The Come Ons - Stars - 2006

The Come Ons emerged in 1999 featuring ex-Gore Gore Girl Deanne Iovan on bass, vocals, and vintage organ, guitarist Jim Johnson, and Dirtbombs drummer Patrick Pantano doing double duty behind the Come Ons' kit. While their dance-y, soul-inspired grooves were an immediate sensation in Detroit, the band didn't debut on wax immediately. The group's popularity in Detroit wasn't surprising; after all, the Come Ons drew liberally from the classic D-Town style guide of punk, girl group, and rave-up revivalist R&B. -AMG




The Come Ons - Stars - 2006/rs
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The Come Ons - Stars - 2006/mu

The Sights - Are You Green? - 2000

The Sights' lead guitarist / vocalist Eddie Baranek and bassist Mark Leahey (who both share songwriting and vocal duties) have been playing music together since the age of 13, forming this band at the beginning of their senior year of high school. They played their first shows together in early 1998. Baranek and Leahey were still under the age of 18 at the time, and were not old enough to remember first-hand the bands that seem to have had the biggest influence on them, including edgy late-'70s punk/new wave acts like the Buzzcocks or early Jam, and certainly did not remember those bands' influences: British mods like the early Who or the Creation. In late 1999, drummer Eugene Strobe came aboard, replacing a series of drummers, adding a raucously wild Keith Moon-like quality to their live performances. The youthful trio recorded songs for a debut album, Are You Green?, at Jim Diamond's Ghetto Recorders that same year. The album was issued in 2000 by Spectator Records, but the small Detroit-based indie folded not too long afterwards. Fall of Rome Records in Los Angeles re-issued Are You Green? in 2001, and the Sights' 2002 follow-up Got What We Want. Three years later, the band released a self-titled album on New Line/Scratchie. -AMG



The Sights - Are You Green? - 2000/rs
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The Sights - Are You Green? - 2000/mu

The Sealevel - Beach from Last Summer - 2005

When I think of Berlin images of beaches, surfing, and lounging in the sun have never come to mind. Yet somehow Berlin based the Sealevel have managed to create an album mostly full of jangly guitars, Beach Boys-esque harmonies, some Teenage Fanclub buzz, and thoughts of summer and the beach. This debut album by the Sealevel seems to have a bit of a split personality with the first half being the upbeat, sunny days, beach boy and the second half being the more reflective, beach at sunset, man. That said, each half is quite solid and the mood of the moment may determine which songs work best. At the risk of sounding silly, the Sealevel bring us a day at the beach, high tide and low tide. Okay, that does sound silly."-PennyBlackMusic.



The Sealevel - Beach from Last Summer - 2005/rs
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The Sealevel - Beach from Last Summer - 2005/mu

Cheap Time - In the Red - 2008

A combustive mix of glam rock riffs, power pop melodies, and lots of punk energy, Cheap Time are the brainchild of Jeffrey Novak, a Tennessee native who began playing in punk bands in his teens. His groups include Jeffrey Novak's One Man Band and the ultra-raw Rat Traps; when the Rat Traps retired in 2006, Novak formed Cheap Time with Be Your Own Pet's Jemina Pearl on bass and Nathan Vasquez on drums. This version of the band was heavily influenced by the Runaways and early Redd Kross, and released its debut 7" on Sweet Rot in 2007. Pearl and Vasquez left the band to concentrate on Be Your Own Pet, and were replaced by bassist Stephen and drummer Jon. The band's sound also shifted: Novak took some songs inspired by glam and power pop acts like the Quick, Sparks, and Milk 'N' Cookies -- which were intended for another project, the Peoploids -- and turned them into Cheap Time songs. Early in 2008, the revamped Cheap Time issued another 7" on Douche Master in advance of their self-titled full-length on In the Red, which arrived that spring. -AMG



Cheap Time - In the Red - 2008/rs
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Cheap Time - In the Red - 2008/mu

Nixon exposition @ Sino Shop

I stopped by the Nixon show at Sino Shop this past Friday to check out some work by this local writer who has been getting up ever since I have been paying attention to graffiti in Montreal. Sino Shop offered a great venue and space for Nixon`s show that easily had about 30 of his pieces up on the walls including a couple of minor installations. The size, quality, and price of the pieces also covered a wide spectrum ranging anywhere from $20 for small name pieces to $250 for more elaborate and thematic art pieces.

There was also a nice mixture of canvass types: plastic/plexi-glass, poster board, baseball cards, regular canvasses, wood, and other objects like spray cans, a toy truck, and some play-do. There was also a green dragon (or something like it) made of papier mache (I think) in the middle of the room that I'm pretty sure someone was riding at some point, a plate of cold cuts and hamburger meat fashioned into Nixon's moniker, and a tagged up waste paper can.

There was a solid turn out of folks walking through checking the art work, mingling, chatting, and having a few drinks to the beats the DJ was kicking out behind one of the main counters where he was set up (I didn't get his name but he was putting out some good stuff). Sino, who runs the shop, was balancing his time walking through the shop and hanging out at the main counter area chatting it up with writers and others passing through. The show was certainly a success evidenced by a great turn out and a good number of pieces having been marked "sold" by the time I left around 9:30 pm.
Here are a few shots of the opening night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The exposition is running until the 19th of December 2009 so if you want to get your hands on some original, well priced works by a local writer then stop on by Sino Shop at 2817 rue Ontario Est, just off of Frontenac metro.

Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends - 2002

Formed in 1999 in Amityville, NY, Taking Back Sunday modeled their interpretation of melodic hardcore after bands like Lifetime, Endpoint, and Sunny Day Real Estate, as well as guitarist Ed Reyes' emo outfit the Movielife. After the release of a five-song demo and a year's worth of touring (including shows with At the Drive-In and Alkaline Trio), Taking Back Sunday signed to Victory Records and entered New Jersey's Big Blue Meanie Recording Studios alongside producer Sal Villanueva and engineer Tim Gilles. The result, Tell All Your Friends, layered Adam Lazzara's emotional vocals and the dual-guitar assault of Reyes and John Nolan, fashioning a classic hardcore sound with pop songwriting components. The debut album was released in March 2002 and is the only official album to display the founding lineup. -AMG



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Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends - 2002/mu

The Spongetones - Odd Fellows - 2000

Power pop isn't dead, it's just middle-aged; the Spongetones have been leading purveyors of the genre for almost 20 years. And the fact is, power pop has never sounded better than it does on their first album in five years; the hooks on their Gadfly debut beat anything they ever released on the Black Vinyl label. "Beatlesque" is the term that pops inevitably to mind, what with those juicy-fruit chord progressions and that hint of a fake British accent ("boy meets gull," etc.). But the Spongetones deliver their pop confections with the weight and momentum of a Detroit muscle car -- song titles like "On the Wings of a Nightingale" and "Nightsong" notwithstanding, the general tone here is crunchy and loud. -AMG



The Spongetones - Odd Fellows - 2000/rs
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The Spongetones - Odd Fellows - 2000/mu