The Thermals

Ok...the following scenario. There's this band. Their name sounds familiar and you're quite certain that you've checked some of their songs out, but you never really cared for this band. After reading some really positive reviews, you decide to check out this bands new album. The first listen is not enough to blow you away, but it touches some nerves. The singer has a voice that you either love or hate and you haven't decided yet which side your on. You do like the intensity, the energy and the music. Then you listen to the album again and there are a couple of songs that stand out. These are the songs that make you play this album over and over again and after a few listens you find other song that you love. All of a sudden...you 'get' this band and you can't wait to tell your friends about this band and you're excited because you find out that they're touring Europe in november.

Yeah...I'm talking about the Thermals and their new album 'The Body, The Blood, The Machine'. I am pretty certain that this album will make it to my yearlist. From the Subpop website: "The Body, The Blood, The Machine adds walls of guitars, organs, and even a few "ballads" (aka slightly pretty songs) to the mix, while still retaining the gritty post-pop-punk sound for which The Thermals are globally famous. The lyrics envision a United States governed by a fascist Christian state, and focus on the need (and means) to escape. While hardly a concept album, there is definitely a story told in the songs: a story about getting the fuck OUT while you still can."
Check out the single 'A Pillar Of Salt' to which I can't stop singing the opening lyrics to ("We were born to sin, we were born to sin / We don't think we're special, sir, we know everybody is /")


The Thermals - A Pillar of Salt
The Thermals - An Ear For Baby
The Thermals on MySpace

Finally Friday Video's Part VI

If there is one music related book everyone should read...it's 'the dirt'.

Pipettes again...

Woohoo...the Paradiso show of the Pipettes has been added to the fabchannel archives. Watch the show here in its entirety and practice those dance moves!

...some popular culture observations

* I'd already read that the new Killers album (Sam's Town) sounded a lot like Bruce Springsteen. I, however did not expected it to sound as much "bosslike" as on the first single "When we were young". Not that this is a bad thing. I actually really like this song!


* There are many reasons not to like George W Bush. Artist have shown different ways (from Fat Mike's punkvoter to Kanye West's "GWB doesn't care about black people") to ventilate their opinion about this wannabe president. Concerning GWB, there is so much to criticize that you sometimes get a feeling that you've heard it all before. You still hate that redneck president, but you don't really want to hear another band preaching about him on stage. This morning however, I saw a video by Jurassic 5, who have managed to put a lot of criticism in a quite funny video without being unoriginal. I didn't pay attention to the music, but great video!

Do the Math!

Lately, there has been some controversy in the Netherlands concerning the mathematical abilities of future school teachers. Apparantly they have trouble adding, substracting and dividing without a calculator. Oh my...how will they teach our children?!! Fortunately there are bands who make doing math sound a little cooler. Take Math and Physics Club for instance. A geeky name, but they deliver simple but solid catchy indiepop in the vein of Belle and Sebastian. Their self titled debut LP (they've already released two EP's) will be released this month. I've already heard it and it's good!

Math and Physics Club - Movie Ending Romance (From the Movie Ending Romance EP)
Math and Physics Club - Weekends Away (From the Weekends Away EP)
Math and Physics Club - La LA LA Lisa (from their new self titled album)

An even geekier bandname is The Mathletes. With a more electronic driven sound -not unlike They Might Be Giants- they write silly yet simple tunes, with silly lyrics and silly song titles. 'It's a difficult thing, being a mule' for instance starts out with the following lines: "My Mom was a donkey, my dad was a horse, that makes me a mule...of course". Now...how's that for education? By the way...this video is weird!


The Mathletes - Pinocchiobot
The Mathletes - Your Wings Are Made of Gold (I Reamain Unimpressed)

Ramones for Kids?!!!

My 2 1/2 year old nephew is the coolest kid in the world. Already he loves to play (hit might be a better description) the drums en guitars that are set up in my bedroom. He always wants me to put on this kids cd with classic children's songs on it. Needless to say, these kids songs have gotten way beyond old. Actually...they were already old to begin with.

As i just found out, Go Kart Records have found the perfect solution for dads, moms, uncles and aunts with good musical taste who want the kid to listen to something that is more enjoyable for both parties. What is this solution? Brats On The Beat: Ramones For Kids, to be released in november. 'We've taken Ramones classic songs and "kiddified" them. Combined with an all-star group of singers, Brats On The Beat is guaranteed to have kids and adults smiling and dancing the night away', Go Kart explains.

The following songs are featured on the album, of which some can be listened on the albums MySpace page:
Blitzkrieg Bop sung by Jim Lindberg (Pennywise)
Rock 'N' Roll High School sung by Matt Skiba (Alkaline Trio)
California Sun sung by Brett Anderson (The Donnas)
Do You Remember Rock 'N' Roll Radio? sung by Greg Attonito (Bouncing Souls)
Suzy Is A Headbanger sung by Nick Oliveri (Mondo Generator/Queens Of The Stone Age)
Rockaway Beach sung by Blag Dahlia (The Dwarves)
I Just Want To Have Something To Do sung by Emily Wynne-Hughes (Go Betty Go)
Spider-Man sung by Ash Guff (Guff)
We Want the Airwaves sung by Spooney (Gabba Gabba Heys)
Sheena Is A Punk Rocker sung by Josie Cotton
Cretin Hop sung by Tony Reflex (Adz and Adolescents)
Bop 'Til You Drop sung by Jack Grisham (TSOL)

I'm not really surprised they left out songs like 'Now I wanna Sniff Some Glue', 'Beat on the Brat (with a baseball bat') or 'Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment', but there are some songs left out who are just destined to become kids classics. What about: 'We're a happy family', 'Babysitter', 'Mama's Boy', 'I don't want to grow up' or 'It's not my place (in the 9 to 5 world)'? Well...maybe for the second installment? Who knows. I'm trying to come up with some other 'kiddifiable' bands. Can you think of some?

Finally Friday Video's Part V

Not much time this week...some classic video's from Twisted Sister!