Left + inside + Breaks + Comp

Andersert was kind enough to give me a CD compilation of Left Inside Breaks. [OK - I begged.] It is 18 songs, including 10 covers. All of the Sac Spokesmen cover songs are represented here, as well as a few other nostalgic picks, like "Leave Me Alone" from New Order and "Down On Me" from JAMC.
The LIB version of "Down On Me" could easily be a demo version from the band itself. "Leave Me Alone" keeps the strained/yearning trademark-Sumner vocals, the impossible-to-get-out-of-your-head bass hook, and the dreamy guitar melody, while mixing in a shuffling surf drum beat.
The thread keeping the entire comp consistent is the stolen surf drums. That, and the warbly guitar, whispered singing, and blurry bass. The untapped LIB-sound is captured nicely in Joy Division's "Disorder". The song is moody and rapturous, like the JD original.
Andersert's original songs are as gorgeous and consistently terrific as the covers. Try "Small Party" for a dreamy afternoon. It will make you drink tea if you don't already. "Click Clack" is a stand-out, sounding very close to early-period Elliott Smith. "The Beta" appears on the comp twice, because it is that good. The acoustic version credits The Beneficiaries and has a decidedly cheerier feel. Tones of bossa nova will make you swing and sway on the instrumental "Inside Poor".
The comp closes with my favorite LIB track, Broadcast's "Corporeal". It is so creepy and moody, and probably even a bit difficult. The song is 3am, broken streetlight, someone following you, no escape, spine-chilling music. It builds and builds and threatens to fall apart at every turn.
The smart thing to do is to get your hands on a copy of this comp.

Disclaimer: I had to fake the cover art (above) because our scanner is weird.

Docu-lunch 01: Realms of Unreal

Burnt Toast will be hosting the first of many "docu-lunches". The first film is about the artist/writer/mentally-insane Henry Darger. The running time will not allow the DVD to be consumed in one lunch hour, so we'll take a one-week intermission between halves. Showtimes are at noon on Monday - June 7 and June 14 at the Toast House.

Sorry, but this one is closed doors - for Spokeys only.

Let's Wrestle Tanks.... and Win

Sac Spokesmen (aka 'Old Spolks') cover song challenge is quickly becoming due. The song is Tanks by Let's Wrestle. The due date is April 30, 2010. Things are getting pretty tense around here. I've even printed out the lyrics.

Know your cog

After ordering the wrong bike cog not once, but TWICE, I finally have arrived at a faster, better, stronger fixie. I'm not really excited about stopping cause it just wants to GO. Maybe Toast can run a workshop on the hipster jump and skid move...

On an unrelated note, Edmund Bedford's latest cover song is now posted for streaming. STYLAPHONE!

Beneficiaries play Rock-It Room

The Beneficiaries is Bill and Blake. Bill from Sac Spokesmen acclaim. Blake claiming all of San Francisco. Blake is a mathematician by the way. He likes Jonathan Richman's late period. Weird. So Beneficiaries had their 3rd open mic stint. The first two took place in Stockton at a coffee place that puns on the theatre it is housed in. I forget the pun, and therefore forget the name of the place. But Rock-It Room is in San Francisco in the district of emmmm, I don't know. I got there at 9:15pm, right after The Beneficiaries played. But the open mic policy is that you can play twice. TWICE! So around the strike of 12:00, the second set was performed. Two quick songs were applied, assured and easy, like a good deodorant. They surf-iachied through a 3 minute instro which elicited several cheers of joy (unless that was just the girls at the pool table making a shot). The Beneficiaries finished the evening strong and fragrant, like a familiar perfume, with a sweet ode to ex-love and a hummable chorus. When asked for a summation of the night from Andersert, it would be "no more 10 year Scotch - nothing younger than 16 for me". If someone can find a picture of the little boy in Desperado playing the guitara, please replace the image above. Salma was cool 10 years ago, but now she's on 30Rock and her chest is a parody of itself.

Jeremy Jay Diatribe - Spokesmen Podcast 001

Welcome to our first edition of the Spokesmen podcast! In this edition we rant about Jeremy Jay. Burnt Toast wants to know: "Is this guy for real?"...Hilarity ensues...

1)To listen from this blog, just click the play button or the picture below.
2)To subscribe to the actual podcast, do this:
On itunes just go to menu item Advanced/Subscribe To Podcast/then copy the link from the title of this blog post into the URL dialogue box(hover your pointer over the title and then right click "copy shortcut" to save the link address).

Red Box = Zero

Halfway through watching Tarantino's latest offering my DVD rental from the local Redbox froze up and refused to play 3 whole tracks from the basement bar/shootout scene. I am affronted. The DVD looked like someone held a lighter up to one edge of it. That's what I get for letting my Netflix queue get tied up with chick flicks...The rest of the movie I was able to view was classic Quentin!