Year end wrap up part I

So, a while back I decided to start doing lists again, as I used to do for a humor column back in college. For the most part, those were lists of the top five most non-existent things I’d like to see. Now that I’m an old man and even graduate school is now behind me, it’s time to temper idealism with some reality. So without further ado, here are the best five bands I was first introduced to in the past year.

1.The Red Elvises: This is where this year’s musical journey all began. Thanksgiving, 2009 my crazy Godfather insisted I watch a movie called Six String Samurai. Well, I got a Netflix subscription for Christmas, so I went ahead and put it on my list, and I’ve come to regard it as the best worst movie ever made. Ed Wood can suck it. First of all, I’d highly recommend the movie which involves Buddy Holly kicking ass in a post-apocalyptic wasteland which is both a parody of several famous works such as Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Mad Max 2, as well as being a sterling example of Retro Futurism, or a story that takes place in a future as it might’ve been projected in the past but which now obviously ludicrous. Take a wild guess who provided the extraordinary soundtrack for the movie?

That’s right! The Red Elvises. They also got a cameo (and were cut to ribbons pretty quickly.) Their payment for their work on the film consisted largely of music videos. Some were related to the movie and some were not. Either way, that was my introduction to them. I immediately went out and got the movie’s sound track and their 30 track, double CD greatest hits album. Ran me about 35 bucks between ‘em and well worth every penny. I listen to them A LOT. And for a few months nearly non-stop. After all, you’ve gotta love a band that teaches you valuable lessons (real cowboys start conga lines) and have the moxy to simply declare that “We are the Red Elvises, your favorite band.” They’re mostly known for being a retro rock group, maybe a little like the Stray Cats, but they do a little of everything. Disco. Reggae. Lounge jazz. Whatever crazy nonsense strikes their fancy. They are, in their own words, “crazy fatha muckas.” For proof, see their trademark “drum solo” where the whole band drops what they’re doing and all play the drums together. I’ve been dying to see them in concert even though they seem to be a lot better in the studio. On a sad note, one of their core members left to join a Russian circus. Does rock and roll pay so poorly today? What a bummer. Although it does make me think about Kurt Vonnegut’s book Cat’s Cradle every time I think of it and that cheers me up a little.

2. Man or Astro-Man?: When I realized that the Red Elvises’ Surfing in Siberia was clearly inspired by Dick Dale’s classic “Miserlou” it put me on a whole surf rock kick. Turns out that whole early and mid nineties surf rock revival entailed more than the Beach Boys coming out with ”Kokomo.” Not that I knew it in elementary school, but there was some good shit going down. The very best of which is Man or Astro-Man? Imagine if you will, that somebody managed to breed the aforementioned king of Surf Rock, Dick Dale with the Ever-Awesome Semi-Indie, Weird-Ass Alt-Rock gods known as They Might Be Giants. The result is what you might call “Space Rock.” It’s like a really driving, heavy, modern version of surf rock with the addition of beeps, boops, references to Sci-Fi and even, yes, clips straight from bad, B-Rated movies. If that reminds you of Mystery Science Theater 3000, that’s alright. I’ll give you two guesses who performed that show’s theme song. And really, if they’ve got approval from both me and Joel What’s-his-face what more do you need? Check ‘em out.

3. The Mermen: Rounding out the surf rock kick is another band from the 90s revival. But the Mermen are weird. I mean, really weird. What’s that you say? Astroman is weird? Well, yeah, maybe. But they’re supposed to be. And I think that the Red Elvises and Astroman are better described as being silly. The Mermen just have a really unusual style. See, although the sounds are those of rock and roll, many of the songs are very…I dunno. Experimental, maybe? They’re these meandering musical odysseys that feel to me almost as much like jazz. With rock, you expect it to be quick, repetitive, to get your blood pumping. To me, the Mermen seem almost as much like Jazz. even on their more intense rock-ish albums like A Glorious Lethal Euphoria it’s a very different vibe I get from these guys than I usually expect from my instrumental rock. And they’ve got a really funky psychedelic edge too. Maybe not so great for cruising, but they’re top tier for white noise when I’m working on something else.