What kind of Sixties Person are you?

You are a Mod. Yeah baby.

What kind of Sixties Person are you?
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Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things

For those of you looking for a cheap and easy way to wile away the workday, may I humbly suggest Urban Dead. In the words of the game’s creator, “Urban Dead is a browser-based, grid-mapped, free-to-play multi-player game where you play the survivor or victim of a zombie outbreak in a quarantined city centre.”

Not only is it free, but it’ll also help get you in the proper Halloween mood! Plus, the description is full o' hyphens. Hurray for hyphens!!!

Oh, if you’re around the suburb of Old Arkham, you may find me healing survivors in the subtle guise of Dr. Drake Remore.

Mid-Week MP3

With the final installment of festive Halloween MP3s, I figured I would kick it, as the kids say, old school. Real old school.

For me, there are a few conditional holidays – holidays that don’t really count unless a certain event occurs. The Fourth of July, for example, isn’t fully legal until I’ve pissed off a porch… any porch. Thanksgiving just isn’t Thanksgiving until the local NPR affiliate plays Arlo Guthrie. Halloween is like that, too. As much as I dig it, as much as I wait for it, and plan for it, it ain’t shit without Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon.

Warren left us in September 7 of 2003, but not without establishing a lasting legacy of funny, quirky, creepy-assed songs from his thirty-plus year career. Do yourself a favor and pick up some Zevon from your local record store, and, if you’re a cheap bastard, try the library. They usually keep a bit of Warren around.

Oddly enough, Werewolves was one of Warren lighter songs. For a man with a preoccupation with death, oppression, and murder, he sure knew how to howl. But never mind the particulars, just get to downloading.

And a happy, happy Halloween to all.

1modernboy humbly requests that you use these MP3s solely as a means of evaluation. If you like what you hear, please buy records, CDs, t-shirts, or other merchandise to support this band/artist and his/her/their label-mates. Seeing them live probably wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
Should the features artist, or the related label or distributor take issue with my inclusion of the song file, please don’t hesitate to contact me, so that the offending file can be removed.

Warren Zevon – Werewolves of London

Mid-Week MP3

Excuse me while I switch gears from the grim and grisly wiles of Murder City Devils and the demon summoning charms of Ink & Dagger. You see, this week’s Mid-Week MP3 is brought to you by none other than the champions of 80s goth, The Cure.

Robert Smith and company are known more for eyeliner, sing-along choruses, and shuffling, frumpy girls in long skirts and leggings than death, dismemberment, and the dark arts, but I find The Cure’s Lullaby to be one of the eeriest goddamn songs I’ve ever heard. This offering, from 1989’s Disintegration, whether about addiction, assault, or simply a supernatural boogeyman, is no less distressing now than it was 16 years ago.

Do yourself a favor and pick up some Cure. While Disintegration is of particular merit, the bulk of the band’s library is exemplary. With that said, please enjoy this week’s extra Halloween-y Mid-Week MP3, and join me here next week for the riveting conclusion of all this spooky-assed shit!

1modernboy humbly requests that you use these MP3s solely as a means of evaluation. If you like what you hear, please buy records, CDs, t-shirts, or other merchandise to support this band/artist and his/her/their label-mates. Seeing them live probably wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
Should the features artist, or the related label or distributor take issue with my inclusion of the song file, please don’t hesitate to contact me, so that the offending file can be removed.

The Cure -- Lullaby

Mid-Week MP3

Okay, I guess this one is an End of Week MP3, but hey, sometime life gets you like that. I'll be continuing our festive theme, but this week I’ll shift gears a bit. Last week Murder City Devils regaled us with a tale of war and loss and an untimely hanging. This week we head into the murky waters of punk rock vampires, compliments of Ink & Dagger.

This band of Philadelphia blood suckers hit the scene in 1996, with and odd mix of blazing guitars and pancake makeup that somehow delighted the notoriously fickle hardcore audience. Within a few years the band had changed their look and sound to something more progressive and much less kitschy, eventually dispending amid much fanfare in 1999. Less than a year later, frontman Sean McCabe was found dead in an Indiana hotel room – the result of an excessive drinking binge.

Another rock ‘n’ roll tragedy, but, thankfully, the music lives on. With that said, please kick back and enjoy The Road to Hell, from the 1997 release Drive This Seven Inch Wooden Stake through My Philadelphia Heart. Much of Ink & Dagger’s library remains in print, and you can get a bit more of the band’s history (and merch) over at Buddyhead.

1modernboy humbly requests that you use these MP3s solely as a means of evaluation. If you like what you hear, please buy records, CDs, t-shirts, or other merchandise to support this band/artist and his/her/their label-mates. Seeing them live probably wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
Should the features artist, or the related label or distributor take issue with my inclusion of the song file, please don’t hesitate to contact me, so that the offending file can be removed.

Ink & Dagger – The Road to Hell

Mid-Week MP3

This week’s Mid-Week MP3 launches what I like to consider the official Halloween season. Put the kids to bed early and break out your Styrofoam tombstones, folks! You’re in for four weeks of creepy, freaky, and pretty damned fucked up songs. Leading the charge will be one of my personal favorites – Murder City Devils.

MCD was a brilliant punk rock outfit out of Seattle who came on strong in 1996 and kept on keeping on until 2001. Musically, I’d say they were midway between the classic drive of early Misfits and the (then) modern flare of At the Drive-In (with whom they toured extensively). This track comes to you from the notorious In Name and Blood album, a multimedia cd experience that, in addition to being their strongest musical effort, depicted each member of the band as a victim of a gruesome murder. Good times.

I’ll not bore you with details, but a little digging will find that the Devils' former members are currently involved with such indy fair as Pretty Girls Make Graves and Modest Mouse. Good bands to check out if you've missed them so far. Most MCD releases are still available from Sub Pop, and should be purchased post-haste.

With that said, please enjoy the deep, groovy, goth-y synth, the staggered vocals, driving rhythm, and the fierce guitar attack that is Press Gang.

This year the candy comes early!

1modernboy humbly requests that you use these MP3s solely as a means of evaluation. If you like what you hear, please buy records, CDs, t-shirts, or other merchandise to support this band/artist and his/her/their label-mates. Seeing them live probably wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
Should the features artist, or the related label or distributor take issue with my inclusion of the song file, please don’t hesitate to contact me, so that the offending file can be removed.

Murder City Devils – Press Gang

Pray for my Nintendog...

Nintendo has launched yet another full-out assault on my wallet with this week’s release of both Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow & Trauma Center: Under the Knife for the Nintendo DS. Basically, I plan to spend my free time slaying demons and performing surgery without a license… same as any week!

Mid-Week MP3

Word on the street is that the surviving members of the New York Dolls have once again hit the road (at the behest of Morrissey, no less). As such, this week we shall celebrate the gifts afforded us by these proto-punk, cross-dressing, hard-living Rock ‘N’ Rollers. If you are a fan of rock music, or punk, or art rock, or R&B, arena rock, metal, or any other of a myriad of genres, then you, no doubt, have some idea of the importance of five boys from NYC. If you don’t… well, then there isn’t much I or anyone else can do for you.

In 1971, David Johansen, Johnny Thunders, Sylvain Sylvain, Arthur "Killer" Kane and Billy Murcia came together under bright likes and heavy makeup to start a revolution. Citing influences like the MC5, The Stooges, and T-Rex, this band went on to inspire the punk rock generation in a way that only they could. Many were lost along the way. Murcia died before the first album was even released, and was replaced by Jerry Nolan. Thunders died of an overdose in 1991, and Nolan himself followed a few months later. Kane finally left us the middle of last year. Despite all these deaths, the spirit and the legacy of the Dolls lives on.

This track is from the first album. It’s still available, as are their follow-ups. Do yourself a favor and pick it up. Also, be on the lookout for a new Dolls album from the two surviving members in Spring 2006.

1modernboy humbly requests that you use these MP3s solely as a means of evaluation. If you like what you hear, please buy records, CDs, t-shirts, or other merchandise to support this band/artist and his/her/their label-mates. Seeing them live probably wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
Should the features artist, or the related label or distributor take issue with my inclusion of the song file, please don’t hesitate to contact me, so that the offending file can be removed.

New York Dolls – Lonely Planet Boy

myMid-Week MP3

The Mooney Suzuki has made a name for itself by systematic implementation of three key elements – a dynamic pair of core members (Sammy James Junior and Graham Tyler) who power the band despite some rotation of other members, relentless touring punctuated by powerfully frenetic live shows, and a sound that is pure garage rock.

The band remained true to their sound, even with their 2002 Columbia Records debut, Electric Sweat. And, while they never quite made the jump to the mainstream, energetic live performances on several late-night network talk shows and the breakthrough video for the Electric Sweat track "In A Young Man's Mind" (which made a fair turn on MTV2) served to catapult the band ever closer.

Sadly, the band was dropped as a result of the Sony-BMG merger, and found themselves without a label for a time. However, the resourceful boys of The Mooney Suzuki survived by embracing the very media that so many other garage bands revile. Their music popped up in everything from ads to TV shows to movies (as The Mooney Suzuki composed the title song for the Jack Black comedy School of Rock), and this helped them weather the storm until Richard Branson's V2 Records stepped in to give the band a new home.

In an interesting turn, the band’s newest album Alive & Amplified is a departure from the minimalist, stripped down sound that fans have come to expect from The Mooney Suzuki. And while fan response has run the gamut, one thing is perfectly clear – the spirit of the band remains as strong as ever.

This weeks’ track is the title song from 02’s Electric Sweat. It, as well as the new record and several previous releases are still available for purchase.

1modernboy humbly requests that you use these MP3s solely as a means of evaluation. If you like what you hear, please buy records, CDs, t-shirts, or other merchandise to support this band/artist and his/her/their label-mates. Seeing them live probably wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
Should the features artist, or the related label or distributor take issue with my inclusion of the song file, please don’t hesitate to contact me, so that the offending file can be removed.

The Mooney Suzuki -- Electric Sweat

I Trod on Lego

If you’re into the funnay, and I know you are, then you should be reading Scary Go Round. It is a Monday-Friday Web comic by a dapper English gent name of John Allison. The lines are clean and the colors vibrant, the plots convoluted and implausible, and the characters dreadfully self-absorbed – in short, it’s the perfect addition to your daily online constitutional!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

Ahoy you scurvy rat-bastards, today be International Talk Like a Pirate Day! In addition to being a celebration of all things piratical, it also be the most sacred and hallowed of days to those of us who count themselves among the blessed.

The Revolution starts now…

And it is fuckin’ weird! 1Up has some exclusive info on the new, nontraditional controller that Nintendo has devised for its Revolution system. It’s… well, it’s a trippy remote control. See?

Mid-Week MP3

In observance of the recent passing of an American blues legend, this week’s MP3 is from none other than the late R.L. Burnside. The life of Robert Lee Burnside follows a similar pattern to the lives of other Mississippi bluesmen -- he was born poor, spent much of his life performing manual labor, spent time in prison, and focused much of his energy on women, booze, and music.

Burnside was inspired to play by John Lee Hooker, and took to the juke joint circuit to build his talent. Though he recorded in the 1960s under the Arhoolie Records label, it wasn’t until the 1990s that R.L. began to garner a true following. Much of Burnside’s later material, including his groundbreaking collaboration with the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, is available from Fat Possum Records.

Please enjoy the following track, a personal favorite from his Wish I Were in Heaven Sitting Down album, called “Miss Maybelle.”

And R.L., I hope you’re sitting down up there.

1modernboy humbly requests that you use these MP3s solely as a means of evaluation. If you like what you hear, please buy records, CDs, t-shirts, or other merchandise to support this band/artist and his/her/their label-mates. Seeing them live probably wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
Should the features artist, or the related label or distributor take issue with my inclusion of the song file, please don’t hesitate to contact me, so that the offending file can be removed.

R.L. Burnside – Miss Maybelle

Oh, Miss Maybelle

For those of you who, like me, missed this news last week: the world has lost yet another living musical legend.

“I didn’t say [I shot in] self-defense; I said I shot ‘im in the leg when he was jumpin' over da fence.” –R.L. Burnside

Cultural Diversity

Here’s a little funny for all you fans of the Engrish phenomenon. To your left is a picture of a puzzle I recently purchased for my son. Normally, I don’t demand much in the way of “quality” from items I acquire from the Target dollar rack, but this is just sad. Apparently there’s a sweatshop somewhere in Taipei where shoeless children crank out puzzle boards featuring those ever-so delightful farm friends, the chiken and the lamp. It's just wrong on so many levels.

Mid-Week MP3

Lindsey Buckingham is best known as the guitarist and songwriter of 1970s juggernaut Fleetwood Mac. Buckingham cemented a reputation as a master of fingerpicking early in his career, eventually affording him the opportunity to join the group and enjoy all of the spoils of rock stardom. Yet while the radio-friendly pop stylings of the band gave Fleetwood Mac (and Buckingham) much success, Lindsey is also known for his share of commercial flops.

Despite producing three hit singles, Fleetwood Mac’s 1979 double-album Tusk (on which Buckingham served as producer, as well as principal songwriter) served to arouse the ire of bandmates and critics alike due to a lack of commercial success. The bad blood that followed the ambitious and incredibly weird Tusk precipitated the tamer follow-up album Mirage. Following its release, the band went on an extended hiatus, allowing for ample time for each member to dabble in the world of the solo project. Buckingham’s two solo releases, Law and Order and Go Insane, however, were merely moderate successes as compared to Stevie Nicks' Belladona.

Buckingham recorded one more album with the band before a not-so amicable split left him a free agent. Not one to be stymied by the less-than-stellar reception of his first two solo albums, Lindsey spent nearly four years in studio crafting Out of the Cradle. This 1992 outing all but failed commercially, but was his most personal and complex album to date. In the 1990s, Buckingham found his way back to Fleetwood Mac, with no small amount of help from then-president Bill Clinton, but to listen to his solo work, unencumbered by collaborators, offers a glimpse of a musical maverick with a sound and vision all his own.

This week’s MP3 is an offering from Out of the Cradle. This album, as well as Lindsey’s other solo works, are still available, and come highly recommended… but what do you expect from the man who wrote "Holiday Road"?

1modernboy humbly requests that you use these MP3s solely as a means of evaluation. If you like what you hear, please buy records, CDs, t-shirts, or other merchandise to support this band/artist and his/her/their label-mates. Seeing them live probably wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
Should the features artist, or the related label or distributor take issue with my inclusion of the song file, please don’t hesitate to contact me, so that the offending file can be removed.

Lindsey Buckingham -- Countdown

my inner child is a creepy li’l bastard

Halloween, for me, is less a one-night event and more of a holiday season unto itself. It starts around the last day of September and continues until November 2nd, the day when most (if not all) remaining Halloween merchandise has made its way down the retail discount ladder and into the trunk of my car. Each year my quest for the creepiest movie, the cheapest and most delectable candies, and the oddest, most positively garish decorations and party favors is aided by a score of unwitting allies, and this year the fine folks at the Jones Soda company have been the earliest contributors.

Renowned for their non-traditional soft drink flavors, Jones has just released two new limited edition beverages for the season: Caramel Apple and Candy Corn. While Caramel Apple is a tart and sweet delight, it is the Candy Corn flavor that really got me. This viscous, piss-yellow liquid is so loaded with high fructose corn syrup that it positively sings diabetes. You just can’t mess with that! Plus, both flavors (as well as several of Jones’ other non-limited edition, Halloween-y type sodas) come in decorative holiday-themed cans.

Cross your gnarled and hoary fingers and rush to your local Target to score some.

Das Crazy Germans

When I think light-hearted Web apps in the style of American television icons, I immediately think Germany. I mean, who wouldn’t?

Interestingly enough, it is these wacky Europeans who have favored us with South Park Studio (Ver. 2), a South Park character generator. It's a handy-dandy device that uses a simple Flash interface to select various colors and styles of standard South Park body part fare to create your own delightfully profane little ragamuffin. You can even put your character in such famously fictitious locales as "Stark's Pond" or "the bus stop."

Go there now and South Park-ize your friends, family, and favorite member of the Facts of Life cast... (*psssst* Think Tootie!)

Mid-Week MP3

A Deadsy fan, or as the band might refer to him: one of the Legions, once described the group to me as “completely unmarketable.” This is both an apt description and a damn shame, as the sound and the very concept of the band is nigh indescribably unique.

Deadsy is probably best known as the pet project of frontman/lyricist/guitarist Elijah Blue Allman, the son of Cher and Dwayne Allman. Rounding out the band is bassist Creature, Dr. Nner on synth, Alec Püre on percussion, and Carlton Megalodon on a delightful little instrument called the Ztar, which is a basically jacked-up MIDI guitar controller. This unique makeup allows for music that is simultaneously dark, ethereal, heavy, and melodic.

A common observer might call the sound Goth (more Type O Negative or Orgy Goth than The Cure or Bauhaus Goth), but the band insists that their low and dissonant style of music is "Undercore." This distinctive aural presentation, coupled with a lyrical predilection for sci-fi, the occult, and odd pop culture references, is only matched by the truly bizarre conceptual image flaunted by the band.

Each member is representative of a color and an element (or “Entity”) which drives society. For their 2002 album Commencement, this took the form of creepy prep school uniform that each member customized with his own shade and sigil. This gave the impression of a cabal of the idle rich freed from the trappings of mortal life to pursue some preternatural, haunting truth. It also made them look quite dapper for a Rock ’n’ Roll band.

The band has recently shifted away from the “boys’ club” look of their previous work as they prepare for the immanent release of their new album Phantasmagore, presumably on Dreamworks Records. Their Web site has change accordingly, and now sports a new take on the ubiquitous television test pattern of old.

In the meantime, Commencement is still available from retailers in its official 2002 incarnation (from whence this track hails) and, for those of you looking for something a little more raw, a less-than-official 1999 release of the album exists that supposedly sports extra tracks. Band merchandise for the new album is also available.

1modernboy humbly requests that you use these MP3s solely as a means of evaluation. If you like what you hear, please buy records, CDs, t-shirts, or other merchandise to support this band/artist and his/her/their label-mates. Seeing them live probably wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
Should the features artist, or the related label or distributor take issue with my inclusion of the song file, please don’t hesitate to contact me, so that the offending file can be removed.

Deadsy -- Winners

And they call it puppy love.

For all of you non-gamer-type parents out there still reeling from the GTA Hot Coffee debacle, I have some alarming news. Your children are again being corrupted by the sinister machinations of “them there video-tronic games.” Witness the Nintendogs Hot Biscuit mod!

Somebody get Jack Thompson on the phone…