Sunday, September 30, 2012

The Woodrows: Woodrows II

Woodrows II
(RoosterCow) 1980

You'll forget there never was a Woodrows I! The eleventh album of 1980 for our sorry heroes features no less that thirty-two songs! Anemic anthems for the 80s Generation include: "Rat Face Ricky", "Got My Ass Kicked Last Night", "Soggy Socks" and twenty-nine more!!!

Read the (almost) complete
Woodrows Discography!

Muggsy McMurphy's Rock Pick: St. Vitus

SUNDAY 9/30
Saint Vitus, Weedeater, Sourvein, Kobuki Mono @ Bottom Lounge, 1375 W. Lake St., Chicago, IL

If you're Muggsy McMurphy and you see that Saint Vitus is still touring, you're all like, "Holy Sabbath! Saint Vitus is still together?!" And if you're Saint Vitus you're all like, "Yep."

Saturday, September 29, 2012

The Woodrows: Tar Eater

Tar Eater
(RoosterCow) 1980


Why does Marvy Woodrow like to eat tar so much? Better question, why does Marvy Woodrow like to eat so much tar? Who knows? Who cares? Let's just hope he doesn't stop. Recorded in just fifteen minutes, this is the tightest Woodrows record ever! Thirty-three tracks of blistering Woodrow Power. Songs include: "Dry As A Twig", "Rock Head", "Slick Ricky Woodrow" and twenty-seven more!

Read the (almost) complete
Woodrows Discography!

Muggsy McMurphy's Rock Pick: Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees

SATURDAY 9/29
Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, Trin Tran, The Hussy @ High Noon Saloon, 701A Washington, Madison, WI

Reverb is a garage band's best friend and there's gonna be plenty of this persistence of sound bouncing around the walls of the High Noon Saloon this evening.

Friday, September 28, 2012

Muggsy's Rock Picks: Lil' B

FRIDAY, 9/28
Lil' B @ Cabooze, 917 Cedar Ave. S. Minneapolis

Creator of ten billion tweets, nine million thousand Myspace pages and fifty hundred thousand mix tapes combining twenty-five hundred different musical genres, Big M thinks Lil' B makes The Woodrows seems like lazy sods in comparison.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

The Woodrows: Ganja Stomp

Ganja Stomp
(RoosterCow) 1980


Even The Woodrows need to kick back and chil-ax every once in awhile. This classic album from 1980 (their 10th full-length record of that year!!!!) features 15 songs that document the Woodrow's brief infatuation with Rastas and reggae.

Tracks include: "Praise Almighty Jah", "Jah is Awesome",  "I for an I", "Rastafari Safari", "Jah Know What I'm Sayin'? and 10 more rockin' reggae jams!!!


Check out the (almost) complete
Woodrows Discography

Muggsy's Rock Pick: Mission of Burma

THURSDAY 9/27
Mission Of Burma, Porcupine @ 400 Bar, 400 Cedar Ave. S. Minneapolis, MN

More like Mission of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, know what I'm sayin'?

Monday, September 24, 2012

Muggsy's Rock Pick: First Aid Kit

MONDAY 9/24
First Aid Kit, Dylan LeBlanc @ Metro, 3730 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL

Muggsy's ears needed first-aid after listening to these Scandinavian sisters and their country caterwaulin'. Never knew there was such a thing as Swedish twang before. They must be from the southern part of Sweden.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Muggsy's Rock Pick: ∆ (alt-j)

We will out-nerd Radiohead!
SATURDAY 9/22
, JBM @ Triple Rock Social Club, 629 Cedar Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN

Pronounced alt-j (or as Muggsy pronounces it option-j). The real question is, how does Muggsy feel about a new arty British buzz band that damn near has an emoticon for a name? Shift : shift (

Friday, September 21, 2012

Comics Review: Mark Twain Was Right

MARK TWAIN WAS RIGHT
Dan P. Moore (marktwainwasright)

The 2001 Cincinnati Riots were prematurely relegated to the footnotes of American history, despite earning distinction as the largest display of urban unrest in the emerging 21st century and the worst since the LA riots almost a decade prior. After the looting ended, lawsuits were filed and boycotts were launched and surely Fox News pundits had their fair share of words in defense of the cops on the street. Then suddenly, at the end of that summer, we had much bigger fish to fry and a lot of things dropped off the front page on September 12.

Dan P. Moore didn’t forget those chaotic times. As a young activist, still in high school, Moore was an eye witness to much of what went on in those days leading up to, and following, the civil unrest in his hometown. The spark that set off the powder keg was the shooting death of unarmed, twenty-year-old Timothy Thomas—the fifteenth young black man to die at the hands, or in the custody of the Cincinnati Police Department in the previous six years. Day-by-day and chapter-by-chapter Moore fits together the pieces of the puzzle and constructs a story of racial profiling, economic segregation and the resulting civil and uncivil protest. Moore saw and felt the boiling anger on the streets of Cincinnati’s impoverished Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. What Moore was not a first-hand witness to, he accounts for through interviews with those who were there; activists, community leaders and the people on the street.

Moore is still growing as an artist, his style can be a little rough at times, but his journalistic instincts and story-telling chops make this graphic novel a compelling account of an important event in U.S. race relations. Like Joe Sacco's Footnotes in Gaza, Moore doesn't let us forget the smaller, forgotten battles in the larger struggleChris Auman

Read more reviews, and always...always read Reglar Wiglar

Muggsy's Rock Pick: The Slackers

FRIDAY 9/21
Slackers, Green Room Rockers, The Prize Fighters @ Triple Rock Social Club, 629 Cedar Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN

When it comes to writing good old school ska and reggae tunes, Muggsy thinks these gentlemen slack not.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Launch Party Tonight for Rookie Yearbook One

THURSDAY 9/20
7pm, Unity Temple, 875 Lake St, Oak Park, IL

Hey you! It's the Launch Party for the print edition of the totally popular Rookie website! Rookie Yearbook One, published by Drawn & Quarterly, compiles choice writing from this fashion, feminist, everything-else blog-o-site in good old fashioned book form. The event tonight will  feature readings and signings by editor Tavi Gevinson and contributors Krista Burton, Jessica Hopper, and Stephanie Kuehnert. Buy the book and get in free or don't buy the book and pay ten bucks... just buy the dern book!

Muggsy McMurphy's Rock Pick: Melvins Lite

Nothing lite about 3/4 of these Melvins.
THURSDAY 9/20
Melvins Lite, Tweak Bird @ High Noon Saloon, 701A Washington, Madison, WI

A Melvins Lite is still heavier than a thousand Beibers.

"Sludge Legends" Live on Carson Daly

Melvins on Carson 25 april 2012 from Ignatius Reilly on Vimeo.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Fantagraphics to Publish Piskor's Hip Hop Geneology

Remember that interview Reglar Wiglar did with Ed Piskor last month where the WIZZYWIG creator told us (in reference to a Hip Hop Family Tree book) that, “There will be a Hip Hop Family Tree book. Probably a series of books.” Well, if there’s one thing I’m pretty good at it’s reading between the lines, and I think he meant that there will be a Hip Hop Family Tree book, maybe even a series of them. Apparently my instincts are still as sharp as ever because it has been confirmed that Fantagraphics will be the publisher of this alleged series of books.

For those not-in-the-know, Ed Piskor’s Hip Hop Family Tree is a serial comic published on Boing Boing that illustrates the history of the hip hop genre. This first installment will be a full color, 112 page book collecting the first year of the strip (1975-1980). There are also plans to include 10 pinups of hip hop heroes each illustrated by a different comics artist. 

Normally I would tell you at this point that you should get real excited about the imminent publication of Piskor's strip, but there's one drawback: you gotta wait until 2013 to get your hands on one of these shorties! How wack is that, homey?

Tonight @ Quimby's: John Porcellino & Noah Van Sciver

WEDNESDAY 9/19
John Porcellino & Noah Van Sciver @ Quimby's, 1854 W. North Ave., Chicago

Quimby's Books is playing host to a double comics release party tonight celebrating the release of Noah Van Sciver's graphic novel The Hypo (Fantagraphics) and John Porcellino's King-Cat #73. The Hypo depicts the life of a young A. Lincoln who must learn to climb the political ladder while battling near-crippling depression and King-Cat comics is the long-running autobiographical comic that everyone loves. Event starts at 7pm and it's motherlovin' FREE!

Read the Reglar Wiglar interview with John Porcellino!

Comics Review: Into My Heart

INTO MY HEART
Grant Thomas
 The second issue in Grant Council Thomas' My Life in Records series further examines the comics creator's life in vinyl. No, Grant isn't in a band (that I am aware), he doesn't run a record label, nor does he work in a record store, but rather his comics deal with his memories of listening to records in his formative years. Like its predecessor in the series, Into my Heart is shaped proportionately like a seven inch record (though smaller). The comic looks great in full color on glossy paper too. Into My Heart opens with a flashback of three-year-old Tom willfully disobeying his mother and taking a plunge into the big kid pool, almost drowning in the process. This ties into the baptismal theme of Tom accepting Jesus and letting him into his heart. The concept of letting Jesus live in your heart had confused the younger Tom who heard these lyrics on a record as a child. An older Tom reflects back on the meaning that he now fully acceptChris Auman 

Read more reviews, and always...always read Reglar Wiglar

Muggsy's Rock Pick: Jesus and Mary Chain

J&MC during the Great Comb Shortage of '85.
WEDNESDAY 9/19
Jesus & Mary Chain, Psychic Paramount @ The Majestic, 115 King St., Madison, WI

Back on the Jesus and Mary Chain Gang. I thought these blokes hated rock and roll.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Music Review: Sic Alps

SIC ALPS
s/t (Drag City)
I’m gonna use a cooking analogy to describe Sic Alps—an egg analogy in particular: Sic Alps are like cooking scrambled eggs. Bear with me here. It’s like when you’re making an omelet. You beat your eggs real good and then you pour them into a well-buttered pan and you leave them alone for a bit so they can cook up real nice and fluffy, but then at the last minute you throw a spatula in there and just mix them eggs all up. Now you got scrambled eggs and not an omelet. Still tastes good, but it’s different. Just as delicious, but maybe those eggs don’t look so prim and proper now.

Sic Alps have been cooking scrambled eggs for awhile now and (in case the first paragraph sailed right over your hairnet) by "scrambled eggs" I mean slightly disjointed indie pop music. Some of the ingredients the Alps use would be recognizable even to the most entry-level prep cook. The Beatles are thrown in on more than one occasion ("Rock Races" for example) and the Velvet Underground are certainly essential to the recipe ("Thylacine Man"). Also part of a balanced breakfast is the endearing acoustic track, "Lazy Sons" (which sums up the role of sons everywhere); the rockiness of “God Bless Her, I Miss Her”; the jaunty joy of “Moviehead” and see if “See You on the Slopes” won't have you crying into your flapjacks. Serve hot and enjoy!—Chef Willy [Sic Alps]

Read more reviews, and always...always read Reglar Wiglar!

Muggsy's Rock Pick: Built to Spill

TUESDAY 9/18
Built To Spill, Sister Crayon, Helvetia @ High Noon Saloon, 701A Washington, Madison, WI

Here's a factoid a lot of people don't know: Doug Martsch invented indie rock... and beards! Actually, he didn't invent beards, it's more like he discovered them while not shaving.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Comic Review: American Elf 1999

AMERICAN ELF 1999
James Kochalka (Top Shelf)
James Kochalka began drawing his comics diary American Elf in 1998 while on a plane to the San Diego Comic Con. Almost fifteen years later, the comic is still kicking. It's an on-line serial now, of course, and our Superstar has kids and considerably less hair. Keeping in step with the digitally-delivered theme of the universe these days, Top Shelf Productions has made Am Elf available in digital editions. So far, the years 1999 to 2001 have been released with undoubtedly more on the way. Beginning at the beginning, 1999 sets the template with James depicting his every day life in four panel strips. Whether talking about his "peenie" or describing the silly scene of a squirrel carrying a bandana up a tree, Kochalka uses the four panel format to distill the basic feelings of the day through small, seemingly mundane events. The take away from these snippets of everyday life? Don't sweat the small stuff, enjoy them insteadChris Auman

Read more reviews, and always...always read Reglar Wiglar

Video: Moon Duo, "Sleepwalker"

Video: King Kahn and the Shrines, "Bite My Tongue"

Video: Big Business, "The Drift"

Muggsy's Rock Pick: Big Business

Nice fro, but is it Buzzworthy?
MONDAY 9/17
Big Business, Gay Witch Abortion, Lung @ Triple Rock Social Club, 629 Cedar Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN

Playing heavy sludge rock is big business. Well, maybe it ain't big business, but it is important business.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

The Woodrows: Toby's Got a Toothache

Toby's Got A Toothache (RoosterCow) 1980

Toby's got a toothache and man do it hurt! You ever get one of those really naaaasty toothaches? Imagine if you had teeth like that bucktooth muther effer! Killer tracks include: "Novacaine/Cocaine," "Tooth on a String," "Larry, the Tooth Fairy," "Dental Damn!" and many, many more! 

Check out the (almost) complete
Woodrow Discography

Video: Laetitia Sadier, "Find Me The Pulse Of The Universe"

Muggsy's Rock Pick: Riot Fest

SATURDAY 9/15 & SUNDAY 9/16
RIOT FEST w/ Rise Against, Coheed & Cambria, Descendents, Dropkick Murphys, Slapstick, and many, many more @ Humboldt Park, Sacramento and Division

Riot Fest has a Tilt-a-Whirl? Suck that, Perry Farrell!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Friday, September 07, 2012

Muggsy's Rock Pick: Trim Reaper

FRIDAY 9/7
Amish Armada, Bible of the Devil, The Abusers, Trim Reaper @ Turf Club, 1601 University Ave. St. Paul MN

I'm pickin' this show for one reason and one reason only: Trim Reaper was my nickname in high school. Natch.

Thursday, September 06, 2012

Wednesday, September 05, 2012

Muggsy's Rock Pick: Mustard Pimp

WEDNESDAY 9/5
Mustard Pimp @ Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago, IL

Mustard Pimp have other bands playing ketchup as they relish the opportunity to spread their jams to hungry audiences everywhere.

NOTE: The Mustard Pimp show has been post-poned, however, this pun-laden post will proceed as planned.

Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Music Review: Nathan Xander

NATHAN XANDER
s/t (no label)
Nathan Xander is a singer/songwriter from New York (by way of Chicago via Union City, PA). He writes songs that have their elements of country, indie and folk. They're songs about love and loss and those things you just might expect a singer/songwriter to write a song to sing about. The trick to the singer/songwriter racket though, is to pair up good music with thoughtful lyrics that'll make the listener think that this singer/songwriter is writing and singing songs about the listener's own pathetic life. Xander happens to do just that on this, his self-titled third album. Lead off track, "I’ll Try To Be Good", is a great example of what I was just saying several seconds ago—it's sad, haunting, beautiful, universal and lingers in your brain. "My Forked Tongue", "Last Day of the Month" and all subsequent songs aspire to, and almost reach that pinnacle, but the bar was set too high. Nathan Xander's songs are simple but smart, sparse but with space and definitely get to the heart of matters of the heart—Stan Fogelberg [Nathan Xander]

Read more reviews, and always...always read Reglar Wiglar!

Muggsy's Rock Pick: Fergus & Geronimo

Which one is Geronimo is anyone's guess.
TUESDAY 9/4
Fergus & Geronimo, Color Card, Advance Base @ Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western Ave., Chicago, IL

Fergus and Geronimo take garage-ish, poppy/punkish, lo-fi-ish songs and jump right out of the indie rock plane with 'em before parachuting safely to the ground.