The Artwoods were formed in 1963 by Art Wood, (Stones' Ron Wood's older brother) who had started out in the legendary Blues Incorported with the founding fathers of British blues, Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies. The Artwoods were one of the bedrock bands of the sixties mod scene, playing a mix of hard blues and hip shaking R&B. While they were one of the favorites of London's club-going mods throughout the sixties, they never had the breakthroughs that others like The Sones, Yardbirds, or Small Faces did. Their records were every bit as good if not better, but didn't sell nearly as well. Consequently the band broke up in 1967 with members going on to play in bands like John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and Deep Purple. This track "I Take What I Want" was one of their most popular, combining gritty vocals with a memorable bass line for a great dancefloor gem.
July 9, 2009
Mod-A-Day: The Artwoods
July 8, 2009
Mod-A-Day: Jack Gedge
Mod, power popper Jack Gedge is better known as Johnny Barker bass man of The Kravin' A's, and now playing with Graham Day & The Gaolers. His Myspace page is packed with unreleased tracks that will make any garage rock fan happy. Here's a excellent, trippy, organ-fueled bit of soft-psych pop: "Can't Hide".
July 7, 2009
Mod-A-Day: Four King Cousins
If you like groovy soft pop of the sixties ala Burt Bacharach, Free Design, and Harper's Bizarre, then you're in for a treat when you drop the needle on the The Four King Cousins one and only, criminally underrated 1968 release. Looking like jet set stewardesses the all girl combo produced by David Axelrod tear up eleven pop standards from the likes of Brian Wilson, Lesley Gore, and Bacharach. The song here "Let's Get Away From It All" was a 1940s pop standard made famous by Sinatra, but even he didn't give it as smooth a groove as the Cousins do.
July 6, 2009
Mod-A-Day: The Now
The Now were one of many skinnytie wearing power poppers to try and break out in 1979. They released just one record before label troubles wiped them out, which is sad because it showed great potential. With a sound that fit somewhere between The Records and The Jags, the band punched out ten sixties-tinged power pop tracks that ranged from very radio friendly "Can You Fix Me Up With Her", to the rockin' "Flex Your Muscle", to the Raspberries-like anthemic pop sound of "Reaction", to the album's most cliche but still fun "What's Her Name." The song here, "Baby, I'm Bad", is by far their edgiest. Clocking in at under two minutes its speedy, punky, snarky and really almost two short songs in one with a machine gun solo in the middle.
July 5, 2009
Modcast #133: Gettin' Down Mod Funk Style
It's time for you to get on your good foot and get going. I've got some supersouped up soul for you,complete with all the sides of jazz, funk, and pop you can handle. You are about to swing into an incredibly cool mix of dancable music with James Taylor Quartet, Double Beat, Quantic, Herbaliser, Lettuce and more. Right now I think its time you get on your feet and get this party started.
The Herbaliser Band -- Mr. Chombee Has The Flow
James Taylor Quartet -- Get On Your Feet
Low Fidelity Jet-Set Orchestra -- Taxi's Chase
Modulo 5 -- Infected
The Sound Stylistics -- Shake and Hip Drop
Lettuce -- Blast Off
Queen Eve and the Kings -- All Hail The Queen
Fred Leslie's Missing Link -- I Got So Much Trouble In my Mind
The Bamboos (w/Alice Russell) -- Bring It Home
Spanky Wilson and the Quantic Soul Orchestra -- When You're Through
Double Beat -- Something New
Paolo Negri and The Diplomettes -- Love Potion #9
Quantic Soul Orchestra -- Pushin' On
July 4, 2009
Mod-A-Day: Green Day
Last night was the kick off of Green Day's uber-spectacle 21st Century Breakdown tour. Modcast listeners will probably know that my inner punk is an unabashed fan of Green Day, so no apologies from me for helping to fatten their coffers. Still, I didn't think there was anything much to be said (and wasn't planning to ever post anything about Green Day because of all the hoopla they've already been getting), but having just been to their show it's about all I can think about right now. Have to say, if you have the chance you'll want to go see it just for the pyrotechnics. I'm still trying to figure out if Billy Joe is mad with power, or laughing at his audience all the way to the bank. Maybe a little of both?
A friend sent me Kerplunk in the mail in 1993 thinking I might like it. She wasn't wrong. From the first song, "2000 Light Years Away" to the closing cover of "My Generation", I was hooked. I'm still hooked. The latest album, 21st Century Breakdown has so many echoes of The Who, The Buzzcocks and The Ramones what's not to like?
Green Day -- My Generation
July 3, 2009
Mod-A-Day: The Question
[Ed Note: This is based on a previous post from 2007]
The Question were one of the greats in the pantheon of Southern California mod bands in the 1980s. They were there at the very beginning in the early 80s, and survived performing right through the end of the decade.
I first saw them play at The Concert Factory, I think, in the spring of 1984. I remember the show because it was before I bought my first scooter and I reallly hated having to drive to the show in my pathetic old Vega. The area was packed with scooters and the club was full of sharp dressed mods. The band was still riding high on the release of their first single the year previous.
The Question first started in 1981 and by the release of their first single in 1983 had built quite a following. In 1985 when their second single dropped they were packing out shows all over Southern California and even though they didn't play ska songs, like the Untouchables they pulled crowds equally from the mods and skinheads.
Here's how Insight Out magazine lauded The Question in the Mods Mayday 89 issue:
It was 1981 and people called them mods and scooters were their gods, and they were Los Angeles' answer to The Jam. With the enigmatic Tony Rugulo as their lead vocalist and on guitar, Daniel on bass and David White on drums (now with The Untouchables) the band took off after their appearance on the Wharf Rat Tales compilaiton with their first two L.A. mod anthems "Shall Be Love" and "Brand New World."
This was followed in early 1983 by the release of their first 7" EP with "Easy", "Stare You Down", and "Distance Apart". 1983 Also marked a big boom in the local scene which was spearheaded by The Question. Returning from a very successful three week mini-tour of Hawaii they sold out the Country Club in Reseda while headlining a show that included mod faves like The Targets, Sidewalk Society and The Jets.
Throughout '84-85 The Question continued to play to packed houses. 1985 saw Phil Cuzimano join the band on guitar while Tony changed over to bass (Phil started in The Patterns and then played a dual role in The Question and Chardon Square for quite some time), and marked the release of the band's second EP featuring "Getting Through". "Daddy Rolling Stone", and "The Right Track", all of which became crowd favorites. It was just after this that Tony wrote "Wild Child" for The Untouchables. Undoubtedly, The Question have a solid history in the L.A. mod scene, and will add another chapter at the Mayday show.
The Question always had a great mod revival sound that could either be along the lines of hard driven power pop bordering on punk, or very soulful with lots of sixties R&B influences. Their shows were always packed, and even though the band had a sort of rotating line -- up Tony kept it all together and delivered fantastic shows.
The song here is "Shall Be Love" one of the band's best. Here is a video of the band doing their version of "Wild Child", also at Fender's, at the Mod Jam Festival in 1988. (All apologies for the video quality)
Just as an interesting side note, throughout the 80s there was a persistent rumor in the scene that Rugulo's father, Pete, was a jazz musician and a composer/arranger in Hollywood for TV and films. More than a rumor, it was the truth. Pete Rugulo, among other things, penned the theme song to Leave it To Beaver.
July 2, 2009
Mod-A-Day: Stereophonic Space Sound Unlimited
What do you get when you combine surf music, go-go music, spy themes and a cool sci-fi vibe? Stereophonic Space Sound Unlimited of course. This very chic, ultra cool, Swiss combo produces some of the finest intrumental mod lounge tracks you'll ever hear. They have a whopping five albums to their credit: Jet Sound Inc, Live Fast Die Young/Jo Siffert (film soundtrack), Plays Lost TV Themes, The Fluid Soundbox, and The Spacesound Effect. Each is good with its sort of feel and theme, but for me the best is The Fluid Soundbox. It incorporates more sixties sounding spy themes, go-go music, and otherworldly jetset bachelor pad music than the others, giving it much more of a cool lounge feel. The song here, "Dragon City", combines all of these elements into a single ubercool track.
July 1, 2009
Mod-A-Day: The Perms
The Perms are Canadian indie power poppers who have just released their 4th album. Keeps You Up When You're Down. The band says these are the best songs they've ever written and I have to agree.
Let me get out of the way the requisite comparisons. For isntance, the very first track, "Give Me All Your Lovin'" reminded me instantly of Urge Overkill's debut disk. On first listen a few other bands sprang instantly to mind: Weezer, Foo Fighers and Sloan. Additional spins, and there's been a lot of additional spins let me tell you, have brought up echoes of some modern power poppers like The Posies, Fountains of Wayne and The Pills.
The album is driven by energetic, guitar driven, pop songs, and features great songwriting, clever lyrics, plentiful hooks, and tight arrangements. The song featured here "As You Were" is just one gem among many, with "You Don't Know" and "Big Mistake" being a couple of other really great standouts. If you like indie flavored power pop you will love this disk. The pace is fast, the intensity high, and the hills and valleys are clearly intentionally designed to shift the listener's heartrate at just the right times. Before you know it you've blown through a dozen of this year's best power pop tunes. (And they've got a pretty cool website too.)
