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Sonic Youth is one of my favorite bands, and I have listened to most of the member's post SY records. Some are very good, and a decent amount falls flat to me. Lee's stuff is generally alright, very psychedelic rock meets SY stuff with interesting sounds, seems very true to form. Thurston's records are not that exciting to me. The Body/Head stuff has been okay, but nothing mind-blowing.

Last night I finally listened to Kim Gordon's solo album, "No Home Record". It's good, Kim is not playing it safe here in any way.

This is probably the best album any of them has released post SY. On Lee's best post SY records he takes what SY were doing and very successfully melds it with the types of music he listened to growing up, but here Kim has taken what they did as a band a few steps down the evolutionary chain. She stripped away the trappings of guitar, bass and drums and came up with something very true to form yet entirely different from her old band. It is quite raw yet clearly put together by a very experienced artist and songwriter.

I don't know that it will be for everyone but it is a great listen. Everyone in SY leaned into experimental aspects of the band (particularly Lee seems fascinated by exploring what can be done with sound) but this record highlights Kim's ability to create art that is music yet seems to carry more weight than a record spinning on a turntable.

Seriously after nearly forty years in the industry to hear an artist come out with something that sounds so new and different, yet remains compelling and interesting, is simply an astonishing feat. If Sonic Youth were the Beatles of indie rock, then this record would be their Sgt. Peppers.

 
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I was reading about John Lennon's song Mother - perhaps the saddest song ever - and discovered that the first cover of it was by Barbra Streisand, backed by the great all-female band Fanny.


Credit where due: Babs did an unexpectedly great version.
 
The same song we've listened to at noon on Thanksgiving for around 50 years now...

I thought about making a clip of me playing the riff to this song and posting it online with the instructions

-loop for twenty minutes
-you can sing anything you want to Alice’s Restaurant

It’s not a particularly easy riff though, I can play it but rather poorly. Plus I don’t have an acoustic guitar anymore. So I will have to settle for this post about it.

It does make me remember that I don’t want a pickle though, so that’s nice.
 
Been listening to this one quite a bit lately. Quite a change from the usual fare. Gotta say...it's a pretty infectious little tune. These guys are super talented. Really beautiful melodies and some choice tones for sure.

 
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A warning. Don't get too excited about the rhodes covered in pedals because he remains on the piano the whole time. Don't worry though, the bassist gives us some octave and dirt here and there.

 
8C3AD11D-C5E0-4BC9-AB96-5785C1A8B0E2.jpg When I was in my late teens/ early twenties I used to dig through used record bins buried in the back of music stores and frequent thrift stores looking for music. It was that period between ‘95 anf ‘05 when no one gave a crap about records because CDs ruled the day. I rarely paid more than $5 for a record, aside from the rare new release I ran across (and they were rare then). Back then nobody could get away with charging more than a buck or two for a Beatles, Sabbath or Zeppelin album, it was awesome.

Pulled this one out today. Hadn’t put it on for a couple years and it made me think about how much pricier records have gotten now.

This was a pretty damn good way to spend a dollar.
 
View attachment 19335When I was in my late teens/ early twenties I used to dig through used record bins buried in the back of music stores and frequent thrift stores looking for music. It was that period between ‘95 anf ‘05 when no one gave a crap about records because CDs ruled the day. I rarely paid more than $5 for a record, aside from the rare new release I ran across (and they were rare then). Back then nobody could get away with charging more than a buck or two for a Beatles, Sabbath or Zeppelin album, it was awesome.

Pulled this one out today. Hadn’t put it on for a couple years and it made me think about how much pricier records have gotten now.

This was a pretty damn good way to spend a dollar.

I started collecting records when I got to college in 1999. I had a great collection of punk and psycho/rockabilly. Unfortunately when I graduated I had nowhere to live and ended up moving in with my dad and step mom. When I moved out I went to get the last of my things from their house (a few months after moving out) I found that she had gotten rid of the three or four boxes of stuff I had there, one of them being my box of records.

Man, now you've got me reminiscing..


 
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Scary Pockets, a fantastic YouTube channel with so many awesome covers and original material. They really take covering to the next level because every one is more of an interpretation instead of a note for note copy.
 
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CAKE has been one of my favorite bands ever since I was in high school. I listen to them probably every day, and this one always gets me going.


When I was first learning bass, I mostly just turned on the radio and played along with the classic rock, alternative, oldies stations. Cakes cover of "I will survive" was huge at the time and I remember being super proud of myself when I figured it out. I had mostly Bad Religion and Social Distortion under my fingers at the time.
 
When I was first learning bass, I mostly just turned on the radio and played along with the classic rock, alternative, oldies stations. Cakes cover of "I will survive" was huge at the time and I remember being super proud of myself when I figured it out. I had mostly Bad Religion and Social Distortion under my fingers at the time.
That's one of my favorite lines to play. Same with "She'll Come Back to Me" which is another great line.

 
My friends told me about this album when it came out recently, I had never heard of them before. Love the mix of Petty, Dylan, 80s synth stuff. One of my new favorites lately.

 

Forgot how much I liked this album... it’s definitely not for everyone... but these guys have insane guitar skills IMO
 
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