Since I'm on vacation and I'm being really lazy, here's Bomb the Music Industry's 2011 release, Vacation. It almost made the cut as an honorable mention best album of the year and it's probably my favorite release by Jeff Rosenstock to date.
Vacation is a lot more stripped down and straight forward than your usual BtMI! dish. It is also the least ska thing from BtMI! I have heard. I like that. There's nothing wrong with the other stuff. It's not like it just sounds like Kudrow, Jeff's more punk driven project, either... it's still very BtMI!-esque. You know, just not super fast, electronic, ska punk BtMI!.
Vacation also features Ginger Alford (track 4, I believe) among others. Ginger and her gang of losers winners, Good Luck have just announced their tour with Spoonboy this week and unfortunately for me, they are not making their way up to Maine. At least, not yet...
Similar sounds/acts: Good Luck, Kudrow, The Arrogant Sons of Bitches, Laura Stevenson and The Cans, O Pioneers!!!, The Wild, Shinobu, The Max Levine Ensemble, and no one and everyone.
Like most releases by BtMI!, Vacation is free on Quote Unquote Records. I'm starting to see a pattern here. Maybe Jeff and Quote Unquote are related? Maybe Jeff is Quote Unquote?
Well well well. I've been waiting a long time now to post this badd boy (that's right, two d's!) but it just wasn't the right time, that is, until now. Why is now a good time? Because not only did I finally get the physical copy but I got the copy straight from Paul Baribeau himself. Yep. Spraynard brought a friend with them to their show monday night and it was none other then fucking Paul Baribeau himself/in the flesh/live! The way Paul (we're on first name basis now, obviously) put it was, "yeah, Spraynard were going on tour for their new album and I basically just jumped on board last minute". And for that Paul, we thank you.
So yeah. I went to a Paul Baribeau show last monday night and picked this up. But wait! I forgot to say what this "this" is. Well it's boss whatever "this" is. Boss like The Boss. Who's The Boss? No not that Boss, Tony Danza... The Boss of rock 'n' roll... Bruce Springsteen! The release of 'steen covers is called Darkness On The Edge Of Town (Tour) (also a track covered on the album) and along for the bumpy ride and "bossing it up" with Paul, is Ginger Alford of Good Luck, Traveling and One Reason. The duo came up with the idea after the first time Ginger saw Paul and he was playing a Bruce Springsteen track in Detroit according to the end of the live "Pink Cadillac" cover. During their first meeting in "D-town" they began talking about a "Springsteen only" tour and BOOM! It happened! Darkness On The Edge Of Town is proof of this and features some of the best Bruce. I'm taking Thunder Road/Born to Run/Atlantic City Bruce.
I've already given away some of the covers Paul and Ginger picked but I don't actually want to give 'em all away if you are a Springsteen fan and know any other song than "Born To Run". I will say however, that the "Thunder Road" cover can be found on Paul's 25 song shenanigans album which can be listened to here or read about in a previous post on NFT here.
And since I already gave away that Paul and Ginger play solo Bruce Springsteen's crime romance soft-hard jam, "Atlantic City", here's what it sounds like:
To be honost though, I myself don't listen to a lot of Springsteen other then to bug my anti-Springsteen friends. Not to mention that anytime I start hearing Christmas Springsteen, I get this nervous twitch and try to burn the Christmas tree down. Just another Christmas at the New Keith household is all. Paul and Ginger's Darkness On The Town is all the Springsteen I need anyways.
Unfortunately, Paul didn't play any of these Boss covers at the show and there wasn't any appearance by Ginger. He did play Barbarella (Jane Fonda is a hell of a thing) and meowed almost half of The Wall (I think it was).
The most ironic thing about this post is that the real Bruce Springsteen was playing at the Garden in Boston last monday night while I was watching Paul play on a kids nylon string acoustic guitar in a little basement in Portland, Maine. It's also worthy to note that I was just in Boston... also for a show. I'll get to that most interesting story some other time (hopefully this week). I just haven't had the chance with all this Paul Baribeau/Spraynard nonsense. Trust me though, It's interesting... not just, "hey, look at this awesome mixtape I found at this really awful place"*, interesting.
*I wasn't taking about this post.
Last.fm (Paul Baribeau) Last.fm (Paul Baribeau and Ginger Alford)
Ginger, Matt, & Mike of popped out punk rock band, Good Luck sound like they just wanna jam with their friends and have a good time while telling you an important (at least to them) or heartbreaking story. Just another one of those Plan-It-X bands that you wish you were close with. They're fun and the combo of Ginger's cute charm and Matt of Matty Pop Chart's... hmmmm well, also cute charm is absolute pure enjoyment.
I might have said they were cute but this is still pop punk... not twee pop... or folk punk for that matter...
Good Luck - Into Lake Griffy (2008)
I certain friend of mine who I may have mentioned in past posts is always asking who these guys are whenever I play them in my car. I tell him, 'good luck finding that out, buddy!' Just kidding. I just made that up.
Similar acts/sounds: Nana Grizol, One Reason, Matty Pop Chart, Paul Baribeau, RVIVR, Hop Along, Pirouette, & many more!
Good Luck also came out with a nice little Demo tape last year (2010) which features a much better than the original cover of "When You Were Mine" by the (In my opinion) super overrated Prince. The other tracks are fun too of course. Check 'em out!
P.S. There's nothing wrong with twee pop or folk punk, but Good Luck is neither.
