The Rock Club - Wet Money - 1993

With melodic, guitar-based pop songs and lots of vocal harmonies. Reminiscent not only of the Beatles but of the Beach Boys as well. Some of it sounds a bit amateurish, but it's well-produced and a lot of fun.



The Rock Club - Wet Money - 1993/rs
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>The Rock Club - Wet Money - 1993/sb

TA Wall Pics July 2009

In reflecting upon the recent buffing of the upper TA Wall areas, I thought I'd post some recent pics of the wall from July and August. I've got plenty so I'll post some more of the lower main wall soon.

The Mockers - Somewhere Between Mocksville and Harmony - 1995

Though the Mockers have included a large cast of musicians hailing from all corners of the U.S. rock scene, the band's foundations were laid by two preteen Beatles fans living in Spain in the early '70s. Tony Leventhal and Seth Gordon were the children of New York expats living on the southern coast of Spain when they met. The third-graders quickly discovered their common love for rock & roll and formed a friendship that would last a lifetime. When their families eventually moved back to the States, both began learning guitar and keeping in touch regarding their plans to form their long-awaited rock band. Many years later the two converged in Virginia, creating the surf-pop band the Mockers. With a rotating cast of lead guitarists and drummers, the Mockers climbed their way to the top of the live music scene in Virginia. They spent the next several years touring tirelessly, sometimes playing as many as 20 engagements a month. As the band conquered the East Coast and Midwest, they earned the attention of the local press. Their relentless schedule began to wear thin, and the bandmembers took a long break to regain their creative spark. Some years later Leventhal and Gordon decided it was time for the Mockers to record their debut CD. The 1995 release Somewhere Between Mocksville and Harmony garnered excellent reviews, including a Billboard Critic's Choice Award. Ironically, the disc saw the greatest amount of airplay in Spain, resulting in heavy touring throughout the country and a reconnection with the boy's old stomping grounds. -AMG



The Mockers - Somewhere Between Mocksville and Harmony - 1995/rs
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The Mockers - Somewhere Between Mocksville and Harmony - 1995/sb

Turcot is Killed (Dead)

So it's official folks, Turcot yards have been closed by Transport Quebec. Most access points have been fenced off and private security roams about picking up anyone who trespasses. Since 2003 Transport Quebec (MTQ) has owned the yards, however, up until recently they have not done much with it.

On my way into work the other morning I noticed several crews setting up camp on the service road area just under the Decarie exit. The trailers they had looked like the kind used by graffiti clean up crews. I was passing through this afternoon and noticed that they had buffed all the supports and were working towards the train tunnel area.

Firstly, this seems like a waste of money namely because of the plans we've all been hearing about concerning the redevelopment of the yards in the next few years. Turcot has been a painting area for a little while, why buff it now? Especially if the plan is to redevelop the area? Secondly, buffing the area only makes it a prime target for writers who have the balls to go in and hit up some fresh canvass. I forsee more graff going up there in the near future, even if only some quick throwies.

And this is not the only area buffed out, the MTQ (I assume it is the MTQ, however, Westmount or the borough of Ville-Marie might also be invovled -I am yet to locate something on that) seems to be on a crusade to remove graffiti from the highway system. Under the Ville-Marie expressway from Lucien-Lallier to De Courcelle has been mostly buffed, including the Upper TA Wall area. Again...waste of money? Within 2 days there were already some tags and outlines thrown up. Give it a month and the area is going to be soaked in paint again, as it has been for the last 15 years... And in the typical fashion they buffed only the areas visible from the highway and from the new condo developments across the street, leaving areas that are not visible (lower TA wall and factory as well as some other areas) which begs one to ask what was the real motivation behind the buffing?

Above pics: Upper TA Wall Area

In any case, the idea of Turcot as an open free-range painting area is dead with the choke hold that the MTQ seems to have on the area. The rest of the Ville-Marie expressway still appears to be mostly open (I was walking it just the other day without issue except for a few new fences) and the TA Wall should be back to its former colorful and lustrous state of layered paint in no time. It will be interesting, however, to see just how far the MTQ is going to go with this new program.

Stay posted.

American Mars - Late - 1997

A mix between the gothic inner city Americana of Lions & Ghosts and the sharp songwriting of the Pixies, American Mars came roaring out of the gates with a moody debut that most weren't sure how to react to. Creating a soundtrack to the bombed-out and boarded up buildings of downtown Detroit, American Mars perfectly captured the chilly indifference of their hometown in quite an unexpected way. Singers Thomas Trimble and Karla Richardson balance their male/female dynamic wonderfully, leaving the former to take the role of the gloomy pessimist while the latter is the delicate heart behind the music. Country guitar and an earnest lyrical approach form the foundation of these songs, but the key to this sound is the way American Mars record everything with a hollow production that allows their instruments to echo and reverberate. Deceivingly gentle with an urgent edge bubbling underneath, the songs here warmly embrace their big city origins with irascible odes like the driving "Cuban Heel" and the lazy and psychedelic "Muscle Car." Likewise, their personal lives are dissected with the same clever honesty, providing tracks like the up-tempo "Queen Bee" and the gorgeous "Hourglass." Fat-free, engaging, and well-crafted, Late is an atmospheric and romantic portrait of life in late-'90s Detroit. Capturing the mood and vibe of the city far more appropriately than most bands from that era, their impending breakup (which essentially turned the band into Trimble's pet project) only makes this record that much more vital. At a time when their contemporaries were crafting a brash garage rock revival, American Mars' Late is a triumph of mood. -AMG




American Mars - Late - 1997/rs
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American Mars - Late - 1997/sb

The Greenhornes - Dual Mono - 2002

The Greenhornes' third album for Hoboken indie Telstar changes very little (if any) of the group's standard formula. With the addition of new guitarist Eric Stein however, the Cincinnati garage rockers' dead on British Invasion-meets-Midwest is more powerful and crisp sounding than ever. "Satisfy My Mind" may only have three basic chords, but Stein lets them ring out as if he invented them himself. In fact, the Greenhornes so perfectly nail the careening, rough side of 1960s pre-psychedelic rock & roll that they leave almost no room to consider the music in any other context. They even add gimmicky harpsichord to more than one tune, a trend that was dated as soon as the Yardbirds did it. None of this takes away from the enjoyment of the group's utterly basic, aggressive sound, but it's hard not to envision the Greenhornes becoming the soundtrack band if someone ever decides to film the Jeff Beck story.-AMG




The Greenhornes - Dual Mono - 2002/rs
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The Greenhornes - Dual Mono - 2002/sb

The Sea And Cake - Oui - 2000

In the three-plus years following the release of 1997's The Fawn, the Sea and Cake's ever-busy membership dabbled in solo albums, touring with side projects, and various other responsibilities that come with the territory in the Chicago indie rock scene. But as effortlessly as an April breeze, the quartet reconvened to turn in Oui, quite possibly the finest of the group's five albums to date. Oui brightens up the electroacoustic hybrids first heard on The Fawn with guidance from frontman Sam Prekop's Brazilian-influenced 1999 solo debut and drummer John McEntire's production work on two Stereolab albums. While the looping synths often bogged down the mediocre material on The Fawn, the electronics serve as much better complements here. Prekop turns in some of his catchiest melodies to date, while the band follows suit on the sparkling, funky pop of "All the Photos" and the wobbly, mallet-laden "The Leaf," which makes good on the soothing ballad style introduced on "Window Lights," TSAC's contribution to the 1999 McEntire-scored Reach the Rock soundtrack. A sophisticated pop pleasure from start to finish, Oui is the aural equivalent of a perpetual Indian summer.

The Sea And Cake - Oui - 2000/rs