Mod-A-Day: Oingo Boingo

Halloween comes but once a year, and sadly of late it has done so without the vibrant insanity of Oingo Boingo. Boingo's halloween shows started in the mid-80s and by the early 90s were legendary events -- as much performance art as music. No surprise that when you learn that the band started out pretty much as a performance art troupe in the early 70s.

For myself that learning came much later. I was first introduced to Boingo in 1981 at summer camp when a friend let me listen to his very new, very cool, and very big and heavy Sony Walkman. He was playing what I thought was a punk band at the time, Oingo Boingo and it was my first taste of the group's strange version of new wave -- more synthesizers than guitars, and more vocal focus than most bands at the time. There were post-punk and ska elements mixed in, but it was hard to classify exactly what the sound was. All I knew, was I loved it. No less for the fact that to my 14 year old ears it had what must surely be socially unsuitable songs like "(I Like) Little Girls" and "Nasty Habits" and at the same time some socio-political commentary that I was just beginning to understand like "Capitalism" "Only a Lad", and "Perfect System". Even though it wasn't mod, it wasn't power pop, it wasn't motown, it wasn't from the sixties -- all things which I was then obsessed with (and am still obsessed with come to think about it) -- it was something I knew my mother would hate. I was right. She later found the cassette tape I'd bought in my bedroom was appalled by the cover and more so by the song titles and destroyed it. That forced me to smugly make my own bootleg copy with a cleverly disguised title like "Jesus Loves Me Acapella." But I digress.

The band, as I mentioned started out as more of a theater troupe and was led by Richard Elfman who eventually turned the group over to his brother Danny in the late 70s, just after they'd appeared --and won-- on The Gong Show under the moniker The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, a name they used later in their dreadful first film The Forbidden Zone. On the show Gene Barry appropriately introduced the band in a manner that I think could have been suitable through most of their existence: "And now to open the show we bring you an act who at first may shock you, but once you get to know 'em, they'll just boggle your mind."

Danny led the band more into music, though keeping a lot of the performance art aspects alive in their live shows. They had a hard edge early on, almost punk like, but with all those synthesized sounds, electronic accoutrements, and orchestrated horns and strings the songs ended up falling more into the new wave category. Even though on their first EP, Only A Lad, "Violent Love" was clearly ska influenced, "Ain't This The Life" had a very punchy, power pop like feel to it, "I'm so Bad" had an otherworldly atmosphere layered over punk like guitars, and there was the very obvious power pop song "Only a Lad" that was more British punk than the burgeoning rock like punk of the US.

The band moved away from those harder edges toward a more polished, but no less hard hitting, sound. They worked hard, and their second and third albums, 1982's Nothing To Fear and 1983's Good For Your Soul, again defied classification mixing the bizarre with the cerebral, exotic new wave sounding songs, with more guitar driven punk like numbers. Each spawned a handful of songs that garnered much college radio play -- such as it was in the early to mid 80s. They were good albums packed with some of the band's best work like "Private Life", "Wake Up (It's 1984), "Who Do You Want To Be Today", "Nothing To Fear", "Whole Day Off" and "Wild Sex (In The Working Class)".

At that same time throughout California the band was becoming almost legendary for it's live shows, especailly after popular appearances at the US Festival, and their early, annual Halloween shows. They went on to tour with lots of the new wave bands of the era -- Devo, Wall of Voodoo, and The Cars -- and even as their sound became more and more watered down and mainstream, their popularity soared. For me, the beginning of the end was the aptly name "Dead Man's Party", and of course their biggest hit "Weird Science". Later albums in the 1990s saw the band move more into the easier to classify adult alternative arena, and surprisingly produced a few songs that far outstripped what they'd done in the late 80s.

These days Halloween passes with only a tribute act led by Boingo drummer John "Vatos" Hernandez and including a number of other past members. But, Danny Elfman has decided not to do any reunions, not because of his high demand and sucess as a film score master, but because he says he has had a great deal of irreversible hearing loss and he doesn't think he could do the shows justice anymore.

For a nice historical overview of the band see this write up by Richard Elfman.

Oingo Boingo -- Ain't This The Life

Oingo Boingo -- Violent Love

Oingo Boingo -- Nothing To Fear


Oingo Boingo - Capitalism

Mod-A-Day: Corner Laughers

Can a CD be yummy? If so the new Corner Laughers release I just got is delish. The band describes their sound as "bouncy, clever, melodic pop songs". Who am I to disagree? Far from it, I can go on about them in a way that isn't shameless self-promotion.

Last year I stumbled across their first release Tomb of Leopards, and became an immediate fan. It was everything a good pop album should be -- vibrant, sunny, full of catchy hooks, hand claps, and perky melodies. Through it all is an obvious regard for pop -- a pop sensibility that appreciates the classic sounds of the sixties, eighties, and even '05. Tagged as twee, but so much more than that.

Now, Corner Laughers have just released a brand new disk, Ultraviolet Garden, produced by another of my favorite pop makers, Alan Clapp of the Orange Peels. Maybe it's just a musical maturing, or perhaps the practiced production hand of Clapp, but a sophisticated, more polished sound is obvious right away. The group's sound is less folksy, more refined. Where the first album on occasion showed a little much of the quaintness of The Decembrists and the cleverness of the New Pornographers (dlelightfully so in each case, to be sure) this album has a grace and ambience that is miles beyond what went before.

It's stocked with great songs from top to bottom. There's the guitar driven "Silver Medal" bouncing neatly between electric guitar and ukulele with nary a stutter. And the moody "Stonewords" brought to mind The Decembrists but also at the same time was somehow evocative of older new wave era bands like The Cure or even Blondie. The jaunty and catchy "Inner Archeologist" has a touch of retro-commercial to it that gives it a sort of tongue in cheek vibe and will probably make it one of their most requested. Meanwhile the soulful and girly vocal harmonies of "The Commonest Manifesto" are sure to bring about comparisons to everyone from The Shangri-Las to Duffy.

No matter what it brings to mind for you while you're listening, this is modern pop music played the way it's meant to be.

Corner Laughers -- The commonest Manifesto


The Corner Laughers -- Stonewords

Mod-A-Day: Brand New Sinclairs

There must be something in the water in the south of Europe that turns musicians into soul laden, R&B, garage rock modsters. Both Spain and Italy, by all appearances, have thriving mod scenes and are stocked with great bands.

The Brand New Sinclairs hail from Spain and, happily for American dolts like me, they sing in English. Their latest release from the wonderful Bip Bip Records spins out some great sixties styled garage rock. The songs all have a nice rough edge, not overly polished, which is important for good garage rock. However, female lead singer Ana gives these sharp toothed songs a more rounded edge with vocals that help to soften what might otherwise end up being run of the mill stuff. This is some hip shakin', foot shufflin', eye spinnin' good ol' fashioned mod music. Enjoy.


Brand New Sinclairs -- You Run

Mod-A-Day: The Beat (English Beat)

In late 70s Britain ska bands were breaking out left and right just alongside of the mod revival. The two scenes shared a love of soul music, were influenced by punk rock, and had a tremendous amount of overlap among fans, and even within the bands.

Amidst all that came The Beat (known in The English Beat in the US) a group more two-tone than many of the Two Tone label bands. Alongside of The Specials and Madness, The Beat made ska a force to be reckoned with churning out three very sucessful albums in just five years. Their very first single, a ska version of soul classic "Tears of A Clown" was a huge success and their first two LPs went to #3 on the UK charts. Each spawned other great singles like "Mirror in the Bathroom", "Doors Of Your Heart", "I Confess" and "Twist and Crawl".

Although they were clearly a ska band, The Beat was able to connect with the public by fusing other popular styles into their music. Where The Specials were hard edged ska and punk, black and white in both their make-up and their sound, and Madness was grey and unpredictable like a foggy London morning, The Beat was bright - sunshine bright at times. Theirs was a very sunny sound, warm and island like blending ska with soul and pop. At the same time they were embracing new wave and power pop, fusing guitars with a layer of other sounds likes horns --mostly saxaphone from Jamiacan ska legend Saxa-- and organs, and overall they managed to hold on to a solid ska foundation with lots of reggae mixed throughout. Later on though their sound was new wave pop, a modern pop that had ska influences, but really wasn't ska anymore. Somehow that recipe was a mix for success.

Growing up in California it was common to hear The Beat on a variety of radio stations, especially KROQ and others that tended more to the new wave. You certainly heard The Beat more than you did either The Specials or Madness. They seemed to have a pulse on what the public wanted. By the time of their third album, Special Beat Service, two the biggest hits "I Confess" and "Save It For Later" were barely ska influenced, but rather were beautifully crafted pieces of contemporary pop -- bits of new wave power pop for the dance club set.

The band broke up in 1983, but like all great acts spawned two more big sucesses -- General Public featuring Beat front men Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger, and Fine Young Cannibals formed around the Beat's rythm section of Andy Cox and David Steele.

These days there seems to be some interpersonal issues and politics keeping a full and complete reuinion at bay. Indeed, Wakeling and Roger seem to have divided up the world between them with Ranking Roger and other former mebers calling themselves The Beat UK and touring England and Europe (More recently this line up has included such ska friends as Jerry Dammers and Pauline Black, making it more of a two-tone super group than a Beat continuation.) Meanwhile, Wakeling and some past members have taken over the North American circuit and tour extensivly hear under The English Beat name. I saw this version a couple years ago and while I was sad not to see Saxa playing saxaphone or Ranking Roger toasting up a storm, it was still a pretty great show and Wakeling was quite the showman.

The Beat -- Big Shot


The Beat -- Best Friend

Mod-A-Day: Stone Foundation

When you first hear Stone Foundation you can be forgiven for wondering if Paul Weller has some new material. The similarity is uncanny, even Stone Foundation's lead singer's voice is on some so Welleresque you're not sure who's singing. In my book that's a good thing. If you're going to be influenced by, and emulate, some artist make it one that is head and shoulders above the rest.

Stone Foundation is a mod soul act out of the UK. They blend power pop with soul to create a typically British, and yet fresh sort of rock and soul sound. You might call it smooth soul. It is soul through and through, but some of it is so smooth, so slick, so perfectly jazzy, that it isn't like anything else you've heard. The rest of it, well, yes it's derivative, but the band is so good that they can pull it off and make you think that you're listening to something truly unique. They're tight, they're solid, and they've got a serious mod sound that isn't easy to find these days.

Their 2008 album Small Town Soul is wicked good. "Holy Blue" leads off and offers some good bluesy soul with that sort of late night orchestration that gives a song a more sophisticated feel. Again, the comparisons to Weller are inevitable, but there are also echoes of the Small Faces as well. And if you like Weller's more soulful ballads then you'll dig this track. The stand out track for me is "Crossing the Great Divide" with its beautiful northern soul beat accented by soulful horn loops. It's a floorshaker to be sure. The other 15 tracks -- that's right 17 total -- are just as good.

Of late the band has joined forces with Detroit sixties soul man Steve Calloway. The result is a brand new EP which I haven't gone over yet, but the from the video that was produced along with its release, it sounds pretty damn good.

Stone Foundation -- Crossing The Great Divide

Stone Foundation -- No More The Fool

Stone Foundation feat. Steve Calloway - Somebody Somewhere

Mod-A-Day: Love Jones

During the big lounge scare of the mid-90s two bands led the cocktail nation to new heights, both largely by being discovered by a Hollywood director. Quentin Tarantino's eye was caught by the swanky, exotic sounds of Combustible Edison, while at the same time John Favreau's attention was riveted on the cool, swingin', rat packish Love Jones.

Love Jones started out in the early 90s as a pop act in Kentucky and quickly realized their horizon was a bit limited there. So, like the Clampetts before them, they up and moved to Beverly. Along the way they perfected the retro lounge sound, modernizing a type of of music that prior to that point in time had only been popular in the 1950s and 1960s. They embraced all of the lounge elements from exotica, to easy listening, to a swingin' and soulful space age pop. Just as Nirvana was flailing its way to the top of the charts, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers was funkin up metal something serious, and Pearl Jam was embarking on a grunge driven charge to world domination, here came a band that was literally the antithesis to any such sounds. They eschewed the then typical nihilism and disdain for the past, instead embracing the pop sounds of previous eras, and idolizing the establishment cool of the 1950s, 1960s such as the Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, and Bobby Darin -- and all with complete knowledge and acceptance of the irony they were touting.

Their breakthrough -- such as it was -- and by far best release was 1993's Here's To The Losers. The album was mostly a finely crafted piece of pop, heavily influenced by everything from soul to bossa nova to jazz to martinis. The album has a number of great songs like the easy listening, laid back "Custom Van" with it's swanky casino bar vocals and sultry surf-like steel guitar. And then there's the soulful "L'il Black Book" with its swirling, grooving organ and ringing guitar riffs. By far this release was the band's highwater mark. They followed it up with a more sophisticated, 70s R&B styled pop album, Power Pain Reliever that listening to actually required a lot of power pain relelivers. So, when you're Jonesing for some Vegas styled lounge music, pick up Love Jones' Here's To The Losers.

Love Jones -- Paid For Lovin'

Love Jones on Good Day LA

Modcast #144: Something Wicked This Way Comes (Halloween 2009)

The air is cold and there's a definitely chill after dark these days. That can only mean that Halloween must be nearly upons us. With that in mind here is a spooky, surprise-filled modcast from guest DJ Ken from The Shingles -- Something Wicked This Way Comes.

Listen Now
Download

I Monster - The Blue Wrath (Neveroddoreven, 2003)
Boss Martians - Have You Ever Seen (Monster Party 2000, 2000)
3-D Invisibles - Vampires A Go Go (Vampires A-Go-Go, 1988)
Kaiser George & Los Straitjackets - All Back to Drac's (Twist Party!!!, 2006)
Hi-Risers - Gruesome Twosome (In the Spotlight!, 2001)
Social Distortion - The Creeps (I Just Wanna Give You) (Mommy's Little Monster, 1983)
D.I. - Richard Hung Himself (Team Goon, 1983)
Jim Carroll Band - People Who Died (Catholic Boy, 1980)
Bauhaus - St. Vitus Dance (In the Flat Field, 1980)
Lori Burton (The Whyte Boots) - Nightmare (Single, 1966)
Otis Redding - Trick or Treat (Dreams to Remember: The Otis Redding Anthology, 1998)
Tubes - Attack Of The Fifty Foot Woman (The Completion Backward Principle, 1981)
Fools - Scary Movies (Show 'em You're Nuts, 1992)
Goldstars - Halloween Hell (Tasty Instrumentals, 2008)
David Bowie - Please, Mr. Gravedigger (David Bowie, 1967)

Mod-A-Day: Muddy Waters

The story of mod has to include the blues. The beat bands, the R&B bands, the British blues groups of the sixties, hell even the British Invasion itself, all owe their existence in part to the blues. And no blues man had more of an effect on the sixties mods than the father of Chicago Blues, Muddy Waters.

Waters was a blues man from way back and by the 1950s was fronting his own band for the Chess Label, arguably the greatest blues band of all time. His songs were embraced by blues lovers, and became popular with the mainstream listening public -- a rare feet then or now. He had a string of hits in the '50s like "Hoochie Coochie Man", "I Just Want to Make Love to You", "I'm Ready" and "Mannish Boy". That last track caught the fancy of a young mod singer named Davey Jones and he named his band after it, before later changing his name to David Bowie. Waters was a towering figure of influence for the early mods. The Rolling Stones got their name from him, Eric Clapton claimed Waters as his biggest influence in the sixties, as did The Small Faces, The Animals, and the Yardbirds. Of course it wasn't just the mods that loved Muddy Waters, Chubby Checker got his start because of him, Bo Diddly played with him, and Jimi Hendrix idolized him. Later Led Zeppelin used the song here "You Need Love" as the basis for their track "Whole Lotta Love". But, there's no denying that without Waters the blues based mod scene of the sixties might never have been born.

Muddy Waters -- You Need Love

Muddy Waters -- Mannish Boy