Sonny Times Two - Cuckoo!

Sonny Smith is an iconoclast in San Francisco, a city that seems full of them. His work with Sonny & The Sunsets needs no introduction (especially seeing as it has as members Tahlia Harbour of Citay fame, and one Kelley Stoltz), but the truth is that the man is just as interesting as the sonic stories he weaves. His elaborate tales stem from a youthful attempt at scriptwriting whilst he busked his way around Central America, the characters and dialogue and setting all painted vividly in his head like a wide angle panorama, playing out in the theatre of his mind. He has since lived out the dream of seeing a short go through all the way to completion, as well as writing and producing plays, writing columns, acting and obscure musical art installations. He's a bright shining star, and now you can delve into two other facets of this hard-working man's oeuvre.


Firstly we have the third album from Sonny & The Sunsets, Longtime Companion (out through Polyvinyl Records). It's being touted as his "country" album, (which shouldn't be much of a surprise to those familiar with Smith's other band The Fuckaroos) and true to form Smith has delved fully into this realm. In many ways this genre speaks most true to his whimsical tales of outsiders and reprobates, failed loves and bitten nails, beaten down drifters and hopeful dreamers. Things are slowed down from a swagger to a melancholic shuffle, but the wonderful language is the same - most notably on the reworked 'Pretend You Love Me' (which appeared on previous LP Hit After Hit), which has transformed from a doo-woop swinger to a heartbroken tumble in the dirt. This is a very solid album, and a testament to how Smith's songwriting complements just about any genre. Best of all, when his heart lies shattered around his feet on the wooden saloon floor, Smith is wryly shaking his head, smiling wistfully, dusting off his denim coat, and moving right on. You can buy the album (in 180g yellow vinyl, no less) here.

Sonny & The Sunsets - I See The Void


The second release is more of a re-release bu SF label Secret Seven Records of One Act Plays, Smith's "solo" record of 2006, seen here for the first time on vinyl. Featuring the likes of Jolie Holland (The Be Good Tanyas), Neko Case (The New Pornographers), Mark Eitzel (American Music Club), Andy Cabic (Vetiver) and John Dwyer (Thee Oh Sees) amongst others, One Act Plays "started out as real one act plays written for the theater, but in writing them I began to make them songs at some point," Smith states. "I can’t remember when this mysterious shift happened. However, ultimately the plays as songs were performed on stage in a play called The Dangerous Stranger, so somehow it came full circle. The Dangerous Stranger was supposed to be about reality being the dangerous intruder of fantasy, and fantasy being a dangerous intruder to reality. I can't remember if the play was successful at conveying this idea at all. That was the kinda stuff on my mind at the time I guess. I had a few influences at the time I was writing them. One was Terry Allen's Juarez, a concept record with recurring characters. Also I was really into Sam Shepard at the same time so I was reading a lot of his stuff. A few of the songs, like 'Eddie and Rita' even have some stage directions lifted directly from one of his plays. The song 'Following Father' took a bunch of facts from my dad's cousin, a Texan who always had some get rich quick scheme that never lasted. I was trying to make some kind of Tennessee Williams like thing apparently. Epic! Large! Family! Redemption! Well, anyway, most of these plays are fictional, except for 'Freaks In Space' and 'Honey Roy Rockwell'. Those two are the complete truth. The terrible truth." I especially love the loneliness and longing that leads to desperate sex that underlines 'Troublesome Affair', Smith's duet with Case, but they are all great. You can grab One Act Plays here.

Sonny Smith - The Stick Up!
Sonny Smith - Troublesome Affair

Sicalpglyphics

Who else is excited for the new Sic Alps album? Their last Napa Asylum didn't get the love last year that I thought it deserved, yet after their sneaky little 7" Pangea Globe and now if new track 'Glyphs' is any indicator, they are about to rend apart the space-time continuum. Yes there is fidelity in production, yes there are string arrangements, and YES, it's undoubtedly Sic Alps, Mike Donovan et al (with Ty Segall definitely in tow) doing what they do because they can and because they're good. It'll be self-titled, and is coming out on Drag City on September 11 (no connotations necessary). Pre-order it here.

Sic Alps - Glyphs

Uneasy Intelligence

Lars Finberg has been attacking the mundane and successful for nigh on a decade now, either through his excellent and sadly defunct post punk project A-Frames or through his now collective garage quirkfest The Intelligence - and with latest album Everyone Has It Easy But Me. Jumping from Casio twitches to rollicking rumbles, hip-swaying 60s pop covers and acoustic whimsy, the ideas are far-reaching and abundant yet all with that pitch-black sneer and caustic tut-tutting that Finberg delivers so well. Much of this musical legacy is in keeping with Finberg's work band, the John Dwyer dynasty Thee Oh Sees, and some of the schizophrenia inherent with that collective can be gleaned from this record.


I have always loved what Finberg has involved himself with, and on Everyone Has It Easy But Me he is near his best. An eclectic album, sure, but one that electrifies more intensely with each listen, and the lyrics are spot on...something that seems to fall by the wayside in this day and age. You can grab it through In The Red here.

The Intelligence - (They Found Me On The Back Of) The Galaxy
The Intelligence - Sunny Backyard

Falling In Love In The Slaughterhouse

I'm a little concerned about the extreme levels of "appreciation" I have for Ty Segall. Seriously, I came to the San Franciscan's world through 2010's Melted, went back to the beginning, then rolled right through - and there isn't anything I haven't disliked, and a lot of which I love to death. T-Rex covers? White Fence collabs? Contributions to small labels? Playing with Sic Alps? I've even had the pleasure of interviewing AND meeting him, twice. Jesus wept.

Now we have Slaughterhouse, his first foray as Ty Segall Band (featuring another awesome SF garage demon, Mikal Cronin). It is the most frenetic, balls-out release he has put to tape, which he has readily admitted as this was his "heavy metal record". And it is amazing. It is unabashed, shamelessly pedal down raucous rock n roll, written by incredibly gifted musicians who love the craft. It is, above all else, fun - there are amazing harmonies on tracks like 'I Bought My Eyes' and 'Tell Me What's Inside Your Heart' - and proves that it isn't necessary to record in a dumpster to be "authentic". I goddamn love this record - and you too, Ty.


Slaughterhouse is out through In The Red - definitely buy this! I'm positive that another record is just around the corner too (and he's about to start touring the States with Thee Oh Sees, who also have a new album on the way), so let the man-love continue!

Ty Segall Band - Mary Ann
Ty Segall Band - Wave Goodbye
Ty Segall Band - I Bought My Eyes

Not So Random Old Harlequins

I reviewed a delicious little cassette by Cincinnati band 20th Century Tokyo Princess a while back. It was the first release put out by Random Old Records. I have had their second release in my ears this past week, and I need to pass it on. It's The Harlequins, the second longplayer by - you guessed it - The Harlequins, and let me tell you, it's damned killer. The energy that permeates every track is palpable. Once again the quality of the recording here is sublime - you really need to have this on vinyl guys! Comparisons to Thee Oh Sees are not mistaken - whilst they swing and rattle in the cage of garage rock, picking various tropes of the genre almost on a whim as it suits, it is all done with such verve and ardent mania that it all inconceivably makes sense. The chugging drive of 'End For Us' loops into 'Heaven', a swooning psych pop number that would have John Dwyer tapping his toes. Elsewhere there is the raucous swirl of 'Burned', the slow blues grind of 'No Not I', the grungey dirge of 'Randomly Tuned' and the almost-sunny pop of 'Backwards Forwards.' It seems a disservice to focus on any one track though - this really is a fantastic all round album. I know I showered appreciation on The Hussy only a couple hours ago - and it was warranted - but The Harlequins is a better record, and is one that not enough people are going to hear. So be a spokesperson, get your town crier garb out of the closet (I know it's hiding there!) and decree that The Harlequins are so good, you'd sell both kidneys just to die in their ice-packed bathtub. I'm that committed, at least.


You can get The Harlequins on Random Old cassette here, or on CD here, where you can get their previous releases too.

The Harlequins - No Not I
The Harlequins - Burned

Prefab Messiahs Of Then Or Now?

I have focused on bands with iconic sounds (Lee Ranaldo, OFF!) or who ape them (Zulu). Im not sure what these guys The Prefab Messiahs fall into. They were a Massachusetts band that were kicking about in the early 1980s, hopped up on crazy juice and infusing post-punk, left-field garage/psych/pop, and general art damage with heady bumps of WTF. They have released an archival record of sorts this month called Peace, Love & Alienation (out on Gary War's Fixed Identity label - Kris from PM has been one of War's live band members), which coincides with an interview the band did on WFMU's Beware Of The Blog - check it out here.

How to describe Peace, Love & Alienation? Well it isn't too far from the twisted and frenetic mind of John Dwyer (Thee Oh Sees) actually. Tinny atmospherics add credence to the psychobohemia present in tracks such as 'Beyond All That' and 'The 16th Song', whilst their is some slacker humour in 'Cousin Artie' and 'Don't Go To The Party'. It's pretty much what we are hearing now then, yet 30 years in the past.


Grab Peace Love & Alienation here.

Prefab Messiahs - Desperately Happy
Prefab Messiahs - The 16th Song

Haunts And Circumstance

Despite the Tenzenmen Chinese rock three-way earlier today, Monday the 26th day of March 2012 will go down as a day that I wished I was in the hallucinogenic era of 1970s rustic America. And tonight I'm going to leave you with a band that straddles the then with the now. TS & the Past Haunts is an LA outfit whose raucous sprawler of a debut album Gone & Goner(out through No Sleep Records) is more in sync with the White Denims and Thee Oh Sees of the world, yet with the right amount of chunky riffage that evokes the Black Sabbaths of the world. It isn't an exemplary release, but is a bloody good one, with plenty of promise. And based on this album alone, if I resided in LA I'd be fucking off most plastic prostitutes posing as musical artists and getting down and sleazy with these guys.

TS & the Past Haunts - Circumstance
TS & the Past Haunts - East Jesus

Total Control/Thee Oh Sees Split

What a delightful meeting of minds! San Fran crazy horses Thee Oh Sees are touring the States with Aussies debauched maurauders Total Control in tow, and have this split for you to ascertain how these two acts sound meshed together under one seedy sweat-stained roof. It is the usual spastic exuberance from Dwyer and co, whilst the four tracks from Total Control are embedded with seething disdain, a bizarrely corrosive counterpoint. Why it works I don't know. Maybe that cat that got it on with Paula Abdul is onto something...

And further good news is Thee Oh Sees will be playing in Brisbane at the turn of the New Year. Yes, they will be playing Woodland (after their show this time last year was cancelled due to the floods) on Jan 11. Maybe TC can make the trip northwards too?

Thee Oh Sees - Dead Energy

Total Control - Nervous Harvest

And for the live stuff?

Watch live streaming video from lepoissonrouge at livestream.com

Flippin' Through Some Old School Charts

Let's start afresh, shall we? Its been a few days since we posted, I apologise. So let's get reacquainted over a new band that revels in the old school house of rock, shall we?

Charts are from Portland, a rock trio that love their rock pretty olde. And their EP Birds And Bees is as indebted to Buddy Holly and the Modern Lovers as it is to Thee Oh Sees; to Eddie Cochran as it is to Black Lips; to to Arthur Lee as it is to The Dirtbombs. This is moreso a garage rock revival sound than most of the current movement, and is refreshing because of this. Six slices of 60s inflected chugging rock n roll - its a hell of a lot of fun, I highly recommend it!

Grab Birds And Bees here.

Charts - The Birds & The Bees
Charts - Slow Down Tiger

Thee Oh Sees' Good/Bad Break

San Francisco has an incredibly warped scene going on, if the psych garage proponents coming out of there are any indication. The piece la resistance has to be Thee Oh Sees, who is mainly John Dwyer, and is mainly cracked as all get out. Latest album released earlier this year, Castlemania really divided the musical intelligentsia. Sure, its weird as fuck, but goddamn if I didnt love the pants off it. Recorded around the same period, Carrion Crawler/The Dream is coming out through In The Red Records. Yep, two LPs this year! And it appears, from this cut at least, that Dwyer is delving back into the dirtiest of his rock roots, which should have a lot of people breathing a sigh of relief. In my opinion, this is amazing, but I was always bound to say that... Just as awesome, a TOS track was played on Breaking Bad last week - one of the best shows currently on TV, and quite possibly one of the best shows EVER. Just sayin...

Thee Oh Sees - Carrion Crawler