the end that's close - but this is the track to beat for 2012 so far.

Fan. Fucking. Tastic.

when I went to the burger stand

Let's briefly talk about how genius Klymaxx's "The Men All Pause" is.

So we start and we're at home, our nails done and hair fierce, feeling sleazy - we've all been there - so we're gonna head down to the local speakeasy. Good use of rhyme but I don't think our story takes place in 1920. Anyways, we turn some heads, probably get a few free beverages and we're on our way to verse two...

...when we walk in to the local burger joint to turn some more heads. Yes, we're cruisin' the In-n-Out or some shit like that. The men all put down their burgers and sodas and stare. Amazing.

But wait, this goes on for a bit, then about five minutes into our seven minute tale, we decide we have better things to do and peace out, leaving our ladies - and, presumably, Jimmy Jam - to finish things up for us.

Brilliant.

suga from nowheresville

If - instead of recruiting Heidi, pairing up with Richard X to become the early 00's electro-pop-Princesses and signing with Island after being dropped from London and booting Siobahn to the curb - Keisha and Mutya had decided to go it as a duo and sign with a re-booted Grand Royal to become the next Brassy, the Sugababes may very well have made 'Songs From Nowheresville' some time around 2002.

That's a good thing.

Also, the artwork. It's doubtful anyone will be able to touch it the rest of the year.

Whew.

farewell, Davy Jones

The Monkees were part of many musical firsts for me.

They were my first two concerts, both in 1986 on the 20th Anniversary Tour. At one, my cousin Stephanie was able to go back stage at meet Davy - or all three? I forget - and I remember sitting in the car BAWLING my eyes out because I didn't get to meet them. (I was six, give me a break.) Stephanie and I would later see them on the 1996 30th Anniversary Tour, and Todd and I attempted to go to last summer's 45th Anniversary Tour but were shocked to find out both nights in Niagara Falls had sold out. Damn!

Rhino LP reissues of the first few albums were amongst my first records and a series of three cassettes of dubs of the first six albums supplemented by "bonus tracks" recorded from the TV show that my cousin made for me started a tradition of "homemade deluxe editions" on cassette that I would continue well into the 90's. The cassettes are still around somewhere and the records - a bit battered and bruised from overuse at the hands of a six year old - are still on my shelf. A few years later, I'd have my first lesson different record pressings and the differences in stere/mono as I inherited a few Colgems original pressings from my babysitter, also pretty beat up but still on the shelf. The Rhino CD reissues from the mid-90's would be one of the first, if not the first times I rebought a band's discography for bonus tracks and remasterings. (Some of the albums I bought for the first time - I never even knew of the existence of 'Instant Replay' before that campaign. That said, I still have yet to bother with the reissue of 'Changes' because, well, obviously.)

Along with "Weird Al", they were my first favorite band.

Admittedly Davy was never my favorite - I was always a Peter or Mike type of boy - but I grew to appreciate what he brought to the table as I got older. Tracks like "Early Morning Blues and Greens" and "Hard To Believe" that I used to skip over to get to the "good stuff" resonated a bit more as the years went on and I came to see their place in the Monkees' discography. His death today was totally out of nowhere and has had lead me on a fantastic trip down Monkees memory lane. I'm even sadder that I missed the 45th Anniversary Tour now - which got rave reviews from pretty much all who saw it - as it also sadly turned out to be the last hurrah.

Had I to pick, this would be my favorite Davy song:

Thank you for the music.

low times

School of Seven Bells have a new album out soon.

You can stream it at The Hype Machine if you wish.

It's the worst kind of bad - it's (to be kind) boring.

Thanks for two amazing records guys, but I am out.

:(

stfu mdna

That's the tracklist for the iTunes version of the new Madonna album, the questionably (at best, for many reasons) titled 'MDNA'.

Even beyond the terrible titles amongst the first fifteen tracks, you'll notice that track sixteen is a remix featuring - and I can't even believe I'm typing this - LMFAO.

Aaaaand, done.

smart phone

I was listening to my radio channel on Last.fm while driving around today and it started out promising with Kaiser Chiefs' "Modern Way" and then a track off the Gotye record. All of a sudden something from 'Biophilia' started - how'd that get there? - but before I could get to the fast forward and/or ban button, the stream froze and started to re-buffer. Instead of going back to the monstrosity already in progress, Roxy Music's "Remake/Remodel" started.

That's what I call a smart phone.

(Yes, the image and bitching is childish and petty but it makes me smile. So there.)

slight return

The Bluetones' 'Expecting To Fly' - from 1996 - on the left, Ani DiFranco's 'Which Side Are You On' - due out on Tuesday - on the right.

This is the same peacock, right?